Using graphene as a 3D printing material is a very hot topic lately, with many companies attempting to unlock this market - including Graphene 3D Lab, Graphene Technologies, Grafoid, AGT, Qingdao Unique Products and others.

Graphene 3D Lab, a joint-venture between Graphene Labs and Lomiko Metals which recently went public in Canada, is one of the leaders in this new market. The company's founder and COO, Dr. Elena Polyakova, was kind enough to participate in a short Q&A session here at Graphene-Info.

Click here to read the full interview, in which Dr. Polyakova explains how they aim to begin commercial production in six months, and also explains the benefits and possible applications (such as printed 3D batteries) of 3D printing with graphene-based materials.

In June 2013, Cambridge University's Graphene Centre (CGC) and Plastic Logic started to develop a transparent graphene-based backplane for flexible displays. Now Plastic Logic demonstrated the first display that was developed in that collaboration research. Plastic Logic says that this is the first time grpahene has been used in a transistor-based flexible device.

The prototype is an active-matrix electrophoretic (E Ink) display fabricated on flexible plastic. The electrodes are made from solution-processed graphene which was patterned after deposition with micron-scale features. The prototype has a pixel density of 150 PPI and was made at low temperatures (less than 100 degrees Celsius). This is just a prototype of course and you can see many defects in display.

Plastic Logic says that the graphene backplane can also be used to drive LCD and OLED displays. In fact, the UK Technology Strategy Board recently gave a grant towards this research, with an aim to develop full-color OLED displays within the next 12 months.

Towards the end of 2011, the University of Manchester announced its £61 million National Graphene Institute (NGI), which is nearly complete and will be one of the leading graphene research centers in the world. Now there are reports that the UK Chancellor, George Osborne, will unveil plans for a second £60 million graphene center in Manchester.

The new center will be called the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre. Apparently it will be aimed towards development of graphene-based products with an eye on commercialization. The UK hopes that the new center, together with the NGI, will make Manchester and the UK in a position to lead the world in graphene technology.

Half of the funding for the new center will come from Abu Dhabi investors Masdar, and the rest will come from the UK government and the University (which is expected to reach out for the EU for part of the funding). In addition to the new graphene center, the UK also has plans to open yet another national institute for materials research - also in the north of England.

Allied Market Research released a new graphene market report in which they analyze graphene opportunities and forecast the market from 2013 to 2020. According to Allied, the global graphene market will grow to $149.1 million by 2020 - a 44% yearly CAGR from 2014.

The electronics and automotive industries will be among the top consumers of graphene in the near future, and Allied sees 1,800 tons of bulk graphene and 26.8 million square-cm of graphene films to be produced and used by 2020. In the products market, GNP was the largest revenue generating segment in 2013 and is expected to retain its position throughout 2014 - 2020. Other promising segments are graphene oxide and monolayer & bi-layer graphene.

Allied's estimates are pretty much in-line with other analyst estimates we've seen in the past. In May 2014 IDTechEx forecasted that the graphene market (at the material level) will grow from about $20 million in 2014 to over $390 million in 2024. BCC Research are a bit more optimistic, and they see the market reaching 195 million 2018 and $1.3 billion by 2023.

Yole Developpement sees slower growth for the graphene market, with revenue reaching only $141 million in 2024.

Investment group Alpha Deal Group started covering Lomiko Metals (TSXV: LMR), stating that Lomiko is a "uniquely positioned junior graphite resource company and graphene technology incubator company". Alpha sees Lomiko's value being 166% higher than it's current market price.

Lomiko's current market cap is C$10.24 million. Lomiko holds 4.4 million shares (11.23% interest) of Graphene 3D Labs (TSXV: GGG) - which is worth C$5.85, and Lomiko has cash and equivalents worth a further C$4.86 million. So the company is worth less than its holdings and cash - while in addition it holds the Quatre Mills Graphite property and the Vines Lake property, and has a strategic alliance agreement with Graphene 3D Lab to access technology.

Read more (including Alpha Deal's complete analysis report) here.

This is a sponsored message from Lomiko Metals.

IBM developed a new method to use graphene as a substrate for single-crystalline semiconductor film growth. Graphene will be less expensive than current single-crystalline wafers used in such production methods, as it can be reused indefinitely.

IBM says that growing a 4" GaN film today requires a 4" SiC substrate wafer which is destroyed using the process. The SiC costs about $3,000. Graphene can be used to replace the SiC and will be much cheaper in the long run. Graphene is also useful as it is flexible and can be better adapted for films that need to be transferred to a flexible substrate.

IBM has been researching graphene for a long time. A coupe of months ago, the company announced an ambitious project to find the next-generation chip technology to replace silicon. IBM will invest $3 billion over the next five years in this project, which will look at several alternatives including graphene.

Graphene Live! USA, the business-focused graphene conference and tradeshow - will take place on November 19-20 in Santa Clara, California. The fifth international conference and tradeshow covers the latest technology developments, applications, commercialization progress and end user requirements and challenges of Graphene and 2D Materials.

Read more and register here.