Albany Graphite

Naturally Pure Graphene

Graphene Precursor Material

Two factors set ZEN apart from the rest: ZEN wholly-owned unique source of high-quality graphene precursor material, the Albany Graphite Deposit, and ZEN’s expert network of partners.

ZEN’s wholly-owned Albany Graphite Deposit is the source of highly sought-after graphene precursor material. ZEN uses exfoliation to create its graphene.

There are two ways to produce graphene: bottom up or top down.

Producing graphene from the bottom up involves “growing” graphene by depositing carbon molecules on a substrate through chemical vapour deposition (CVD). For most commercial applications, this process has proven to be costly and time consuming.

Producing pure graphene from the top down occurs through a process called exfoliation—the most efficient method to date. It uses graphite to split the naturally occurring layers of carbon molecules.

Albany Pure Graphene Deposit - ZEN Graphene Solutions

ZEN’s Albany Graphite Deposit

ZEN’s Albany Graphite Deposit is uniquely suited to the exfoliation process and offers distinct advantages over previously tested precursor materials.

One key advantage is the deposit’s unique flake size, which averages 15 um to 20 um (microns). Ubiquitous sedimentary graphite deposits typically produce flakes 1,000 times larger, averaging about 2.5 millimeters. Starting with a smaller flake requires significantly less energy to produce the ideal crystal size.

Two other factors contribute to ease conversion from natural graphite to graphene material: (1) the turbostratic nature of the material (i.e., the arrangement of the sheets of carbon molecules) which are stacked irregularly. (2) ZEN’s slightly larger D-spacing (for example, the distance between layers).

Graphene Produced from ZEN’s Albany Deposit vs. Others

Character	ZEN Graphite	Others
Flake Size	15 Microns	2,500 microns
D-Spacing	0.3363 Average	0.3357 Average
Ease of conversion from graphite to graphene	Up to 1,500% easier	-
Ease of Dispersion	2X - 10X better	-
Consistent Average Layers	2-5 Layers	Highly variable

What the Experts Say

"From an analytical perspective, the Albany graphite meets all the stringent requirements for a high-quality product, encompassing high-purity, crystallinity, thermal stability, and high surface area. Interestingly, the crystallinity found in ZEN's Albany graphite was greater than that of commercially available graphite samples” “There are great potential opportunities for the utilization of this product in medical, energy and environmental technology applications."
Dr. Aicheng Chen

“ZEN’s purified graphite material was tested by our R&D team on dispersion and application for composite property enhancement on drug delivery and hydrogen storage devices. BGU regularly uses various types of commercially available natural flake graphite but found Albany graphite to exfoliate under sonication much easier and with higher yields of graphene nano-particles than any other natural graphite types that we have tried.”
Dr. Oren Regev

“ZEN’s high-purity graphite material was tested by our scientific team on mechanical conversion to graphene and discovered it converted much easier and with higher yields of graphene than our reference material. We have tested many types of natural graphite but found ZEN’s graphite material to have better exfoliation performance and produce better graphene particles than the reference material. “
Dr. Yoshihiko Arao

Opportunities and Applications

ZEN Graphene Solutions Ltd. is actively exploring these opportunities while seeking out new applications for this “magical” material.

2018 was the year of market development at ZEN Graphene Solutions. The company plans to focus its efforts on the five market opportunities promising the greatest return.

High-quality graphene’s potential to improve existing products has generated significant buzz inside these five market “verticals.” Interest is high among researchers now gaining a fresh understanding of that potential.