Deal to create graphene-based carbon paste used in solar

First Graphene Limited (FGR) has entered into an exclusive licence agreement with Halocell Australia to manufacture, market and sell graphene-enhanced carbon paste.

The 12-month agreement gives First Graphene global exclusivity over development and sale of the PureGRAPH-containing product, with Halocell receiving a 10% royalty on sales as well as using the product in manufacturing its commercially available perovskite solar cells (PSC).

This is in addition to the existing joint development agreement and Cooperative Research Centre Project (CRC-P) partners agreement reached in June 2022 and August 2023 respectively.

Under the pre-existing CRC-P Partners Agreement, FGR and Halocell have successfully investigated and introduced graphene to carbon paste with a focus on fine-tuning formulation, concentrations, components and syntheses.

The paste is already used in the manufacture of Halocell’s PSCs, which the company said has doubled PSC efficiency to more than 30% and reduced production costs via roll-to-roll (R2R) deposition technology producing thin-film perovskites.

It is preferred over traditional conductors such as gold because of the material and production cost reductions, while maintaining high performance output and enhancing robustness.

Paste layer on a perovskite solar cell. Image supplied by First Graphene Ltd.

Halocell’s indoor PSCs are already sold in the global market for use in small electronic devices due to their ability to achieve high power conversion efficiency in low light conditions. There are 44 additional devices identified across the satellite, aerospace, IoT, electronics and renewable energy sectors that could benefit from PSC technology.

Halocell, in partnership with V-Tol Aerospace and Li-S, is already developing a lightweight power solution including next-generation solar and batteries to increase the flight duration of electric powered drones.

The graphene-based carbon paste can also be applied to a range of conductive applications such as heating systems and sensors, ceramic coatings, electrodes and electrochemical mixes.

Manufacturing of sample graphene-enhanced carbon paste material at FGR’s Henderson facility is planned to commence within the next month.

“First Graphene and Halocell’s partnership is going from strength to strength, introducing PureGRAPH to accelerate solar technology improvements and bringing enhanced PSCs to market,” said First Graphene Managing Director and CEO Michael Bell. “Through this agreement, we can leverage carbon paste intellectual property already developed and take this product to global markets, which is mutually beneficial to Halocell in meeting their own ambitious manufacturing targets to help meet growing product demand for PSCs.

“While the carbon paste market is set to more than double to circa US$2.8 billion by 2032, the real opportunity comes from the multitude of applications and products that can benefit from better performance, longevity and efficiency our PureGRAPH offers.”

Halocell Australia CEO Paul Moonie said, “Working with FGR to introduce functionalised graphene into our perovskites has produced groundbreaking module efficiency and R2R production results. We see this additional agreement as an excellent opportunity to market graphene-enhanced carbon paste to technology developers around the world and demonstrate how Australian manufacturing is at the forefront of this new age material revolution.”

Top image caption: Graphene-enhanced carbon paste. Image supplied by First Graphene Ltd.