"Changing The Black Gold Of The 21St Century" - Graphene May Become A Lever To Subvert An Industry

Since the last stop of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the UK in 2015, when he chose the Manchester Graphene Research Institute, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology immediately issued Several Opinions on Accelerating the Innovative Development of Graphene Industry, which included graphene in the national "13th Five Year Plan" 100 major engineering projects. During the two sessions, Premier Li Keqiang also focused on new graphene materials.

Graphene is considered as "the black gold that will change the 21st century", and can even become a lever to subvert an industry. However, in order to fundamentally replace traditional materials with graphene, most of them are "heavy applications" that completely change the industrial history. For example, graphene needs not only heavy investment in batteries, semiconductor chips and other fields, but also a long research and development cycle. How can graphene be productized quickly to make mass consumers feel the benefits of this new material? Chen Lijun, the founder and CEO of Aika Aijia, a networking company, saw the opportunity when wearable devices were in vogue and clothing intellectualization set off a new round of industrial revolution.

He came up with the idea of combining graphene with Textile clothing The combination of fields. This is a popular technology, which can be called "light application". As a result, a new market was opened up. As a new material, what is the magic of graphene? Chen Lijun told reporters that graphene is a very rare and precious two-dimensional structure material in nature, and it is also the most conductive, thinnest and hardest nano material in the world at present. At the same time, it is also a transparent material with good light filtering and conductivity, so it can be used in organic glass, touch screen, semiconductor, microelectronics and other fields.

It has been more than ten years since graphene was discovered in 2004 until 2010, when this material could be mass produced and purified, it was widely recognized by the world. Its discoverers, Professor Andre Heim and Professor Konstantin Novoselov of the University of Manchester, England, also won the Nobel Prize in Physics. As a result, the basic properties of graphene have attracted global research and development. But our country is Graphene One of the countries with the most active research field, but limited by the fact that the technology is still in the incubation period, downstream products and market development are insufficient, and its practical application needs further breakthroughs.

"From a macro perspective, graphene, as the bottom material, will be modified in the future, which is full of imagination." Chen Lijun is confident that graphene will become the "inverse gene" of traditional industries. This is also a new research direction in the field of clothing intelligence.

In fact, the concept of intelligence has been developed in the field of textile and clothing for a long time. Especially since the rise of wearable devices, it is considered to be a good medicine that can break through the cost, competition, inventory and other pressures faced by the current traditional clothing industry and reshape competitiveness. However, the reality is that the way of clothing exploration in the intelligent field seems to be blocked.

In 2015, Li Ning, together with Xiaomi, released a super cost-effective intelligent running shoe, which became a hot spot in the industry. According to the official statistics of Li Ning, the sales volume has broken 100000 pairs in less than ten days. However, unfortunately, this sales situation did not continue, and even was soon forgotten by consumers. In Chen Lijun's view, the reason why intelligent running shoes can form a gimmick at the beginning shows that consumers' desire and demand for intelligent clothing really exists. However, the final sales are not satisfactory because the product itself has a weak sense of value, and it can even be easily replaced by a smart phone APP.

Therefore, Chen Lijun believes that the real reason why intelligent clothing has not been able to form the expected growth is that its rigid needs have not been discovered. In contrast, graphene has irreplaceable benefits for human body. In terms of heating and heat conduction characteristics, graphene is different from the traditional resistance wire heating with low cost, high consumption and potential safety hazards. It is heated by infrared light waves that are suitable for human body temperature. It has good performance in terms of clothing heating experience and safety, and also has certain physical therapy effects.

At the same time, the conductivity of graphene can be used as a sensor to monitor and collect human data. Compared with the way that metal devices of intelligent devices use light waves to collect data, graphene can make sensors by combining with textiles, which will give people more comfort. "The traditional smart bracelets, watches, glasses and other products bring too much burden to people, and most of the functions can be achieved through smart phones, which is not just needed. But clothing is completely different, and everyone can wear clothes, especially the elderly, soldiers, children, special workers, outdoor sports enthusiasts and other special groups, who will meet specific needs of clothing Very dependent. " Chen Lijun said.

Starting from the demand, facing the Intelligent clothing The research and development of relevant products by special groups with rigid demands is also the key direction of Aijia's "light application" of graphene. However, is the market prospect of intelligent clothing really foreseeable?

According to Gartner's report, smart clothing will jump from the frozen state of nearly zero shipments in 2013 and 2014 to an estimated 26 million in 2016, becoming one of the largest categories in the field of smart wear. This data also gives Chen Lijun full confidence. Therefore, focusing on the combination of graphene and textile and clothing fields, he led the R&D team of Aijia to conduct in-depth research for two years, and achieved a commercial price

Chen Lijun told reporters that at present, Aijia has made three breakthroughs in graphene. The first is the modification of graphene material. Aijia combines graphene with textiles, which is soft and washable, and can be widely used in the market. This research achievement has also promoted the application of graphene materials in the clothing field, and can realize the industrial application of graphene heating materials in outdoor clothing, sanitation, middle-aged and elderly clothing and other fields. The second is the graphene textile sensor independently developed by Aijia. It can be directly attached to the cloth without any burden, and can be washed, providing a good sample product for intelligent wear.

Chen Lijun strongly agrees with the view that "the subversion of an industry often does not come from the industry itself, usually from the application of advanced technology in another industry." In his view, graphene is likely to be the lever to subvert the transformation and upgrading of the traditional clothing industry, and this market is about to play a huge potential. In addition, it can collect big data from the human body, and conduct health management and intelligent services on the human body through data, so that enterprises can better understand consumers. It is not only a breakthrough in technology, but also represents the long-term layout of data mining of Aijia.

At present, Aijia is carrying out strategic cooperation with a well-known local clothing enterprise, focusing on the innovation of clothing thermal insulation function, as well as in-depth cooperation with home textile, military and other fields. At the same time, Chen Lijun also talked about the challenges faced when cooperating with textile and clothing enterprises: "This is not only the docking and running in between teams, but also a subversion of the traditional operation mode of the original enterprise. The most important point is how determined the enterprise is to reform. This is a real strategic cooperation."

For more information, please pay attention to the report of World Clothing, Shoes and Hats Network.