Francesco Bonaccorso | BeDimensional: How can a portfolio of 2D materials solve the biggest weakness of next-gen solar cells?

Is graphene actually *bad* for preventing corrosion on most metals?

The common belief is that graphene is an excellent anticorrosion additive due to its barrier properties. However, there's a critical electrochemical issue: graphene is cathodic relative to most industrial metals like steel. This creates a galvanic cell when they are in contact in a corrosive environment, which can paradoxically accelerate corrosion rather than preventing it.

This galvanic effect is a fundamental material science principle often overlooked in application development. Only noble metals like platinum and gold are electrochemically stable enough to avoid being corroded by contact with graphene. For virtually all other structural metals, using a conductive graphene coating introduces a significant risk of galvanic corrosion, undermining the protective goal.

To overcome this, BeDimensional uses a different 2D material: hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). As a wide-bandgap insulator, h-BN provides an excellent physical barrier to corrosive agents without inducing any galvanic effects. This approach has been validated in demanding industrial demos, such as protecting steel structures from impact and saltwater spray in the Genoa Harbor, proving its real-world effectiveness.

In this short video, you can learn:
* The electrochemical reason why graphene can cause galvanic corrosion on metals.
* Why hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a superior alternative for anticorrosion coatings.
* How this advanced material is being tested in real-world industrial environments.
📋 **Clip Abstract** Contrary to popular belief, graphene's conductive nature can accelerate metal corrosion through galvanic effects. This clip explains the underlying electrochemistry and presents hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) as a safer, more effective 2D material for creating protective barrier coatings.
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Can you create high-conductivity inks that don't require freezing for storage and transport?

While pure graphene-based pastes offer competitive conductivity for many applications, they fall short for high-demand uses like photovoltaics, which require much lower resistivity. The performance of carbon-based materials alone is insufficient to meet these stringent requirements for electrical efficiency, creating a performance gap that needs to be bridged.

The solution is to create hybrid formulations. By combining few-layer graphene with metallic nanoparticles, such as copper or silver, it's possible to significantly boost conductivity to the required levels. This approach leverages the excellent mechanical properties and dispersion stability of graphene while achieving the high electrical performance of metals in a synergistic composite.

A critical advantage of these graphene-hybrid pastes is their processability. Unlike many high-performance silver-based pastes that must be stored and transported at sub-zero temperatures (e.g., -25°C), these formulations are stable and can be processed entirely at room temperature. This simplifies logistics, reduces energy costs, and lowers the barrier for industrial adoption in large-scale manufacturing.

In this short video, you can learn:
* Why pure graphene pastes are not sufficient for high-conductivity applications like photovoltaics.
* The strategy of creating hybrid inks by combining graphene with metallic nanoparticles.
* The significant process advantage of room-temperature storage and handling compared to traditional silver pastes.
📋 **Clip Abstract** This clip details the development of hybrid conductive pastes that combine graphene with metallic nanoparticles to meet the demands of applications like photovoltaics. A key innovation is a formulation that works entirely at room temperature, eliminating the costly and complex cold-chain logistics required for conventional silver-based inks.
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