The agreement will significantly increase Haydale’s market presence across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. Acknowledged as one of the fastest growing areas adopting nanotechnology, this agreement allows Haydale to directly market their conductive inks, GNPs, few layered graphenes (FLG), multi-walled carbon nanotubes and single/double walled carbon nanotubes.

Applications for the Haydale materials include energy harvesting (battery systems) and most notably printable conductive inks for flexible printed electronics, radio-frequency identification (RFID) and bio-medical sensors. The GNPs have been recently proven to improve structural strength and stiffness in epoxy composite systems for the aerospace and related industries.

PlanarTECH will market and promote Haydale’s functionalised nanomaterial products to potential R&D customers and commercial partners specifically in China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The remit of the agreement is to prioritise the development of sales and strategic partnership opportunities to facilitate Haydale’s growth and presence in the region.

Ray Gibbs, CEO at Haydale, commented: “The ability to fully commercialise graphenes has been a stumbling block for industry in recent times, particularly in the APAC region where the majority of patents for graphene-based applications originate. In our view, achieving good dispersions is the real key to commercialising these materials and recent third party results demonstrate that our technology works well.”

He continued: “PlanarTECH has been a pioneer in providing process and analytical equipment for 2D materials synthesis such as graphene as well as process equipment for other nanomaterials. Their industry knowledge and connections are substantial with a track record of success in the region. This agreement will enable Haydale to significantly increase its presence in a major, rapidly growing market.”

Patrick Frantz, President & CEO of planarTECH, commented: “We’re very pleased to be working with Haydale to bring its unique plasma functionalisation technology to customers in Asia, and we’ve already seen strong interest in functionalisation services from CNT and graphene manufacturers. We believe that Haydale’s process will be a key factor in the success of the entire graphene industry.”