For The Swifty Podcast #16, Jason heads to the GEIC (Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre) to talk with Lisa Scullion and Mark Dickie about all things graphene, how it’s revolutionising the industry and the impact it’s had in shaping Manchester as a result of its isolation by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov in 2004. They cover everything from the basics of this wonder material and how it was first isolated to the endlessly innovative ways it’s being implemented into products.
Swifty is working with the GEIC to implement graphene into the frame of our SwiftyCARBON adult scooter, utilising its properties to make our innovative adult kick scooter even lighter and stronger than it already is!
Skip ahead to a certain part of the conversation below -
- How Swifty started working with GEIC and their work to help benefit Greater Manchester companies 01:00
- A brief history of graphene. What is graphene? How and where was it isolated? 02:47
- The impact of graphene on Manchester, companies based in Manchester and the support behind it from the city 05:06
- Rundown of the top questions on google about graphene, and the general misconceptions the public have about it 07:37
- How you put graphene into a product. As an additive process, with polymers and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) 09:55
- Working with graphene at both a nano-engineering scale and 700ft tankers scale 16:37
- Why you would use different amounts of graphene in products 17:43
- The variety of products GEIC work on that are commercially available, from Graphene-enhanced running shoes to Ford’s F150 Pickup trucks 18:59
- The benefits that graphene can bring to Swifty’s adult scooters 22:15
- How the investment in graphene has built up from its initial isolation, and the continued research into it 23:38
- The scale of people working on Graphene both within GEIC and in The University of Manchester as a whole 27:40
Find out more about our innovative Carbon fibre adult scooter SwiftyCARBON HERE
Let us know in the comments of any ways you'd like to see graphene used in the future, and if there’s anything you’d like us to talk about in future episodes of the podcast!