Isabella Borghetti is an industrial manager working in the automotive and nanotechnology industry. She has a bachelor’s degree in international business specializing in negotiation and the graphene market.
“We’ve got batteries that charge in up to 6 times less time, weigh up to 50% less, and yield 5 times more cycles”
Over 12 years of research and testing, BoomaTech’s process and product technology were developed. Their graphene in different typologies has been tested and approved by several renowned universities around the globe, as well as private companies that have used them in different applications. The current process technology is via chemical electro exfoliation using controlled atmospheres, extracting a product of high purity, large surface area, and with 3 to 6 layers.
Is BoomaTech currently offering lithium-graphene batteries to the market?
BoomaTech’s lithium-graphene batteries are in the prototyping stage. We have the technology being developed and some prototypes being tested in the laboratory. We’ve already got batteries that charge in up to 6 times less time, weigh up to 50% less, and yield 5 times more cycles. We are using graphene on both electrodes, positive and negative.
Do you provide information to your clients about the thickness of the product’s layers and the size of the flakes or platelets? How important is the thickness?
Yes, all our products come with a datasheet, and a technical report, with information regarding the characterization of that graphene batch. Depending on the application, information on thickness and particle size is essential to ensure the existence of enough functionalized graphene crosslinks to the substrate, and no efficiency loss will occur to the expected results.
Are all of the nine different routes for making graphene related to the electrochemical exfoliation method? Do you have other processes?
Yes, route variations are basically different parameters within the same machinery and the same electrochemical exfoliation process. So, what really changes are the parameters involved, for instance, time, temperature, amount of reagents, machinery arrangement, and raw material preparation. The final application demand dictates the substrate to incorporate and the properties to be improved, thus those process variations.
Would you be willing to share any information related to past or current financing (such as investors, acquisitions, or plant expansions)?
Our investment comes entirely from the group that originated the company, Master Power Turbo. We started by producing a few grams of graphene each month, using a sensitive and laborious laboratory process. Then we increased production to 1 kg per month.
Currently, we have a manufacturing capacity of 300–500 kg per month (depending on the typology). Our plant has already undergone three expansions.
What are the case studies related to your graphene products application that you would like to share?
The markets we currently operate in are the energy market (including batteries, conductive glass, supercapacitors, solar cells, etc.), composites (polymers, elastomers, etc.), paints and coatings (such as waxes, pre-treatment, baths, conductive paints, etc.), and biosensors (for disease detection, biological and electronic sensors). In addition to these major ones, we also have minor activities in additives for concrete and construction, the textile industry (special fabrics, fibers, and yarn), agriculture (fertilizers, containers, silos, etc.), electronic circuits and sensors, and paper and cellulose. We cannot share our partners’ names, but here are some examples:
- Multinational tech company: application of graphene oxide in biocompatible microchips and biosensors for disease detection.
- Energy company: application of reduced graphene oxide in organic solar cells, increasing their efficiency to 43%, capturing visible + UV and IR spectra.
