VATIS UPDATE Article

Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, have developed a new kind of packaging that incorporates a single layer of graphene. Their material reduces by a million fold how much water can get through. And this permeability to moisture can limit the lifespan of a product. To better protect goods such as electronics and medicines, scientists have developed a new kind of packaging that incorporates a single layer of graphene. The research findings have been reported in the journal ACS Nano.

The researchers synthesized a single layer of graphene by chemical vapor deposition and using a simple and scalable process, transferred the graphene to a polymer film. Water vapor permeated the material at the target rate of less than 10-6 grams per square meter per day. An accelerated aging test showed that an organic photovoltaic device wrapped in the graphene-infused film would have a lifetime of more than 1 year compared to less than 30 minutes if packaged in the polymer without the graphene.