26
June
2018
|
15:11
Europe/London

Dr Nazmul Karim wins award to commercialise graphene e-textiles

Manchester researcher wins award to take graphene research out of the lab and into real world applications.

Dr Nazmul Karim, Knowledge Exchange Fellow at the National Graphene Institute, The University of Manchester has been awarded £35,000 from the Innovate UK Innovation to commercialisation university research (ICURe) fund to validate commercial potentialities of graphene textiles research.

The graphene-based technology developed at the University of Manchester lab is able to produce very high volumes of graphene textiles at high speed using existing textile process and machineries. Moreover the graphene textiles made using the technology are multifunctional. Therefore it has the potential to be used in various applications such as medical, sportswear, fitness, space suits, military and fashion garments.

The graphene-based e-textiles technology could be used to make the world’s first patient warming garment, which would be as flexible and comfortable as our daily clothing and revolutionise patient care in hospitals.

The technology uses a graphene sensor in a temperature management system to monitor patient’s temperature and raise the body temperature of the patient if necessary.

In 2016, 10 million medical operations took place in UK Hospitals (NHS statistics 2016/17). During these operations 60-85% of these cases resulted in hypothermia due to patients undergoing anaesthesia, which in turn increases the likelihood of wound infection by 19% and mortality rate by 31%.

I am extremely delighted and consider myself very fortunate to be part of Innovate UK ICURe programme. It is a great opportunity to put full-time focused efforts on exploring the commercial potentialities of our graphene textiles research. I look forward to meeting industry experts around the world in next three months to validate the commercial importance of our research.
Dr Nazmul Karim

The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have recommended using patient management systems, however current technology has prevented these systems from being widely used due to their high set up costs, nor flexible or washable or environmentally friendly.

However, this new technology currently under developed aims to be simple, scalable and cost effective. It will also be durable, flexible and washable, allowing them to be used multiple times.

Graphene is the world’s first two-dimensional material, one million times thinner than a human hair, lightweight, flexible, transparent and more conductive than copper.

Dr Nazmul Karim said: “I am extremely delighted and consider myself very fortunate to be part of Innovate UK ICURe programme. It is a great opportunity to put full-time focused efforts on exploring the commercial potentialities of our graphene textiles research. I look forward to meeting industry experts around the world in next three months to validate the commercial importance of our research.”

James Baker, Graphene@Manchester CEO said: “Our vision at Graphene@Manchester is to build a thriving knowledge-based economy with the aim to take graphene out of the lab to real-world applications. Projects such as these are key in the development of graphene and 2D materials.”

Graphene@Manchester is an ongoing programme of activity to ensure that Manchester and the UK play a leading international role in developing graphene and 2D materials. The National Graphene Institute together with the Graphene Engineering Inovation Centre (due to open later this year) aims to create a critical mass of expertise made up of scientists, manufacturers, engineers, innovators, investors and industrialists to build a thriving knowledge-based economy.

ICURe is a programme of commercialisation support for teams of academic researchers wishing to explore the commercial potential of their research. It aims to improve commercial awareness amongst academic personnel, to develop and enhance the entrepreneurial skills of early career researchers, and to strengthen links between academic and industrial communities.