Innovation in advanced materials has the potential to support exciting opportunities to help achieve greener and smarter living following the impact of COVID-19, says graphene expert James Baker.

James Baker, CEO of Graphene@Manchester, believes this period of global disruption now gives us an opportunity to accelerate technologies to literally build back better. “Smart cities are seen as a way to make our built environments much more efficient and greener through the adoption of digital technologies that can, for example, better integrate and manage our utility and energy systems,” said James.

“However, what if some of this technology was embedded directly into the materials that went into our buildings and infrastructure? The exciting thing about graphene and the wider family of 2D materials – the endless combination of ultra-thin layers to develop new ‘designer materials’ I call the ‘graphenes’ – is their extraordinary multifunctional capability. Such materials would be ideal to develop a new generation of smart infrastructure.”

Graphene@Manchester is currently working on a number of projects with Highways England, the government company responsible for much of the nation’s major road network, and Arcadis, a leading global design and consultancy firm for built assets.

“A challenge we are looking at is how electric circuitry could be applied to the road network. Could this be integrated within the road structure itself and laid at the same time as the highway as an integral part of the structure?

“This idea is still an early stage project – but what if we could have this type of multifunctional capability used across all the infrastructure and buildings that make up a town or city? It would transform connectivity and make the very fabric of our built environments responsive and intuitive to our daily needs. So, we can start to imagine some very exciting applications to make our future lives better, such as charging points that are embedded across our road network – and every time an electric car comes to a stop at traffic lights or rests in a parking space it can be charged on the spot”

For more information visit Graphene@Manchester.