Graphene Industrial park to come up in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Sept 27 (KNN) The Kerala government has decided to set up a graphene industrial park in the state, said P Rajeev, Minister for Industry, Law and Coir.

Speaking at an investor meeting organised by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, Rajeev said that state government is planning to set up a graphene industrial park to tap the opportunities of the nanomaterial as a range of vistas are opening up across multiple sectors.
During the meet, the discussion focused on a graphene policy for the State, its applications, market potential, research and development, and challenges.

The India Innovation Centre for Graphene (IICG) will be developed as a centre of knowledge conducting researches on the new technology. It is a project jointly implemented by the Kerala government and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) with Tata Steel Limited as an industrial partner and C-MET and Digital University as implementing agencies, as per a report by The Hindu Business Line.

The Union Ministry has given administrative sanction for this while the State government has earmarked Rs 15 crore as the first instalment. Meanwhile, a draft ‘Kerala Graphene Policy’ has been shared among the stakeholders for suggestions.

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a two-dimensional honeycomb nanostructure. It has become a valuable and useful nanomaterial due to its exceptionally high tensile strength, electrical conductivity, transparency, and being the thinnest two-dimensional material in the world.  (KNN Bureau)