GRAPHENEA SA

Their core work

Graphenea is a Spanish SME that manufactures and supplies high-quality graphene materials — particularly CVD graphene on wafers and graphene oxide — for research and industrial applications. They serve as a critical material supplier across the Graphene Flagship ecosystem and beyond, providing graphene products that enable breakthroughs in electronics, sensors, energy storage, and advanced coatings. Their role spans from producing graphene for academic research groups to scaling up production for semiconductor-compatible wafer-scale integration, positioning them as a bridge between laboratory graphene science and commercial manufacturing.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In 2014–2018, Graphenea focused heavily on fundamental graphene science, joining the Graphene Flagship (GrapheneCore1/2) and exploring broad applications in composites, electronics, photonics, and biomedical technologies — essentially proving graphene's potential across many domains. From 2019 onward, a clear shift toward industrialization and applied solutions emerged: wafer-scale semiconductor integration (2D-EPL pilot line), specific energy applications (LESGO for hydrogen storage, NRG-STORAGE for smart building materials), and industrial use cases like geothermal drilling coatings (Geo-Drill). The trajectory moved from "what can graphene do?" to "how do we manufacture and deploy it at scale?"

Graphenea is moving decisively from research-grade material supply toward pilot-line manufacturing and sector-specific graphene products for energy, electronics, and industrial coatings.

How they like to work

Graphenea primarily operates as a participant or third-party supplier rather than a project leader — they coordinated only 2 of 19 projects (both GO4APP, their own SME instrument proposals). Their 313 unique partners across 28 countries indicate they function as a hub supplier: many different consortia need their graphene materials. This makes them easy to work with as a specialized contributor — they bring the material and manufacturing know-how, while partners bring the application domain expertise.

With 313 unique consortium partners across 28 countries, Graphenea has one of the broadest supplier networks in European graphene research, largely built through the Graphene Flagship mega-project and its spin-off initiatives. Their reach is pan-European with no single geographic cluster dominating.

What sets them apart

Graphenea is one of very few European companies that both manufactures graphene at commercial scale AND actively participates in frontier research — most graphene companies either sell product or do research, rarely both. Their deep embedding in the Graphene Flagship (Core 1, 2, 3 plus the 2D-EPL pilot line) gives them unmatched visibility into where graphene technology is heading. For any consortium needing a reliable, research-aware graphene supplier with proven EU project experience, Graphenea is the default choice in Europe.

Highlights from their portfolio

• GO4APP
  Their only coordinated project (Phase 1 + Phase 2 SME Instrument), securing EUR 1.6M to develop graphene oxide for polymer applications — demonstrates their own product development ambition.
• 2D-EPL
  Part of the Graphene Flagship's Experimental Pilot Line, directly working on scaling 2D material production from lab to factory — signals their industrial manufacturing trajectory.
• Geo-Drill
  An unexpected application: graphene-based coatings and 3D printed sensors for geothermal drilling, showing their ability to deliver graphene solutions in heavy industry contexts far from typical electronics use cases.