China bans export of gallium, germanium and antimony to the US
The move comes a day after the Biden administration expanded curbs on the sale of technology to China.
Italian start-up BeDimensional said on Friday it had secured financial support from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to boost its production capacity for graphene and other super-thin crystals.
The European Union is looking at ways to reduce its reliance on imports of materials that are critical for the bloc’s energy transition.
Graphene, whose powder has a high electrical and thermal conductivity, can be used to increase the storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries, BeDimensional said.
The material made of a single layer of carbon atoms is also key to developing lubricants free of metal-based additives.
BeDimensional will on Friday inaugurate a production plant in the Italian city of Genoa with a capacity of over three tonnes a year of graphene and other super-thin crystals.
The firm plans to increase its capacity to over 30 tonnes annually by 2028 thanks to the establishment of an additional production plant that will be partly funded via a 20 million euro ($21.7 million) loan granted by the EIB.
BeDimensional’s current shareholders – which also include the venture capital arm of Italian energy group Eni and Italian state lender CDP – will provide an additional 5 million euros to support the group’s development plans.
Born as a spin-off of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), BeDimensional also produces a super-thin boron nitride powder which is anti-corrosive and is an electrical insulator that can be added to textiles and leather.
($1 = 0.9228 euros)
(By Elvira Pollina and Francesca Landini; Editing by Keith Weir)
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