Quality assurance is an issue as there are many forms of graphene production with varying purities and qualities whereby both national and international standardization is essential to address this issue. The focus to develop such standards however requires time to evolve and to be endorsed.   Standards are needed for industry to offer greater certainly in its product offerings to developers to assess the quality of graphene materials for particular products. Often key performance parameters of products are governed by the underlying material properties and product research needs reliable and predictive methods in order to deduce how these critical parameters are influenced. Industry needs fast and cost-effective methods to validate quality for fast product iteration and to ensure a framework is in place to communicate and certify key product specifications to customers.

Standards may also need to be developed according to broad methods of basic manufacture, subtractive (exfoliation) or additive (CVD growth).

GLC has completed extensive characterization of nanomaterials through National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) and National Research Council for Canada (NRC) where results confirm high quality, high purity and large flake nanomaterials.

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) evaluated the Canadian producers of graphene and established a panel specifically focused in high quality carbon materials in both graphite/graphene to work towards establishing accurate metrology and characterization of the materials. In March 2016, GLC was invited and is involved in a collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) to be a part of the National Standardization of Graphene Nanomaterials to define the producers of quality materials as well as establishing the ASTM testing and guidelines for graphene for Canada.

In October 2016, GLC was invited to be a member of International SMC Nano –ISO TC 229 and IEC TC 113 towards International Standardization. This distinction and recognition of our high quality and purity materials denotes a strong competitive advantage for GLC on a global market in the global graphene race.

In July 2018, Dr. Coumont was nominated and appointed to serve as Vice-Chair for IEC/TC 113 towards International Standardization and was identified as a “Global Graphene Expert” owing to the strong overall focus in characterization, nomenclature and qualification of graphene materials arising from the rapid commercialization of graphene globally. In this role, she is helping establish a national voting position on graphene standards globally and has recently participated in the Spring Meeting of IEC TC 113 in Madrid Spain with the support of the Standards Council of Canada. This meeting allowed GLC to interface with global leaders in academia and industry from around the world, offering a much needed voice for industry stakeholders in approving existing draft standards, and determining the viability of potential new standardization projects. In addition to helping gain respect for GLC as a global leader in production of graphene materials, GLC has also been invited to participate in drafting the global standardization road map for graphene oxide and has a significant role in the standardization of graphene.