At the end of February, Sun Changxu, a partner in Xiaomi’s Industrial Investment Department, publicly disclosed that Xiaomi had invested in Guangdong Moei Technology Co., Ltd., a company engaged in the chemical synthesis production of graphene. He also noted that Moei Technology is the only domestic enterprise specializing in new materials that covers the entire value chain—from the chemical synthesis of graphene to the mass production of high-performance thermal-conducting films. This investment marks yet another “black technology” venture for Xiaomi. After being labeled with terms such as “graphene,” “black technology,” and “the only one in China,” Moei Technology, which had previously remained largely unknown, suddenly found itself at the center of industry attention. What made Moei Technology so attractive to Xiaomi’s investment? And just what makes graphene thermal-conducting films such a cutting-edge “black technology”? On March 10, armed with these questions, 21st Century Business Herald conducted an exclusive interview with Cai Jinming, Chairman of Moei Technology. Cai Jinming is an expert in the field of low-dimensional nanomaterials. His earliest research on graphene dates back to 2005, when he was pursuing his doctoral studies at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. It’s worth noting that graphene was only discovered in 2004 by two British scientists, who went on to win the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for their groundbreaking work. Later, in 2008, Cai Jinming went to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States as a visiting scholar, and from 2009 to 2014, he pursued postdoctoral research at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology. Throughout this period, he remained deeply committed to graphene research. Moei Technology, founded in October 2015, represents Cai Jinming’s ambitious technological transformation journey after returning to China as a “returnee” from abroad.

Turning graphene into a product

Graphene has been around for over a decade since its discovery, so it’s no longer a novelty. Yet, in Cai Jinming’s view, 2015 marked the true inaugural year for graphene’s development. “After the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded, graphene became a hot topic, and by 2011 many companies had already started working on related products. But it wasn’t until 2015 that the market finally saw some real graphene-based products,” said Cai Jinming. Seeing graphene’s potential to generate economic value greatly strengthened Cai Jinming’s resolve to start his own business. After returning to China from Switzerland in 2014, he immediately began conducting research domestically. “I’ve been studying graphene for nearly ten years now, and I’m determined to bring it from the lab into commercial products.” Following a year of careful planning, Mo Rui Technology was born. Although Cai Jinming had never worked in a corporate setting before, he sought out a co-founder. Zhao Hongzhong, currently the General Manager of Mo Rui Technology, is Cai Jinming’s childhood friend and high-school classmate, and previously worked in government agencies. After the company’s establishment, the two clearly divided their roles: Cai Jinming took charge of technology, while Zhao Hongzhong focused on corporate management. Over the past five years of Mo Rui Technology’s development, there have been two pivotal moments: First, in October 2016, the company partnered with the Daojiao Town Government in Dongguan to establish the Dao Rui Graphene Research Institute; second, in December 2018, Mo Rui Technology joined forces with Yunnan Yuntianhua Group to launch a production line for graphene thermal-conducting films. Speaking to the 21st Century Business Herald, Cai Jinming explained that when Mo Rui Technology was first founded, its primary focus was on researching how to achieve large-scale production of graphene. It wasn’t until 2017—after the establishment of the Dao Rui Graphene Research Institute—that the company truly began exploring graphene’s practical applications, setting its sights on four key application areas: thermal management, new energy, advanced composite materials, and bio-healthcare.

Currently, there are two main approaches for the large-scale production of graphene: the mechanical method and the chemical method. The mechanical method primarily uses physical techniques such as grinding and ultrasonication to exfoliate graphene from graphite. In contrast, the chemical method employs strong oxidizing agents that uniformly intercalate between graphite layers, causing the graphite to expand and enabling the graphene layers to separate one by one.

From the perspective of production outcomes, mechanically exfoliated graphene tends to have many layers, uneven distribution, and moderate performance. However, since this method has low technical barriers, it also comes with lower costs—hence, most graphene products currently available on the market fall into this category. On the other hand, chemically synthesized graphene boasts fewer layers, high uniformity, and superior performance. Yet, it demands extremely advanced mass-production technologies, which is why only a very small number of companies are capable of producing it. In October 2018, during a talent exchange event, Cai Jinming unexpectedly discovered that Hanen New Materials—a subsidiary of Yunnan Yuntianhua Group—possessed a complete set of equipment for the industrial-scale production of artificial graphite. This equipment was precisely what was used to manufacture graphene thermal-conductivity films. At that moment, Cai Jinming conducted an in-depth investigation into the company and expressed his intention to collaborate. In December of the same year, Mo Rui Technology signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Yuntianhua Hanen. The following May, the two parties established a joint venture and began mass-producing chemically synthesized graphene thermal-conductivity films. From Cai Jinming’s perspective, the collaboration with Yuntianhua was a serendipitous opportunity—but it was precisely this chance encounter that enabled Mo Rui Technology to earn the title of “the only one in China” in this field. Cai Jinming told reporters that other companies producing chemically synthesized graphene thermal-conductivity films could only handle the single stage of film manufacturing, while the graphene raw materials still had to be sourced externally. By partnering with Yuntianhua, however, Mo Rui Technology has achieved large-scale, integrated production—from the preparation of chemically synthesized graphene through the sintering of thermal-conductivity films all the way to subsequent die-cutting processes. Moreover, Mo Rui Technology’s graphene thermal-conductivity film production line is located within a dedicated chemical industrial park, allowing it to establish a circular economy with Yuntianhua’s traditional chemical industry, significantly reducing both environmental protection investments and production costs. “The concentrated sulfuric acid produced by Yuntianhua serves as a raw material for graphene synthesis, while the dilute acids generated during graphene production can be reused by Yuntianhua itself as feedstock for chemical manufacturing,” said Cai Jinming. He added that if such waste liquids were produced elsewhere, they would have to be handled by specialized environmental protection companies.

The essential need for smartphones

Currently, among the several graphene application directions outlined by Moei Technology, thermal-conductivity films are proving to be the fastest-growing. This is largely due to the continuous performance improvements in consumer electronics—particularly smartphones—over recent years. Especially with the advent of the 5G era, the demand for effective heat dissipation in these devices has surged even further. Meanwhile, graphene’s thermal conductivity has now been scientifically proven to be the best among all single-materials. In October 2018, Huawei introduced graphene-based cooling technology for the first time in its Mate 20 X, thereby kicking off the widespread adoption of graphene in smartphone applications. Cai Jinming told the 21st Century Business Herald that prior to the use of graphene cooling technology, smartphones relied on artificial graphite sheets for thermal management. However, the raw material for these artificial graphite sheets is polyimide film. On the one hand, this material must be imported, driving up costs; on the other hand, the thickness of artificial graphite sheets made from polyimide film currently tops out at 40 microns. If one were to increase the thickness further, it would require layering multiple sheets together, which would inevitably compromise thermal performance. By contrast, graphene’s raw materials can all be sourced domestically, eliminating the need for imports. At the same time, graphene boasts superior thermal conductivity and its thickness can be customized. For instance, a single-layer graphene thermal-conductivity film offers comparable thermal performance to multi-layer artificial graphite sheets—but at a lower cost and with room for further improvement. Under identical performance conditions, graphene is cheaper; under identical price conditions, graphene delivers better performance. It is precisely this high cost-effectiveness that has triggered a “resonance” throughout the industry chain—a factor that mobile phone manufacturers urgently need to gain a competitive edge.

At the end of 2018, after the launch of its collaboration project with Yuntianhua, Morui Technology began seeking funding. According to a reporter from the 21st Century Business Herald, in early 2019, an investment firm based in Shanghai made a Pre-A round investment in Morui Technology. Subsequently, in July and November 2019, Shenzhen Venture Capital and Xiaomi respectively joined the A-round investment. Cai Jinming revealed to the reporter that Morui Technology secured tens of millions of yuan in funding during the A round. “We plan to increase our monthly production capacity to 100,000 square meters by the end of this year. Based on a consumption rate of 100 phones per square meter, this would enable us to supply up to 10 million phones.” According to an IDC report, global smartphone shipments in 2019 totaled 1.371 billion units, with China accounting for approximately 370 million units. As the penetration rate of 5G smartphones continues to rise, IDC forecasts that the market size for graphene thermal films could reach US$2.3 billion within two to three years. Cai Jinming estimates that by 2022, Morui Technology’s optical thermal film project could generate a net profit of around 250 million yuan. In addition, Morui Technology is continuously developing new products in other application areas—graphene conductive agents and graphene facial masks are among the key areas where the company is making significant strides. Morui Technology is a typical technology-driven startup; to date, its entire team has remained under 40 people, yet it includes three experts who are part of the National Thousand Talents Program. At the end of the interview, Cai Jinming shared with the reporter his “big vision”: “If things go smoothly, we hope to list on the capital market within five years.”

This article is sourced from the internet; if it infringes on any rights, please contact us and we will remove it.