The rapid advancement of graphene technology in China has been made possible by the country's huge talent pool and careful government planning, said Konstantin Novoselov, the physicist who co-pioneered graphene material.
Novoselov discovered graphene in 2004 together with fellow University of Manchester physicist Andre Geim, using a simple mechanical exfoliation method. Their groundbreaking work earned them the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics, with Novoselov becoming one of the youngest Nobel laureates in history at the age of 36.
In an interview with China Media Group (CMG) that aired Friday, Novoselov said he has closely watched the development of China's material science innovation ecosystem, which has made a number of advances in graphene technology.
"China, because it's a large country with many, many different technologies, developed strongly. It has the raw material supply, as you mentioned, and the most important is the huge talent pool. But probably what makes development of graphene technology easy in this country is the existence of the continuous and complete supply chains because new materials is only part of the solution, so they need to be incorporated into the supply chains somehow. So that's exactly what was done in China and that's easier than in many other countries," said the physicist.
Composed of a single layer of carbon atoms, graphene is about 200 times stronger than steel and boasts superior electrical and thermal conductivity. Its discovery helped usher in the global era of two-dimensional materials.
China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) attaches great importance to scientific and technological innovation, giving further momentum to materials research. Novoselov noted, however, that the country's path to progress in this area began over a decade ago.
"Technological revolution in China started even before, but it was the 12th and 13th five-year plans which really changed the direction, especially the 13th. It's really a huge emphasis on the scientific and technological development. I've been collaborating with my Chinese colleagues for many years and it's really a pleasure to see how those policies transformed into real technologies," said Novoselov.
Graphene pioneer praises China's advances in material science
