John Whittaker
Technical Services Manager
The material requires intervention. It doesn’t occur naturally. The revolution was in isolating it but you have to put this in a lot of perspective. We’ve been here before with nanotechnologies. Far more work is needed if we’re to utilise those properties. How we actually do that, we’re at different stages of technology readiness levels but some are almost ready for upscaling. The lightbulb is a good example where graphene is being used with other materials to enhance performance.
There’s a lot of competition around the world but that seems to be focussed on graphene theory or graphene around electronics – their advancements are very high in one area but nobody is doing what we’re doing here in Manchester – exploring graphene across all its dimensions. My main drive is to provide the best facilities for graphene research to happen. I’d like to think that I’m using my strengths. I’ve got degrees in science but I regard myself as an engineer. I’ve been hanging around scientists for nearly 30 years so you pick up the lingo quite well. I was honoured when I was offered this position.