Graphene Jacket

While it’s invisible to the human eye and only a single atom thick, graphene is the lightest, strongest, most conductive material ever discovered. The existence of graphene as a supermaterial was first theorised in the 1940s, but it wasn’t until 2004 that two maverick scientists at the University of Manchester – Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov – were able to isolate and test it. They peeled layer after layer off a shaving of graphite using Scotch tape until they produced a sample of graphene just one atom thick. In 2010 their work won them the Nobel Prize. 

Now, 6 years after we started working with graphene, we’re getting closer to building a graphene skin. This time the graphene sits at the core of the jacket where it can store and redistribute heat, help regulate your temperature, and reduce humidity next to your body. It’s also highly breathable, highly waterproof, and thanks to the graphene nanoplatelets only being a few atoms thick, weighs just 197 grams.

While the scientists who first isolated graphene used Scotch tape to extract it from a shaving of graphite pencil lead, we don’t. We create tiny stacks of graphene mechanically, using zero chemicals or solvents, before blending them with polyurethane to create an ultrathin graphene membrane that sits at the very centre of the jacket.

We sandwich the graphene membrane in between two layers of super thin Nylon mesh before laminating the three layers together to create a single ultralight fabric. While the mesh protects and strengthens the membrane, the microscopic gaps in the mesh let the graphene nanoplatelets interact with your body and the outside world at the same time.

In 2014 physicists at the Max Planck Institute revealed that graphene challenges the fundamental laws of heat conduction. While the amount of heat a material can conduct was believed to stay constant whatever size or shape it was, the conductivity of graphene increases the more graphene there is, which means that it can theoretically absorb an unlimited amount of heat. In the real world this means you can use your jacket like a radiator.

You can heat the jacket up by leaving it out in the sun or over a radiator, and the graphene will simply store the heat and spread it around your body when you put the jacket on. The effect can be visibly demonstrated by placing your hand on the fabric, taking it away, and then shooting the jacket with a thermal imaging camera. The heat of the hand print stays long after the hand has left.

When graphite is reduced to a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagon formation, it turns into a supermaterial unlike anything ever known before – it’s so strong and so stretchy that the fibres of a big enough spider web coated in graphene could catch a falling plane. With the potential to transform almost every industry from space travel to electronics, graphene is so mind-blowing that its discovery was described as like finding CERN’s Large Hadron Collider on your desk.

Wearing a graphene membrane next to your body keeps you warmer by increasing your skin temperature. But at the same time it also creates less humidity next to your body than a normal membrane. In lab tests the humidity was consistently lower during every phase of exercise and recovery, so you should feel less hot and sweaty. The working theory is that graphene is able to disperse the extra humidity from the heat – but how it does it isn’t known yet.  

Even without the added graphene this would still be one of the most advanced ultralight jackets on Earth. The membrane prevents water from penetrating the material from the outside while letting sweat vapour escape from the inside, making the jacket highly waterproof and breathable at the same time. And the outer layer is treated with a water repellent coating so that rain beads off its surface and helps it dry quickly.

The jacket is fitted with a three-piece peaked hood which can be tightened at speed using the cord adjuster at the back. The minimalist cord lock is extremely lightweight and works without the traditional metal spring mechanism. With one finger on either side, you simply push the rubber lock together to open it up, then pull the cord away from you to cinch the hood around your head.

Graphene is bacteriostatic, which means bacteria can’t grow or reproduce on its surface. As it’s the build up of the bacteria in sweat that makes your clothes smell, the Graphene Jacket will stay fresh far longer than a normal jacket as the bacteria can’t multiply on its surface. As well as being bacteriostatic, the graphene membrane is also hypoallergenic and anti-static.