GRAPHERGIA at Graphene Week 2025: A Chronicle of Energy, Innovation, Sustainability, and Connections

Graphene Research Made Social: The Poster Sessions

The conference opened with plenary sessions and the customary mix of talks and poster sessions, wrapped up the first day at the Welcome Reception hosted in the stunning Olympic Theatre of Vicenza. In the mornings of Monday 22 and Tuesday 23, Magda Spella, Researcher and Project Manager at Foundation For Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), our coordinator, represented GRAPHERGIA in the Graphene Flagship project’s Managers Meeting and in the Graphene Flagship Annual Meeting, in which each project presented their progress and latest research results, remarking the importance of the community as key to boost our graphene and 2D materials innovation.

From the evening of 22 September, GRAPHERGIA’s presence in the posters area became visible and talked about. Natalia Kantouni, PhD Student at FORTH, showcased a poster on a scalable laser‑assisted in situ method to grow conductive graphene films onto textiles and fabrics, bridging lab methods toward industrial roll‑to‑roll processes. “Using both pulsed Nd:YAG (1064 nm) and continuous-wave CO₂ (10.6 µm) lasers, graphene oxide coatings were reduced on diverse substrates, including polyester, polyamide, and carbon-fiber prepregs. Optimized processing yielded sheet resistance values as low as 8–10 Ω sq^-1, among the lowest reported for laser-scribed graphene on fabrics. Crucially, the method was upscaled to an industrial roll-to-roll (R2R) platform, producing meter-scale, uniform graphene-coated textiles, thus bridging laboratory research with industrial manufacturing feasibility”, explained Natalia. 

Dorela Hoxa, Materials and Processes Engineer at Pleione Energy, one of the GRAPHERGIA partners, joined Natalia in the poster session of Monday, but to disseminate her research related to projects connected to GRAPHERGIA: INERRANT Batteries, integrating novel materials with scalable processes for safer and recyclable Li-ion batteries, and EMPHASIS-Supercaps, developing breakthrough technology for sustainable energy storage.

The next evening, on 23 September, it was Spyros Tsiotos, Materials and Processes Engineer at Adamant Composites, the one representing GRAPHERGIA to present his poster “Reduced Graphene Oxide & CFRPs – Maximized Properties. An investigative overview”, focusing on Adamant‘s work refining the use of laser irradiation to create more cohesive, high‑quality graphene–CFRP interfaces.

These poster sessions provided fertile ground for informal conversations and spontaneous exchanges between researchers, students and industry participants at the end of the day, in a more relaxed and social atmosphere sharing some good Italian food and drinks. For the GRAPHERGIA team, this was the first opportunity to hear in person from people who had followed the project remotely until now.

Life Cycle Assessment and Safe and Sustainable-by-Design of Graphene and 2D Materials: The GRAPHERGIA Workshops Topics

On 24 September, the GIANCE Workshop Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), focused on sustainability and environmental assessment of graphene applications, gave GRAPHERGIA the opportunity to discuss life‑cycle analysis and sustainability metrics. Matteo Maccanti, Environmental Researcher and LCA Analyst at Next Technology Tecnotessile (NTT), contributed to the workshop’s core debate, moderated by Ana Claudia Nioac de Salles, from Fraunhofer ICT, and joined by other key voices from the field: Johan Ek Weis (Chalmers Industriteknik, SIO Grafen), Susanna Andreasi Bassi (JRC European Platform on LCA), and Antonio Valente (ecoinvent).

The following day, 25 September, saw the co‑organised workshop between GRAPHERGIA and SAFARI, titled “Safe and Sustainable‑by‑Design 2D Materials for Energy, Electronics, and Biotechnology”. The session, chaired by Diana Marcano (Poznań Institute of Technology), with Nadia Bali, Postdoctoral Researcher at ICEHT/FORTH, and Matteo Maccanti (NTT) as the GRAPHERGIA speakers, emphasised safe, scalable, and environmentally conscious approaches to next‑generation 2D materials.

Nadia and Matteo were joined by Kyle Matthews, the workshop’s guest speaker, Co-Founder and CTO at MXene Inc., a spin-off from Drexel University, built on a foundation of cutting-edge research and innovation to commercialize and scale MXene technology in the United States, and João Laranjeira, Project Manager and Researcher at ISQ, who spoke about the safe and sustainable-by-design approach for 2D materials in the SAFARI project.

These more focused workshops allowed GRAPHERGIA to step beyond mere presentation and engage in deeper dialogues, compare practices with peers, and seed potential follow‑ups.

As Mona Marill, AUSTRALO Project Manager, our Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation leader, reflected:

“This year, the Graphene Week offered a great opportunity for our project to present its research in workshops with two projects, GIANCE and SAFARI. It was amazing to see all the graphene enthusiasts come together during this week to present their work. We engaged with stakeholders who are new to GRAPHERGIA’s ambitions, and activities related to future energy solutions powered by graphene. I hope that these exchanges turn into new collaborations within the Graphene Flagship ecosystem, and beyond!”

Networking, Podcasts and GrapheneEU Community Building

One of the hallmarks of Graphene Week is the Graphene Flagship Hall, where participating graphene projects share exhibition space, information stalls, and open‑networking opportunities. GRAPHERGIA joined other EU sibling projects like ARMS, 2DSPIN-TECH, 2D ENGINE, 2D-PRINTABLE, SAFARI, GIANCE, MUNASET, 2D-BioPAD, GATEPOST, Next-2Digits, and 2DNeuralVision, strengthening the sense of common purpose among 2D and graphene consortia.

GRAPHERGIA also leveraged the setting to record two podcast episodes. One focused on sustainability and future energy, meanwhile the other, on biosensors and biomedicine, featuring some of its own scientists and innovators. These recordings not only give voice to the human stories behind the research but also extend the project’s visibility beyond Vicenza -stay tuned, because we will unveil the speakers, and launch the GRAPHERGIA Podcast Series soon!

As Dorela Hexa (Pleione Energy) put it:

“Graphene Week 2025 was a great opportunity to present our work during the poster session, and to connect in person with partners from ADAMANT, FORTH, NTT, and AUSTRALO. We also had the chance to participate in a mutual podcast with our sister project ARMS, and we gathered useful insights from the conference sessions and discussions around the poster presentations.”

Reflections, Relationships, and New Joint Directions

As the week came to a close, several themes and outcomes stood out for GRAPHERGIA:

1. Stronger links within the Graphene Flagship ecosystem
   The in‑person presence allowed GRAPHERGIA to refresh existing relationships and build new ones, especially with projects such as GIANCE, SAFARI, and ARMS. The shared hall, workshops, and podcasts all helped to reinforce the value of collaboration. As Magda Spella (FORTH) observed:

   “For one more time Graphene Week proved its value, since we strengthened the bonds between the Graphene Flagship projects and left with new ideas and meaningful connections. Congratulations to the organizers and speakers!”

2. Raising awareness and opening doors
   GRAPHERGIA’s mix of posters, workshop contributions, and podcast appearances enabled it to reach stakeholders who had previously been unaware of its work. The project’s messaging around graphene-enabled energy solutions and sustainable design resonated with audiences beyond the core graphene community.

3. New seeds for collaboration and ideas
   The technical discussions, joint sessions, and side conversations generated ideas for cross‑project synergies, especially in sustainability assessment, manufacturing, and scaling challenges. These are prospects that the GRAPHERGIA consortium will likely pursue further in coming months to continue the conversations started during the Graphene Week 2025.

4. Affirming commitment to broader sustainability
   The presence and words of key researchers and scientists reinforced the notion that the evaluation of graphene’s future must consider not just technical performance, but environmental, social and economic dimensions. As Matteo Maccanti (NTT) declared:

   “Proud and happy to have participated in this stimulating conference, which lays an excellent and solid foundation for the future of sustainability assessments, not only from a technical standpoint, but also from environmental, social, and economic perspectives, for such an important material as graphene. Next Technology Tecnotessile reaffirms its leading role, remaining ready and committed to embracing and addressing the challenges of tomorrow.”

And in the words of Spyros Tsiotos (Adamant Composites):

“The best part of Graphene Week 2025 was realizing that ideas and friendships grow fastest when shared with people who are just as curious as you are.”

That sentiment summarises what GRAPHERGIA took away: not just technical insights or contacts, but renewed energy from shared curiosity and collaboration.

Graphene Week 2025 in Vicenza will likely be remembered by the GRAPHERGIA team as a turning point: the moment when its research and narrative fully entered the broader conversation of graphene and 2D communities in Europe and beyond. The workshops, posters, and podcasts built visibility; the networking and relationships built trust and new ideas; and the conversations opened the way to new joint directions.

In the months ahead, GRAPHERGIA will be working to convert the momentum and connections from Vicenza into concrete collaborative proposals, shared experiments, and wider stakeholder engagement.

See you next year in Porto for the Graphene Week 2026!