The GRAPHENE mega thread - because it's technology you need to know about!

A huge announcement on producing graphene from synthetic diamonds.

A team… has developed a method to grow graphene that contains relatively few impurities and costs less to make, in a shorter time and at lower temperatures compared to the processes widely used to make graphene today.
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The new technology taps ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD), a synthetic type of diamond that Argonne researchers have pioneered through years of research. UNCD serves as a physical substrate, or surface on which the graphene grows, and the source for the carbon atoms that make up a rapidly produced graphene sheet.
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The new process is also much more cost-effective than conventional methods based on using silicon carbide as a substrate. Sumant says that the 3- to 4-inch silicon carbide wafers used in these types of growth methods cost about $1,200, while UNCD films on silicon wafers cost less than $500 to make.
The [UNCD] method also takes less than a minute to grow a sheet of graphene, where the conventional method takes on the order of hours.
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Computer simulations… showed that certain crystallographic orientation of nickel-111 highly favor nucleation [crystal formation], and subsequent rapid growth of graphene; this [process] was then confirmed experimentally [by UC-Riverside].

…The nickel atoms diffuse into the diamond and destroy its crystalline order, while carbon atoms from this amorphous solid move to the nickel surface and rapidly form honeycomb-like structures, resulting in mostly defect-free graphene.

The nickel then percolate[s] through the fine crystalline grains of the UNCD, sinking out of the way and removing the need for acid to dissolve away excess metal atoms from the top surface.

Source: Phys.org, Sept. 19, 2016 - Diamond proves useful material for growing graphene.

A material scientist, the DOE, and Argonne National Laboratory’s Center for Nanoscale Materials and Material Science Division, and UC-Riverside made up the team! (same source). The choice of substrate materials to CVD graphite upon, or the process to exfoliate graphene from graphite, or in this case, how to dope the particular ultrananocrystalline diamond structure and essentially melt nickel through it resulting in large (3- to 4- inch) sheet of graphene seems to be major sticking point in large-scale graphene production. Look at how huge the team is that came up with this concept! I am glad that they had an independent team verify their computer simulated results and the experiment results. That is true science and proves reproducibility! The next step is scalability. I wonder if they can create a layer of graphene and then stop, then lift that layer off but not as a whole sheet (accordion like) then roll the graphene off? A continuous roll of graphene would be a miracle!

Defect free reduced graphene oxide (microwave announcement), crystalline graphene using lasers, the roll-to-roll CVD at 60 micrometers per second (~.36 inches in a minute if I have done my factors of ten right)… this announcement blows them out of the water! This is what is needed for electronic devices. The Argonne team has patents (3) and are teaming up with European Space Agency to get this on future probes (same source).

Way cool announcement!

Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific[‘s] (SSC Pacific) new procedure utilizes a cleaner electrolysis transfer method that gently separates the graphene from copper through electrically induced bubbles in a water bath [versus chemically removing the substrate from the back of the graphene].

SSC Pacific team members, in collaboration with the University of Hawaii's College of Engineering, take this pristine graphene and use galinstan (a non-toxic liquid metal) to fabricate clean, reliable electrical contacts. Due to liquid metal's ability to conform to surfaces, it forms better electrical contact with solid materials that lead to only nominal degrees of surface roughness.

Source: Phys.org, Sept. 20, 2016 - Researchers develop more efficient, reliable means of electrically contacting graphene.

The article’s title is very misleading! This is actually a method removing chemical vapor deposition (CVD) created graphene from the base that it is grown on. Basically, in CVD the graphene is deposited and grows upon a copper base. That substrate is then, currently, chemically removed leaving behind graphene upon another substance called a transfer agent. In this new process, the liquid metal electrodes contact the back of the graphene and induce bubbles on the side where the graphene contacts the copper substrate which ends up releasing the sheet of pristine graphene. The article continues…

The FLC award also recognized the group's groundbreaking research on graphene and multi-spectral detection; the researchers have proven—for the first time—that graphene can be combined with integrated circuits to detect electro-magnetic signals, which means there is the potential for graphene-based products that are able to switch among visible, infrared, and radio.

Now this being Naval research the first example given is night vision goggles. This graphene and IC combination would be flexible, reduce weight, and allow a more wide field of vision than currently in use (same source). The comment is made, you can wear the goggles as normal, it gets dark and you can switch to night vision. You want to see if there are radio broadcasts being made? Then you can switch over to the radio spectrum! (same source) That is warfare thinking for you! I think a more prosaic use would be screening airline passengers for fever to keep sick people flying, then once on the plane, when the pilot says turn off your devices, switch to the radio spectrum to see which selfish a-hole still have theirs on. But what do expect from a civie?

Cool discovery none the less!

Do you think we would have eventually discovered graphene ourselves if the aliens hadn't given it to us?

a reply to: MongolianPaellaFish

Well they obviously didn't do a very good job seeing as we haven't yet got a way to mass produce it.

originally posted by: GetHyped
a reply to: MongolianPaellaFish

Well they obviously didn't do a very good job seeing as we haven't yet got a way to mass produce it.

I think they just assumed we would work that out by ourselves. You can't expect the aliens to do everything for us!

originally posted by: MongolianPaellaFish
Do you think we would have eventually discovered graphene ourselves if the aliens hadn't given it to us?

Err..... look up Graphite.
Graphene was a direct result of the postulations made by people who had experimented with the electrical properties of Graphite.
Wouldnt be surprised if the belated appearance in the white world wasn't precluded by more than just an "old piano that was playing hot behind the green door" however.

originally posted by: GetHyped
a reply to: MongolianPaellaFish

Well they obviously didn't do a very good job seeing as we haven't yet got a way to mass produce it.

Wouldn't be too sure about that.
Have you heard of a leadshot tower? Sometimes nature can give you a hand if you can get high enough.

originally posted by: Jukiodone
Err..... look up Graphite.
Graphene was a direct result of the postulations made by people who had experimented with the electrical properties of Graphite.

That's the official story...

originally posted by: MongolianPaellaFish

originally posted by: Jukiodone
Err..... look up Graphite.
Graphene was a direct result of the postulations made by people who had experimented with the electrical properties of Graphite.

That's the official story...

There's a fairly satisfying record of scientific milestones in the development but a rather large gap where people didn't seem interested - even though the proposed applications would be useful in all sorts of MIC related technologies.

Due to the nature of the material it could well be that things like progress in optical imaging were restraining factors but everything I've ever read on the subject suggests people understood and anticipated potential applications since at least 1948.

a reply to: MongolianPaellaFish

Graphene is also naturally occurring but nobody ever thought about looking for it. That is how they "discovered" Buckminster Fullerenes is that the guy looked at his kid's soccer ball and imagined hexagonal carbon atoms in a 3-D structure. Later, when astronomers were looking at a distant galaxy they "discovered" (more like, observed) Bucky Balls free floating in space. Because it is a natural allotrope of carbon Bucky Balls have never been patented.

And yes, they were thinking of 2D materials back in the 1890s (at least Tesla was! He was nearly obsessed with hexagons). The 1920s was the first inkling of 2D materials with no practical way to make them. The Nobel winning discovery of graphene was in 2004 but it has been around longer than that. Aliens not necessary for this "discovery". Humans are quite clever and inventive at times!

Besides, allotropes and isotopes have been items of keen interest since the dawning of the nuclear age. Both as shielding material and as a storage material. The first big wave was actually carbon nanotubes. For those of us outside black budget projects we have to wait for graphene news to slowly trickle out from laboratories around the globe. That fact may be where the "conspiracy feeling" comes from.


Story on how graphene can be layered with metal (in this case nickel because it strongly adheres to graphene) so that if the metal structure fractures it is not a complete failure with graphene layers providing extra strength.

I had previously noted that graphene would probably first be used in construction materials to strengthen them. Especially concrete. But first they need to be able to produce it at large scales.

Phys.org, Sept. 19, 2016 - New study shows nickel graphene can be tuned for optimal fracture strength.

Haydale is on the acquisition hunt!

Haydale continues its overseas expansion with the 7 $m... acquisition of ACMC Holding, a South Carolina-based business that specializes in silicon carbide, a compound that is used to toughen ceramics and polymers.
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It is Haydale's second acquisition in a month after its... purchase of Innophene, a Thai company that produces graphene enhanced inks.

Source: The Telegraph (.uk), Sept. 23, 2016 - Haydale Graphene snaps up US nanotech business as it moves from R&D to sales.

Would have put more detail but the Telegraph has some kind of "no copy and paste" measure (or maybe too many adverts scripted to scroll by) so I free typed what the article says--all typos are my own!

What the article does not mention is that silicon carbide can also be used to produce graphene and since Haydale has not released details on their plasma technique of producing graphene it is not known if this plays into their graphene production. Silicon carbide is also made by CVD and is used in many application including satellites where they have grown 3.5-meter disks for use as mirrors like the Herschel Space Telescope (source, Wikipedia entry: silicon carbide) so maybe they can grow sheets of graphene that big! Who knows.

Even if they end up producing just silicon carbide, there was an announcement the other day from Odessa, Texas, where a project was green-lighted and a grant procured to create a zero emission pebble bed reactor whose pebbles use silicon carbide. A graphene lined reactor wall keeping the helium contained would be a great bonus for Haydale!

Yet again I ask, "Where is the US in all of this?" The only real answer I have hits the tinfoil hat zone--the black budget projects in certain defense contractors have this tech well developed. As in, "have you ever heard of Boeing's Black Diamond facility?" kind of thing. Otherwise, it seems the US is lagging in the production and sales area.

Not much in the way of production news. Everybody has been reposting the microwave method and/or the laser method but there has been no other real break-throughs since. Here is yet another study-pilot test from an epoxy manufacturer and a familiar name to this thread.

Huntsman [Advance Material's] research involves using a low temperature plasma (under 100˚C) patented by one of its partners, Haydale Composite Solutions, which activates and allows modification of the nanomaterial’s surface energy and enables dispersion into a host medium, such as resin. Without using chemical acid treatments which can cause damage and degrade functional performance, this process maintains the structural integrity and mechanical strength of the final product.

Taking test plates cast from the activated graphene mixed into master batches of various concentrations of ARALDITE epoxy resins, Huntsman has been conducting a series of physical, electrical and thermal tests in the continued evaluation of the composite performance.

Source: Eurekamagazine.com (.uk), Oct. 3, 2016 - Graphene infused epoxy eyes prepreg.

So if you have followed along with the descriptions of various manufacturing processes you know that Haydale has a cool plasma method to utilize graphene, that "masterbatch" is a base material being enhanced with the properties of graphene, and epoxy infused graphene and carbon fiber are already being tested in automobiles and aviation applications. Looks like Huntsman wants to be the glue holding graphene-carbon fiber materials together. Reduced weight means reduced fuel which means less pollution in the long run... so YAY on that part1

Not much news, but hey, it has been a slow season as summer winds down in the Northern Hemisphere.

...the next step is to start yet another car company. Three years after the collapse and bankruptcy of his original effort, Fisker Automotive, the Danish designer is back in business. The new Fisker, Inc. plans to launch a new line of long-range electric vehicles that will rival the likes of upstart Tesla Motors,

While the executive wouldn't offer many details, he noted that he has teamed up with "researchers from UCLA" who have been developing a next-generation lithium-ion battery technology, dubbed grapheme, that, among other things, can increase energy-density — the amount of power that can be stored in a pack.

"We'll have increased range, increased longevity and incredibly fast charging times," Fisker said.

Source: NBC News, Oct. 4, 2016 - Tesla's Rival is Back: Fisker Launches an All-New Battery-Car Company.

From the "I can't make this stuff up" file comes this "story". So, from what I understand, the guy who went head-to-head against Tesla lost his company. Now he is back with a confusing company name that is the same as he previous company name (man, ever hear of karma dude?). As stated above, he now has a new team up in the battery business. The poor reporter has no clue! *shakes head* No! It is NOT lithium ion technology that was developed at UCLA! And the new battery is NOT called, "graphene"! *facepalm* make it a double *facepalm* So, a little (and I mean very minimum), research (i.e., I used Google), found a news link from April. The guys at UCLA made a paper thin graphene supercapacitor. Source story: Kaner Laboratory researchers develop battery-like supercapacitor.

OK. [/rant]. So the new car company, that is named the same as the old, is going to use a graphene supercapacitor developed at UCLA. It will charge faster, hold more of a charge, and last longer, and be lighter than anything Tesla currently has! And it uses graphene.

Seriously, does anybody watch this stuff to figure out what is going on in their world? I do not think I could have gotten it more wrong if I tried. To quasi quote a famous scientist, "That is not right. It is not even close to wrong" (Wolfgang Pauli)

[Researchers at the Air Force Research Laboratory's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate] exchanged the commonly used metal foil current collectors for Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)-grown carbon nanotube mats. Carbon nanotubes are known to be highly conductive and extremely strong—two features a flexible battery would need in order to generate power in diverse forms. The researchers prepared the batteries by placing a separator between a carbon nanotube-based anode and cathode that they then encapsulated in a thin, flexible plastic film. The battery was then charged and placed under mechanical testing where it was bent and creased to see if it could perform consistently under extreme mechanical abuse.

The battery's performance exceeded expectations, maintaining a steady voltage even after more than 288 folds and manipulations.

Source: PrintedElectronicsWorld.com, Oct. 11, 2016 - Flexible batteries: evolving energy for the new reality.

Sad news for Samsung as they halted their Galaxy 7 phone sales and recalled all delivered ones due to battery problems. Good news for the rest of us. One day the gaphene battery will arrive (it has always been "just around the corner"). This is just another step towards that reality. A direct swap out for Li-ion would be the fastest way to make a ton of money. Everybody who hates the charge times would buy one. Thankfully the scientists have a provisional patent on their device (according to the article).

Some day soon.... I will believe it when I hold one in my grubby little hands! In the meantime,

Not quite a three for Thursday but the following two are similar enough I will give ya'll a two-fer.

First up,

An innovative smart material consisting of carbon nanotubes and Lycra fibres can act as a sensor and also initiate movement in response to a stimulus.
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Our recent work allowed us to develop smart clothing that simultaneously monitors the wearer’s movements, senses strain and adjusts the garment to support or correct the movement,” explained Javad Foroughi, the project’s lead researcher

Source: Engineering & Technology, Oct. 12, 2016 - Smart textile from Lycra and carbon nanotubes more ‘powerful’ than human muscles

Second

The researchers sprayed a water solution containing .2 percent carbon nanotubes or graphene onto mulberry leaves and then fed the leaves to the silkworms. They then allowed the silkworms to make their silk in the normal way. Testing of the silks that were produced showed they could withstand approximately 50 percent more stress than traditional silk. A closer look showed that the new silk was made of a more orderly crystal structure than normal silk. And taking their experiments one step further, the researchers cooked the new silk at 1,050 °C causing it to be carbonized—that caused the silk to conduct electricity.

Phys.org, Oct. 11, 2016 Silkworms fed carbon nanotubes or graphene produce stronger silk.

The thought of Lyrca making a huge comeback... *shivers* But that aside, acting as both a sensor and mechanically is a real neat trick. That they are already thinking of therapeutic uses is also welcome news.

Didn't feeding spiders graphee get someone an IG-Nobel prize? Besides the ethical treatment of the silkworms is the last little bit of carbonized silk. That might be a method of creating CNT wires. Bundle them up like current high tension wires and you might have something!

Maybe one day, someone will invent a nano-machine that strings together free floating carbon and poops out graphene!

So only one of the previous links was actually on today! Here is another two-fer both on today making yet another three-for-Thursday graphene news day!

OCSiAl is the only company in the market that is capable of producing industrial-scale volumes of single wall carbon nanotubes. With its REACH [Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals] registration, OCSiAl currently commercializes 10 tonnes of single wall carbon nanotubes in Europe. OCSiAl’s global production capacity of TUBALL™ will reach 60 tonnes next year. REACH registration will support OCSiAl’s drive to further scale up its nanotube manufacturing volumes and to boost the company’s presence in the European market.

Source: PackagingEurope.com, Oct. 13, 2016 - The First Time Ever, Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes Complete REACH Registration.

As a result, in a paper published Thursday (Oct. 13, 2016) in the journal Nature Protocols, the researchers have described in great detail how to fabricate and use transparent graphene neural electrode arrays in applications in electrophysiology, fluorescent microscopy, optical coherence tomography, and optogenetics. "We described how to do these things so we can start working on the next generation," says [Jack] Ma.

Phys.org, Oct 13, 2016 - Engineers reveal fabrication process for revolutionary transparent sensors.

First story is about having a standard method of production of SWCNTs and having that reviewed and approved for use in various applications. This is a world first! Congrats on the certification. Here comes single walled carbon nanotubes to a package near you (great at keeping moisture out). Plus it has a cool name which always helps!

The second one is cool that the team has given step-by-step instructions on how to create their device. The implications can make you run and grab your tin foil hat and put it on (after checking for transparent neural electrode arrays). See where that leads to? At first it is a great boon for medicine but the possible abuses are easy to imagine. It is kind of like talking about lice then start scratching your head because it kind of itches.

Two CNT stories (Lycra, certification) and one graphene story (with a slightly nervous "YAY?"), not bad for a three-for-Thursday!

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

UPDATE: On the fishing rod announcement from earlier this year

Applied Graphene Materials (AGM), a producer of synthesised specialty graphene nanoplatelets (A-GNPs) and master dispersions, has revealed the first of its new production orders to customers within the company’s target composites, polymers and coatings markets.
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AGM recently announced one such collaboration with Century Composites, a Tyne & Wear-based UK fishing rod manufacturer.

Source: PWR.com, Oct. 19, 2016 - Applied Graphene Materials announces contract wins.

So, the OP announcement was in May and here is a story on the manufacturing side (supplier) in October... some 5 months later. No product announced as of yet so... maybe another six months? Still nice to see this moving forward.

Looks like 2017 is going to be the Year of Graphene!

Graphene Corp., has developed processes to refine graphite with a much higher yield of graphene. This process can be used with a wide variety of graphite sources, therefore does not limit itself to specific raw material used. The Elcora technical personnel have also developed a unique low-cost and ecological process to make graphene that is commercially scalable.
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Elcora has generated a new and unique graphene production process with 55% of graphene content. Many graphene production companies currently generate a thin graphite powder with only 2-10% of graphene content.

Elcora Corp's website, Press release, Oct. 26, 2016 - ELCORA’s GRAPHENE CORP BEGINS GRAPHENE SHIPMENTS. (Their all caps headline)

So Elcora is a graphite producer (Canada) who owns a company that makes graphene from their graphite (vertical ownership). And they can use other's graphite as a source. So vertical and IP, not a bad method to take the industry forward! They are selling "powder and wafer shapes" (same source) which makes me wonder what "wafer shapes" are going to be used for. The main website has a wedge shaped picture of AAA batteries on it. Huh. The Center for Advanced 2D Materials has given them a thumbs up on quality. And they have a plant in Singapore.

Is this the first shot of the graphene revolution? Are the much touted graphene batteries about to see the light of day?

[ETA: So went to the Graphene Corp website here and they have already created a test battery of Li ion using their graphite. The name "Tesla" keeps popping up too (CEO is friends with one of Tesla's leaders). And, Elcora plans $5M Halifax plant aimed at electric car market (.ca) says they are aiming for the electric car market. Which, again, brings up Tesla again.]

Today we were surprised to find that Apple was granted their first patent covering a foldable and/or bendable future iPhone that was never published before as a patent application under Apple's name. Apple must have kept it secret by filing it under their engineer's names and not under Apple to avoid detection.
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Apple notes in today's granted patent that "Electronic devices may be provided with carbon nanotube structures or other structures based on carbon (e.g., graphene structures, carbon-fiber structures having carbon fibers other than carbon nanotubes, etc.).

PatentlyApple.com, Nov. 1, 2016 - Apple Wins Surprising Patent for a Future Bendable or Foldable iPhone using Advanced Carbon Nanotube Structures.

Sneaky monkey! File the patent under the engineer's name. *shakes head* The fact that they call out "carbon nanotube structures" means this can be several variations on the same theme using single-, double-, walled CNTs. Then add in the "other carbon structures" does not take a rocket surgeon to come up with "graphene".

Add in this story from ScienceDaily - Towards better metallic glasses, where they have simulated crystal growth to prevent the formation of either substance (like the "aluminum glass" in Star Trek made by Scotty) and know how/why it works (i.e., it is repeatable)... could the future be right around the corner (no pun intended)?

An iPhone you can bend, made out of indestructible glass, that instead of cracking, bounces! Maybe as thin as current cardkeys you use to get into secure areas!

In a paper appearing online today in advance of publication in the journal Nature Materials, University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists report a new [photovoltaic cell] design that already achieves an average steady-state efficiency of 18.4 percent, with a high of 21.7 percent and a peak efficiency of 26 percent.
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The achievement comes thanks to a new way to combine two perovskite solar cell materials – each tuned to absorb a different wavelength or color of sunlight – into one “graded bandgap” solar cell that absorbs nearly the entire spectrum of visible light. Previous attempts to merge two perovskite materials have failed because the materials degrade one another’s electronic performance.
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The key to mating the two materials into a tandem solar cell is a single-atom thick layer of hexagonal boron nitride [aka, white graphene], which looks like a layer of chicken wire separating the perovskite layers from one other. In this case, the perovskite materials are made of the organic molecules methyl and ammonia, but one contains the metals tin and iodine, while the other contains lead and iodine doped with bromine. The former is tuned to preferentially absorb light with an energy of 1 electron volt (eV) – infrared, or heat energy – while the latter absorbs photons of energy 2 eV, or an amber color.

The monolayer of boron nitride allows the two perovskite materials to work together and make electricity from light across the whole range of colors between 1 and 2 eV.

The perovskite/boron nitride sandwich is placed atop a lightweight aerogel of graphene [graphene aerogel] that promotes the growth of finer-grained perovskite crystals, serves as a moisture barrier and helps stabilize charge transport though the solar cell, Zettl said. Moisture makes perovskite fall apart.

Berkley.edu, News, Nov. 7, 2016 - Major advance in solar cells made from cheap, easy-to-use perovskite.

And it is semi-flexible unlike silicon PV panels that are rigid. White graphene and graphene aerogel with easy to make perovskites living in one big happy lasagna of solar converting goodness. That is pretty cool stuff right there! I wonder if they heard of connecting the PV up to flow battery electrolytes directly without converting it to electricity first? I hope so because that would open up the entire solar/flow battery market. And they have not even fine tuned it yet!

I think graphene aerogel will be first out of the gate followed closely by graphene itself as far as an "in your hand" product goes. Those aerogel speakers should be along any day now and you can buy the Orion2 Lukla jacket right now (which yours truly may pull the trigger on).

The first "consumer-ready" loudspeaker made from graphene oxide has been unveiled by the Canada-based company ORA. Researchers at the start-up company made their loudspeaker from a grapheme-oxide-based composite material dubbed GrapheneQ. The material has properties similar to pristine graphene, which is a sheet of carbon just one atom thick. GrapheneQ is made by reducing graphene and then adding a proprietary blend of cross linkers to make the composite.
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"GrapheneQ is also very inexpensive to produce (membranes cost as little as $0.02 in raw materials), is easily shaped into 3D forms, and is scalable," explains ORA co-founder Xavier Cauchy.

Physicsworld.com, Flash Physics (news flashes), Nov. 22, 2016 - "Consumer-re ady" loudspeaker is made from graphene oxide.

No word on the pricing either. Since it is using reduced graphene oxide the electric draw should be minimal and with proprietary dopants specifically made for audio applications it should sound clear. The Q curve is mathematic relation between power and power loss in relation to damping... well, it kind of like the "range" the speaker can cover well without undo effects (like too much bass or too much hiss). So the overall "quality" (which is what most people refer the 'Q' to nowadays) is fit for purpose. All of the Q factor means they do not need to use more circuits to cut or enhance frequencies which, again, saves in power consumption.

A quick google for 'ORA' shows that they are a kick-starter success story! Looks like their design is for iPad use (wrap around speakers!) but if this takes off I am sure you will see other versions like maybe for an iPhone 7?

Cool news! Graphene speakers are on their way!