Crann, the nanoscience research institute at Trinity College, Dublin, has signed a research collaboration worth €750,000 with British firm Thomas Swan Co.

The research will focus on the industrial production of graphene, the material which was the subject of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010, and which is the strongest and most conductive material known to man.

Potential applications for graphene include next generation electronic devices, mechanically strengthened plastics and new thermoelectric materials.

Thomas Swan Co is a north of England-based manufacturer of chemicals. Crann’s research into graphene production is led by Prof Jonathan Coleman, Science Foundation Ireland’s researcher of the year in 2011.