Nantong to support high-end textile manufacturing

17 Feb '17

3 min read

Courtesy: Centre for Advanced 2D Materials, National University of Singapore

Nantong, located in China's Jiangsu province, will vigorously support manufacturing of high-end textiles, including the use of graphene fibre in various textile applications. This will be listed in Nantong municipal government's 13th Five Year Plan as one of the three key pillar industries, the textile city's vice mayor Wang Jianfeng has said.

Earlier this week, a conference on high-end textile and grapheme firbe new materials innovation was held in Nantong. The event focused on the special functions of graphene fibre in different textile applications, and sought breakthrough development in high-end textile industry.

Graphene, one of the most disruptive new materials, is being regarded as the most important new material for research and development this century. Scientists in Europe, the US, Japan, China and many other countries have achieved success in using graphene in developing new energy, electronics, polymer materials and other aspects .

In recent years, there has been a rapid development in the use of graphene in new high-end textile materials. The 13th Five Year Plan of the Chinese chemical fibre industry mentions that "graphene composite fibre industrialisation and its application will promote structural reform in the supply side of China's chemical fibre textile industry to create high-end intelligent textile.

Nantong, located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth, saw its high-end textiles output value increase by 8 per cent to 244.16 billion yuan in 2016. Profit earned by leading textile enterprises in high-end textiles stood at 18.77 billion yuan, registering a growth of 10.8 per cent.

"The application of graphene in the textile industry is more realistic and good choice," said Duan Xiaoping, chairman of the China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, and vice president of China Textile Industry Association. The development path of the graphene industry is likely to be similar to that of carbon fibre and it is expected to take nearly 10 years from 2010, when Nobel Physics prize was given to professors Andre Geim and Dr. Konstantin Novoselov for their pioneering research on graphene.

Xiaoping urged business representatives at the conference to make sustained investment in the development of graphene industry. He said the role of private enterprises cannot be ignored in the process of product development to comprehensively assess the performance of graphene in the textile industry.

"Graphene is a special new material. It is not a material for innovation and development, but for driving a series of materials to jointly develop," said Li Yichun, secretary general of China Graphene Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance. Although the current enthusiasm is high, companies must do practical things to achieve great development in the graphene industry, Yichun added.

Clothing, home textiles, and industrial textiles are expected to be three major application areas and can open up the market for graphene. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – China

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