Concrete

The Ellington anaerobic digestion facility will use 115 tons of Arigna biochar for ground stabilization, aiding carbon offset in construction. Completion is expected in approximately 18 months.

A new walkway in Nairobi's Upper Hill uses carbon-capturing concrete with biochar to test carbon-negative construction methods.

Miguel Angel Gomez Aristizabal at the National University of Colombia developed carbon nanotubes from coconut shells to reduce steel corrosion in cement by up to 70%.

Argo Graphene Solutions Corp. secured a 10-year exclusive license from Grapherry, Inc. for its STREAM graphene production technology, issuing 2.5 million shares and 5.5 million warrants.

Researchers are evaluating graphene-enhanced concrete for infrastructure projects in North Carolina's Outer Banks, comparing its performance to traditional concrete methods.

In a video, HydroGraph CEO Kjirstin Breure discusses how their graphene enabled a biosensor company to create technology that wasn't possible with other commercially available graphenes.

HydroGraph Clean Power has launched Fractal Graphene Paste, a pre-dispersed aqueous concentrate containing 20% graphene by weight, designed to simplify the incorporation of graphene into water-based industrial formulations. This development is significant for the advanced carbon materials sector as it addresses the dispersion challenges associated with graphene, potentially accelerating its adoption in applications such as construction materials, coatings, and thermal management systems.

Holcim introduced its biochar concrete at the Venice Biennale in 2025, collaborating with architect Alejandro Aravena. This development is significant for advanced carbon materials as biochar can enhance the sustainability of concrete by reducing its carbon footprint.

Turquoise Group has achieved Verified Graphene Producer® status, confirming its capability to produce 30 tonnes of high-purity few-layer graphene annually at its Brisbane facility. This certification enhances the company's credibility in delivering high-quality graphene, a material crucial for applications in coatings, composites, and energy storage.

The FURHY project, funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe program, has released three new key exploitable results, including a hybrid nonwoven material combining recycled carbon fiber and hemp fiber, as it enters its final six months. These developments are significant for the advanced carbon materials sector as they aim to create fully recyclable, bio-based composite materials with reduced carbon footprints, targeting applications in automotive and sports industries.

Eden Innovations Ltd showcased its carbon nanotube technology and EdenCrete® product at the Aarhus Power-to-X Symposium 2026 in Denmark. This participation highlights the potential of carbon nanotubes in reducing the CO2 footprint of construction materials, aligning with global trends towards sustainable construction solutions.

First Graphene Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with The Sixth Element (Changzhou) Material Technology Co Ltd to distribute its PureGRAPH® CEM additive in China. This agreement targets the cement and concrete sector, offering a significant opportunity for graphene-enhanced materials to reduce carbon emissions in the world's largest cement market.

Ant Studio in Noida has designed a sustainable home for Kamran Haider using green cement and biochar to offset carbon emissions. This approach highlights the potential for advanced carbon materials like biochar to enhance sustainability in building design by reducing embodied carbon and improving energy efficiency.

Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles have discovered how graphene oxide (GO) can enhance concrete strength, achieving a more than 20% increase in 28-day compressive strength with just 0.05 wt.% GO dosage. This insight into GO's mechanisms of hydration-seeding and pore-refinement could lead to more effective applications of GO in commercial concrete, optimizing its use for improved structural performance.

Researchers at UCLA have demonstrated that adding 0.05 percent graphene oxide by weight to concrete can increase its 28-day compressive strength by over 20 percent. This finding clarifies graphene oxide's role in enhancing concrete strength, potentially paving the way for its effective commercial application in construction.

Researchers tested M30 grade concrete mixes replacing partial cement with biochar and anatase-phase TiO₂ nanoparticles, finding that a 1% BC + 0.5% TiO₂ mix achieved 41.19 MPa compressive strength at 7 days but exhibited strength regression by 28 days due to thermal eigenstress and micro-cracking at biochar–paste interfaces. The findings highlight a durability limitation for biochar-based concrete composites, indicating that nano-TiO₂ accelerates early hydration at the cost of long-term mechanical performance.

HydroGraph Clean Power Inc. commercially launched Fractal Graphene Paste, a 20% graphene-by-weight aqueous dispersion with a 99.8% carbon purity and over two-year shelf life, and has supplied samples to more than 30 customers. The product targets the graphene sector's core adoption barrier—dispersion difficulty—by delivering a stable, ready-to-use concentrate compatible with standard mixing equipment, which could accelerate graphene uptake in composites, coatings, and construction materials.

Researchers at Kyiv Aviation Institute published a review of 2021–2026 experimental studies on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in reinforced concrete, finding that dosages of 0.05–0.15% by weight of binder increase crack initiation moment by 20–42% and reinforcement bond strength by 16–35%. The findings support broader use of carbon nanotubes as a concrete additive, with identified synergistic effects when combined with fiber reinforcement or micro-fillers offering a pathway to more ductile structural composites.

Argo Graphene Solutions Corp. (CSE: ARGO) closed a license agreement with Grapherry, Inc. on June 25, 2026, acquiring an exclusive worldwide license to Grapherry's STREAM graphene production platform in exchange for up to 11,000,000 common shares and 5,500,000 warrants, with full technology ownership transferring to Argo upon full share issuance. The deal gives Argo control over a scalable graphene production technology targeting construction, agriculture, and energy storage applications, while Grapherry's CEO Vikas Berry joined Argo's board and the company's existing CEO Scott Smale resigned.

Canada's graphene sector has developed across production, construction, filtration, printed electronics, and energy storage, with companies such as NanoXplore operating a 4,000-metric-ton-per-year facility in Montréal and firms like Zentek and Graphene Leaders Canada advancing application-specific products toward commercial deployment. The ecosystem signals a shift from materials science demonstration toward repeatable industrial use cases in carbon-based composites, conductive additives, and separation technologies, though commercial viability still depends on product qualification, standardization, and cost competitiveness against incumbent materials.

Researchers at RMIT University published a study in the Journal of Cleaner Production showing that spent coffee grounds processed via pyrolysis into biochar can increase concrete strength by up to 30%. The finding is relevant to the biochar sector as it demonstrates a scalable pathway for converting organic waste into a functional carbon-based construction material, potentially reducing landfill volumes and demand for natural sand.

Holcim conducted biochar concrete pilot projects across Europe in 2025, including test pours with Canary Wharf Group using biochar from forestry residues and coffee grounds, producing their first net-zero concrete mix. The trials signal a shift for the biochar sector from experimental additive to commercial-scale construction material, with Holcim describing it as a high-performance emissions-reduction input rather than a niche product.

The Advanced Carbons Council published a position paper in May 2026 arguing that carbon credit financing should be redirected from geological carbon capture and sequestration toward conversion of captured carbon into advanced materials such as graphene, carbon fiber, biochar, and carbon nanotubes. The paper contends that carbon-to-materials conversion projects are commercially self-sustaining without ongoing subsidies, unlike CCS, and deliver compounding lifecycle emissions reductions across sectors including construction, aerospace, agriculture, and energy storage.

The Advanced Carbons Council published an overview of graphene and other advanced carbon materials being adopted in construction, citing applications in concrete (Concretene, First Graphene, Versarien), asphalt, and corrosion-resistant coatings (Petronas). These developments indicate growing commercial deployment of graphene additives in construction materials, with documented performance gains in compressive strength, road durability, and steel protection at low material loadings.

The Advanced Carbons Council highlights graphene and related carbon materials being adopted in construction applications including concrete additives (Concretene, First Graphene), graphene-reinforced 3D-printed components (Versarien), asphalt modification, and corrosion-resistant coatings (Petronas). For the advanced carbon materials sector, construction has emerged as a leading commercial deployment area, with multiple suppliers demonstrating validated, scalable products that improve strength, durability, and emissions performance without requiring major process changes.

Terrance Barkan of The Graphene Council published a framework mapping the commercialization maturity journey of graphene through stages from discovery to mature commercialization, identifying nine recurring obstacles including capital access, regulation, standardization, and value chain complexity. The framework positions graphene as approaching proven commercial viability in multiple application areas—including composites, construction materials, and thermal management—while arguing that its "killer application" lies in broad adoption as a performance-enhancing additive across sectors rather than in any single use case.

Argo Graphene Solutions Corp. completed its first graphene-infused concrete test pour of 12.5 cubic meters in Bristol, Tennessee, and launched a second pour of 15 cubic meters at the same site, with compressive strength testing scheduled at intervals through Day 56 per ASTM C39 standards. The project provides field-scale data on graphene's performance in cement matrices, targeting up to 30% gains in compressive and tensile strength, which could support broader commercial adoption of graphene in construction materials.

Lancaster University has filed patents on a graphene oxide-enhanced concrete mix using 0.025 wt% graphene oxide that reaches 52 MPa compressive strength with 30% less Portland cement. The development indicates a scalable construction application for graphene oxide that could expand commercial demand for the material while reducing concrete's carbon footprint by 23% per cubic metre.