The UK’s national metrology institute NPL, in collaboration with international partners, announced on March 15 the development of the ISO/IEC standard ISO/TS 21356-1:2021 for measuring the structural properties of graphene, which is usually sold in powder form or . liquid dispersion. ISO/IEC standards enable supply chains to answer the question “What is my material?” and based on the methodology in the NPL Good Practice Guide 145 developed in collaboration with the University of Manchester, UK.

In the past few years, graphene on graphene sheets has moved from the lab to real-world products such as cars and smartphones, NPL notes (see "Graphene 101: Forms, Properties, and Applications"). However, there remains an obstacle to the speed of its commercialization, namely understanding the true properties of the material. There is not just one material, but many, each with different properties that need to be matched to the many different applications that graphene can provide improvements in.

NPLs are increasing, with hundreds of companies around the world selling "graphene" labeled as different materials, and manufacturing it differently, who hope to improve their products by merging several layers of graphene flakes for end-users are incomparable , and then choose materials suitable for their products.