JON Mabbitt chuckles as he sits back in his chair.

As chief executive of a company focused on developing supposed wonder material graphene, he’s heard all the clichés about the substance’s aptitude before.

So when I invite him to respond to such truisms, he can’t help but laugh.

As graphene’s reputation has grown, so have the increasingly wild and wonderful claims over its merits.

Experts say it can conduct electricity a million times better than copper, despite being as thin as human hair, and say a sheet of graphene stretched over a hole could support a ten-tonne truck.

Some have even suggested a sheet the thickness of clingfilm would have the fortitude to hold the weight of an elephant balanced on a pencil.

Quite how the latter scenario would ever come about remains unclear, but Mr Mabbitt is unequivocal about the substance’s virtues, even if it does mean no performing mammals.

He is overseeing the growth of Applied Graphene Materials (AGM), which works out of the Wilton Centre, near Redcar.

The company is a leading player in the UK’s graphene sector, a standing bolstered after raising £11m from a flotation on the Alternative Investment Market, and Mr Mabbitt tells me its graphene could be used in a household consumer brand’s product within 12 months.

He also revealed ambitious visions that could see the firm open sites in the US and Asia to expand its reach.

Details are hard to come by, as AGM protects both its and its clients’ secrets.

However, what is certain is that the company is moving forward.

Working with renowned vacuum cleaner maker Dyson to support potential graphene use in products, AGM has scores of companies exploring the benefits of adding its substance into goods.

Factor those feats into a Government drive to make the UK a pioneer in graphene markets, which are expected to be worth about £800m by 2023, and you see why the firm is garnering attention.

Speaking to The Northern Echo, Mr Mabbitt acknowledges the fervour for graphene, but is quick to dismiss the associated playful descriptions.

He underlines AGM’s seriousness about its intentions, adding it has very real ambitions to go from a Teesside business to a transatlantic organisation and further still.

He said: “There has been a lot written about graphene and a lot of hype.

“It is breaking new ground and we all want good news stories.

“When that happens, it gets built up and people expect an instantaneous response.

“Life isn’t like that and it will take time to get there.

“We want to be part of something significant; we want to be a global market leader.”

While some operations are focused on making sheets of graphene for use in touchscreen technology, AGM goes down another route.

It has developed and owns the intellectual property rights for another form of graphene, which can be used as an additive in paints, coatings, plastics, lubricants and resins.

For plastics, it could deliver extra toughness, with lubricants it has the potential to reduce friction and therefore improve fuel efficiency.

Such possibilities are reflected through a trial with a paint maker, which could lead to coatings capable of better protecting vessels’ hulls from decay.

Mr Mabbitt said: “Graphene has many qualities and it is being used in things like bicycle wheels, skis and golf club shafts.

“There are two methods of making graphene; one is the continuous sheet form, which could go on a flatscreen TV, and the other is particle use.

“Our business is set around the technique of making graphene as a fine particle.

“We have a lot of customer engagement and one of things we are doing is a trial with a paint maker.

“That company is looking at adding graphene in different formulations and one they have identified is on ships’ hulls, below the water line.

“Corrosion is an issue, so anything they can do to protect them is welcome.

“Graphene enhanced paint will also increase lubricity of the hull, which will have benefits for increasing fuel efficiency and increasing speed of passage through the water.”

The company has built a business development team to extend its reach to potential customers in Europe and the US, and walking its plant, that conscious approach to take the lead is borne out.

Its test areas are filled with containers and paint pots, with contents at various stages of trialling.

In front of me, paint tins stand awaiting despatch, while what looks like a former milk carton is being recycled to house another product.

Mr Mabbitt tells me it has clients in Japan, China, Taiwan, as well as North America and Europe, adding an elephants’ dexterity atop a pencil has nothing to do with their interest.

So how does he see the future panning out, and just how successful can AGM be?

“We are still on a learning curve but we are really encouraged about our progress”, he added.

“We are an enabler of technology and the number of customer engagements is increasing as the global appetite to assess such a potentially game-changing material continues.”

WHAT IS GRAPHENE?

Graphene is a form of carbon and a single layer of graphite, which is arranged in a honeycomb lattice

It was first isolated by scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at Manchester University in 2004

It has been hailed as a material set to revolutionise manufacturing, by helping to produce applications such as bendable mobile phones and almost unbreakable tennis rackets

AGM was founded by Professor Karl Coleman in 2010, with its operations and processes based on technology he initially developed at Durham University.

The company was renamed Applied Graphene Materials in October 2013

Family-owned chemical firm Thomas Swan and Co, in Consett, County Durham, is also playing a role in North-East graphene development

The company, which began life in 1926 converting steel industry slag waste into road surfacing, has scaled up its Elicarb graphene plant to make more of the material