Directa Plus PLC Flame retardant properties of G+ established

TIDMDCTA

Directa Plus PLC

10 February 2021

10 February 2021

Directa Plus plc

("Directa Plus" or the "Company")

Flame retardant properties of G+ established

Directa Plus (AIM: DCTA), a leading producer and supplier of graphene nanoplatelets based products for use in consumer and industrial markets, is pleased to highlight to investors the publication of a scientific paper establishing the fire-retardant properties of Directa's G+ materials.

The research was undertaken by scientists at the Polytechnic of Turin, Italy's oldest technical university, and was published in an article entitled 'PET foams surface treated with graphene nanoplatelets: evaluation of thermal resistance and flame retardancy' in the journal Polymers (https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/13/4/501).

The research shows that the use of water-based G+ graphene ink to coat polymeric foam confers significant flame-retardant properties versus untreated polymeric foam. A simple application of G+ ink to the external faces of the foam provided good flame-retardant properties, tested in both horizontal and vertical conditions

Polymeric foams are used in many applications from roof insulation to furniture and are extremely flammable meaning that the potential market for G+ fire retardant technology is sizeable.

Directa Plus already owns a family of patents relating to the flame-retardant composition comprising graphene nanoplatelets with seven patents granted across multiple jurisdictions, including the US, China and Europe.

Commenting, Giulio Cesareo, Founder and CEO of Directa Plus, said: "This is a very encouraging piece of research - building on our existing understanding of the use of graphene as a flame retardant.

"As always at Directa, we have a clear vision of bringing technology out of the lab into real world, commercial use, and this paper could represent another very important step to open a new future industrial vertical.

"Our intellectual property portfolio continues to grow and we will continue to utilise that portfolio in line with our established commercial strategy of bringing graphene enhanced products to existing markets in partnership with established commercial partners."

Commenting, Alberto Frache, Associate Professor in Materials Science and Technology at Polytechnic of Turin, said: "The results obtained from the coating of water-based G+ graphene ink in the field of flame retardancy were very significant. In particular, PET foam samples treated with G+ resist up to seven times the time required for flame penetration compared to the untreated sample.

"The close collaboration between Directa-Plus and the Politecnico di Torino has led to an in-depth study of G+ nanoplatelets in order to develop plastics with outstanding performance.

-ends-

For further information please visit www.directa-plus.com or contact:

 
 Directa Plus plc                            [phone] 
 Giulio Cesareo, CEO 
 Marco Ferrari, CFO 
 
 Cenkos Securities plc (Nominated Adviser 
  and Joint Broker)                          [phone] 
 Neil McDonald 
  Pete Lynch 
 
 N+1 Singer (Joint Broker)                   [phone] 
 Rick Thompson 
  Phil Davies 
 
 Tavistock (Financial PR and IR)             [phone] 
 Simon Hudson 
  Edward Lee 
 

About Directa Plus

Our focus is principally on the two sectors in which we have strong commercial advantage through developed and launched products and a technological lead: environmental (based on our Grafysorber(R) product) and textiles (based on our G+(R) products). In addition, we will continue to pursue opportunities in elastomers and composites (including tyres and asphalt), also using our G+(R) products. All our products are hypoallergenic, non-toxic and sustainably produced.

This information is provided by Reach, the non-regulatory press release distribution service of RNS, part of the London Stock Exchange. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

Reach is a non-regulatory news service. By using this service an issuer is confirming that the information contained within this announcement is of a non-regulatory nature. Reach announcements are identified with an orange label and the word "Reach" in the source column of the News Explorer pages of London Stock Exchange's website so that they are distinguished from the RNS UK regulatory service. Other vendors subscribing for Reach press releases may use a different method to distinguish Reach announcements from UK regulatory news.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.

END

NRATLMLTMTMMBIB

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 10, 2021 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)