October 9, 2021 The ISO GSCope consortium have had their draft ISO standard approved as an official new ISO work item in ISO TC229 (nanotechnologies). This document was drafted over the last year with the help of consortium members and other international experts especially including those from China and Australia. The document is entitled “ISO/PWI 23359 ‘Nanotechnologies – Nanotechnologies – Chemical characterisation of graphene-related two-dimensional materials from powders and dispersions.” The document describes methods for characterising the chemical properties of powders or liquid dispersions containing graphene-related two-dimensional materials, using a set of suitable measurement techniques. The techniques detailed are X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). These determine the carbon-to-oxygen ratio, elemental composition, trace metal impurities, weight percentage of chemical species and the functional groups present. The sample preparation, protocols and data analysis for the different techniques are included The new work item ballot was held between 15 July to 8 October 2021. There was very strong support internationally for the proposal with 28 countries voting for the proposal and only 1 country voted against. There was strong engagement from international experts with 9 pages of comments received from Canada, France, Norway, Sweden and US and 10 countries nominating experts to work on the project. The outcomes of this ballot will be discussed at the November 2021 ISO TC229/JWG2 meeting and future ISO TC229.
