OECD WPMN Expert Workshop on Graphene and Graphene Family Materials

NIA Staff
2 min read

Summary

  • The OECD has produced actionable recommendations on graphene safety and sustainability, covering everything from physicochemical characterization to ecotoxicological testing.

  • Regulators, standards bodies, and industry all had a seat at the table, giving the outcomes cross-sector weight.

  • NIA members can request access to the confidential presentations directly through NIA's Director of Regulatory Affairs.

On 26–27 November 2024, the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN), under the Steering Group on Advanced Materials (SG AdMa), organized a workshop focusing on graphene and graphene family materials. The event aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of these materials, addressing:

  • Physico-chemical assessment

  • Human and environmental toxicity

Workshop Highlights

  1. Stakeholder Contributions
    Input was provided by regulatory agencies, standardization bodies, contract research organizations (CROs), and industry. Discussions also included sustainability assessments, particularly Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Material Flow Analysis (MFA).

  2. OECD Early4AdMa Framework
    The workshop explored the application of the OECD Early4AdMa approach to identify and address safety and sustainability challenges for novel materials. Graphene family materials served as case studies for this framework.

  3. State-of-the-Art Methodologies
    Presentations highlighted the latest methodologies for:

    • Physico-chemical characterization, emphasizing the need for a minimum set of parameters to group graphene materials for safety evaluations.

    • (Eco)toxicological assessment, with recommendations for adapting existing testing guidelines to suit the unique properties of graphene materials.

More Resources