Life-Cycle Risk Assessment of Graphene Functional Fabrics

Nano Life-cycle Risk Assessment (LCRA) is an adaptive screening-level risk assessment framework. The iterative process
is a semiquantitative evaluation of potential risks of nanomaterials across the product life-cycle to inform early
decision-making about nanomaterial and novel nanoscale technologies. As an independently funded US partner of the
DIAGONAL consortium, Vireo Advisors developed a Nano LCRA for occupational, consumer and environmental
receptors of a graphene composite as a case study.

The analysis identifies potential receptors and exposure pathways at each life-cycle stage. These scenarios are ranked
by applying exposure criteria to identify priority pathways for evaluation. Where possible, potential exposures are
characterized for the priority pathways and evaluated alongside available hazard data in the peer reviewed literature.
The risk assessment uses simplified worst-case assumptions to determine whether more detailed assessments are
warranted to demonstrate safety for the proposed application(s) in functional fabrics.

This poster presents the main findings of the graphene-composite LCRA. Outcomes include a data gap analysis that
identifies gaps in our current understanding of safety for graphene-enabled applications, and a set of research
priorities to address them. The analysis contributes key findings to guide safety testing under DIAGONAL, and toward
the development of Safe(r)-by-Design (SbD) strategies.