A TECHNOLOGY firm working on a wonder material has announced two senior appointments to increase its international presence.

Applied Graphene Materials (AGM), based near Redcar, has welcomed Nigel Blatherwick as commercial director and Dr Adrian Potts as vice-president business development for North America.

The company is pushing ahead with work on graphene, which experts say conduct electricity a million times better than copper, despite being as thin as human hair, and is 200 times stronger than steel.

The Northern Echo previously reported how AGM had secured funding applications to work with Sedgefield-based PolyPhotonix and The Centre for Process Innovation on graphene in transparent electrodes.

PolyPhotonix is known for its work on revolutionary sleep masks capable of transforming the treatment of eye disease in diabetes sufferers.

The company, which raised £11m after floating on the Alternative Investment Market, has also worked with DuPont Teijin Films on using graphene in polyester films and vacuum cleaner maker Dyson on the substance in consumer products.

Jon Mabbitt, AGM’s chief executive, said: “I know Nigel and Adrian’s extensive experience will be invaluable as we extend our commercial partnerships and capitalise on our international profile.

“Nigel will lead our commercial activities and Adrian will spearhead our growth into the North American markets, where we anticipate considerable interest from potential partners in developing graphene applications.”

The company employs about 30 staff and Mr Mabbitt previously said it expects to recruit more workers this year as it targets a breakthrough deal to supply industrial quantities of graphene.