Oven Innovation

Cooker technology hasn’t advanced much in a century: current is passed through a nickel-chromium heating element to generate heat, which is blown around a unit. Enter South Korea’s Graphene Square, which has replaced the heating element with graphene, an ultra-thin, highly thermally conductive material made of carbon atoms. The rechargeable battery-powered device, which looks a bit like a futuristic microwave oven, cooks any item, from meat to cookies, with just 600 watts—two times less power than a conventional cooker. Plus, as company founder Byung Hee Hong points out, “Graphene is a very environmentally friendly material,” compared to the nickel and chrome used in traditional ovens. Samsung invested $11.3 million in Graphene Square last year, enabling the firm to build a much larger factory in Pohang, South Korea. Pilot production begins in late 2024.