Graphite, a naturally occurring form of crystalline carbon, has shaped human civilization for millennia through its unique properties and diverse applications. From ancient pottery decorations to modern lithium-ion batteries and revolutionary graphene technology, this remarkable mineral has continuously evolved in its utility and significance. This article traces the comprehensive history of graphite, exploring its discovery, naming, mining, industrial development, and transformation into one of the most critical materials of the 21st century. Through examining over a century of documented milestones, we witness how graphite has transitioned from a simple marking tool to an indispensable component in steelmaking, nuclear technology, and energy storage systems that power our modern world.

Be sure to check out all other critical raw materials (CRMs), as well.

A History Of Graphite

The history of graphite spans thousands of years, from its earliest use in Neolithic pottery to its current role as a critical material in battery technology and advanced materials science. This mineral, composed of pure carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal sheets, has proven indispensable across numerous industries and continues to drive technological innovation. From the discovery of major deposits in England’s Lake District to the development of synthetic graphite production and the isolation of graphene, graphite’s story reflects humanity’s evolving understanding and exploitation of natural resources for technological advancement.

Chronology

• 4500 BCE: The Boian culture in Neolithic Europe began marking their pottery with geometric patterns using graphite [1]
• 500 BCE: The first graphite mine was discovered around this time in Southern Bohemia on the outskirts of the small village of Cesky Krumlov, where the Celts mined graphite as an additive to ceramics [2, 3]
• 1500 (approximately): An enormous deposit of graphite was discovered on the approach to Grey Knotts from the hamlet of Seathwaite in Borrowdale parish, Cumbria, England [4]
• 1558-1603: During the reign of Elizabeth I, Borrowdale graphite was used as a refractory material to line molds for cannonballs, contributing to the strength of the English navy [4]
• 1565: The first documented use of graphite as a pencil occurred [2]
• 1560s: Italian couple Simonio and Lyndiana Bernacotti invented the wooden pencil-casing by hollowing out a flat rod of juniper wood and fitting the lead inside [5]
• 1662: Pencils were being mass-produced in Nuremberg, Germany, notably by Friedrich Staedtler [5]
• 1700s: By this time, Borrowdale housed the only major graphite mine in the world [6]
• 1752: The government of England made the stealing and trade of stolen graphite a criminal offense, punishable by hard labour or transportation [2]
• 1760s: The Borrowdale mine briefly reopened with only eight workmen chosen to mine it, with miners’ pockets checked by six different overseers several times daily [3]
• 1789: Abraham Gottlob Werner, a German mineralogist, coined the name “graphite” from the Greek word “graphein” meaning “to write” [4, 7]
• 1795: Nicolas-Jacques Conté invented the modern pencil by mixing powdered graphite with clay, allowing for varying degrees of hardness [2, 8]
• 1800: The Grand Pipe at Borrowdale was finally dewatered, opening other parts of the mine for graphite extraction [2, 3]
• 1803: Dixon’s Pipe, a large accumulation of graphite, was discovered at Borrowdale [3]
• 1810: Humphry Davy used charcoal to make carbon electrodes that generated electric arcs, opening prospects for using carbon materials as high-temperature conductive electrodes [9]
• 1827: Joseph Dixon established a firm that would eventually be known as the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company [10]
• 1847: Joseph Dixon moved his graphite business to Jersey City, New Jersey, building a large manufacturing plant [11]
• 1869: Joseph Dixon died; at this time, the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company was the world’s largest manufacturer of graphite products [12]
• 1872: The Dixon Crucible Company was making 86,000 pencils a day [11]
• 1873: Dixon purchased the Ticonderoga, New York-based American Graphite Company [10]
• 1878: The Dixon Crucible Company operations in the Lake Ticonderoga district were described in the Engineering & Mining Journal on December 21 [4]
• 1885: Hezekiah Bradford of Philadelphia patented a graphite flotation process, though it’s uncertain if it was successfully used in Chester County, Pennsylvania deposits [4]
• 1889: Graphite was discovered on the shore of Whitefish Lake, Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada [2]
• 1893: Charles Street of Le Carbone discovered a process for making artificial graphite [4]
• 1896: The Ontario Graphite Company began production at what would become the Black Donald Mine in Ontario [13]; Edward Goodrich Acheson patented his method of synthesizing graphite [4]
• 1897: Acheson started commercial production of synthetic graphite [4]; P.L.T. Heroult’s direct electric arc furnace began being used with graphite electrodes [9]
• 1899: The Acheson Graphite Co. was formed [4]; The first electric arc furnace was used for steelmaking [9]
• 1900: Around this time, Acheson Graphite Co. began selling connectable graphite electrodes [9]
• 1902: A three-story refinery was built at the Black Donald Mine site, and a 400-horsepower power generation plant was constructed [14]
• 1908: The Black Donald Graphite Company leased the Black Donald Mine property [15]
• 1912: The National Graphite Mine in Monteagle Township near Bancroft, Ontario, operated from this year until 1919 [2]
• 1913: The Dixon Ticonderoga pencil brand name was introduced [10]
• 1914-1918: The largest graphite electrodes made during this period had a diameter of only 356mm [9]
• 1917: The Black Donald Graphite Company bought the Black Donald Mine [15]
• 1924: Graphite electrodes with a diameter of 406 mm were produced [9]
• 1927: The Black Donald Mine was producing approximately 90% of Canada’s graphite [13]
• 1930: Graphite electrode diameter was expanded to 457mm [9]
• 1937: Graphite electrode diameter increased to 508mm [9]
• 1938: Underground operations at the Black Donald Mine ceased when the orebody was thought to be exhausted [15]
• 1939: The Black Donald Mine was flooded, though production resumed from tailings [16]
• 1943: Frobisher Limited began production at the Black Donald Mine [16]
• 1948: G. Ruess and F. Vogt published the earliest TEM images of few-layer graphite [17]
• 1950: A cave-in at the Black Donald Mine sealed its fate; underground mining was abandoned [14]
• 1954: Mining ceased at the Black Donald Mine; Dixon Crucible Company de Mexico S.A. was established [13, 10]
• 1957: Dixon merged with American Crayon Company [10]
• 1960s-1970s: High power and ultra-high power graphite electrodes were successfully developed [18]
• 1967: The Black Donald Mine site was flooded by the headpond of the Mountain Chute dam [13]
• 1970s: Single layers of graphite were grown epitaxially on top of other materials; The use of graphite in batteries increased [17, 4]
• 1980s: The world’s electric steelmaking industry divided arc furnaces into three categories based on transformer input power; Graphite electrode diameter of 813mm was being used [19, 9]
• 1982: Joseph Dixon Crucible Company merged with Bryn Mawr Corporation, forming Dixon Ticonderoga Company [10]
• 1986: Hanns-Peter Boehm, Ralph Setton and Eberhard Stumpp introduced the term “graphene” [17]
• 1989: Miller Molenkamp coined the term “graphene” as a combination of “graphite” and the suffix “-ene” [17]
• 1990: Dahn and co-workers found that reversible electrochemical lithium intercalation was possible in liquid electrolyte using ethylene carbonate [20]
• 1991: Sony commercialized the first lithium-ion battery, initially still using coke anode [20]
• 1993: Guyomard and Tarascon developed EC/DMC electrolyte mixtures compatible with 4V cathodes [20]
• 1994: Almost all commercial lithium-ion batteries began using graphite as the negative electrode [20]
• 2000: About 1 million tons of graphite electrodes were used worldwide; China consumed about 250,000 tons [19]
• 2002: One of the first patents pertaining to graphene production was filed in October [17]
• 2004: Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the University of Manchester isolated single-atom-thick graphene using the “Scotch tape technique” [17, 21]
• 2005: Dixon Ticonderoga was acquired by the Italian-based FILA Group [11]
• 2010: Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov received the Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work on graphene [17]
• 2012-2021: More than 5,600 patent families were filed worldwide for flake graphite applications [4]
• 2014: The National Graphene Institute was announced; Applied Graphene Materials and Thomas Swan Limited began commercial graphene manufacturing [17]
• 2020: Natural graphite accounted for 39% of the lithium-ion battery anode material market [22]
• 2022: Global graphite consumption reached 1.3 million metric tons per year, with 50% used in refractories, 18% in lithium-ion batteries, 10% in foundries, and 5% in lubricants [4]

Final Thoughts

The journey of graphite from ancient marking tool to modern technological marvel illustrates humanity’s remarkable ability to discover, understand, and harness natural materials for advancing civilization. What began as a mysterious “black lead” used by shepherds to mark sheep has evolved into an essential component of our digital age, powering the batteries in our devices and enabling the steel production that builds our infrastructure. The recent discovery and development of graphene represents not an end, but a new beginning in graphite’s story, promising revolutionary applications in electronics, materials science, and energy storage. As we face the challenges of sustainable energy and technological advancement in the 21st century, graphite’s unique properties ensure it will remain at the forefront of innovation, continuing its millennia-long partnership with human progress.

Thanks for reading!

References

[1] Graphite – Art Mediums | Obelisk Art History – https://www.arthistoryproject.com/mediums/graphite/

[2] Graphite | Earth Sciences Museum | University of Waterloo – https://uwaterloo.ca/earth-sciences-museum/resources/detailed-rocks-and-minerals-articles/graphite

[3] Graphite | Wat On Earth | University of Waterloo – https://uwaterloo.ca/wat-on-earth/news/graphite

[4] Graphite – Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphite

[5] The Dark History of the Pencil – Jackson’s Art Blog – https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2024/11/01/the-dark-history-of-the-pencil/

[6] Bizarre History of Graphite and Its Uses – Inky Memo – https://inkymemo.com/bizarre-history-of-graphite-and-its-uses/

[7] Graphite – Simple English Wikipedia – https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphite

[8] Nicolas-Jacques Conté | Pencils, Charcoal, Graphite | Britannica – https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicolas-Jacques-Conte

[9] History and Categories of Graphite Electrodes – HP GRAPHITE Co., Ltd. – https://www.juxingtansu.com/q_2.html

[10] History of Dixon Ticonderoga Company – FundingUniverse – https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/dixon-ticonderoga-company-history/

[11] Joseph Dixon Crucible Company – Library Guides at New Jersey City University – https://njcu.libguides.com/dixon

[12] Joseph Dixon (inventor) – Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Dixon_(inventor)

[13] Ontario Heritage Trust | Black Donald Graphite Mine – https://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/plaques/black-donald-graphite-mine

[14] Black Donald – Township of Greater Madawaska – https://www.greatermadawaska.com/en/play-and-discover/black-donald.aspx

[15] Black Donald Mine, Brougham Township, Greater Madawaska, Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada – https://www.mindat.org/loc-234550.html

[16] Ontario Mineral Inventory Record MDI31F02NW00006: Black Donald Mine – https://www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/mdi/data/records/MDI31F02NW00006.html

[17] Discovery of graphene – Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_of_graphene

[18] A brief history and variety of graphite electrodes-GuoTai Carbon – http://www.guotaitansu.com/en/news/86.html

[19] Graphite electrode development history and grade – https://www.lmmgroupcn.com/graphite-electrode-development-history-and-grade/

[20] The success story of graphite as a lithium-ion anode material – fundamentals, remaining challenges, and recent developments – Sustainable Energy & Fuels – https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2020/se/d0se00175a

[21] Discovery of graphene – Graphene – The University of Manchester – https://www.graphene.manchester.ac.uk/learn/discovery-of-graphene/

[22] Natural graphite anode for advanced lithium-ion Batteries: Challenges, Progress, and Perspectives – ScienceDirect – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1385894724096074