The UK business secretary has intervened in the acquisition of a cutting-edge material manufacturer in Wales over potential Chinese interests, citing national security concerns. The department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy on Sept. 5 announced it was intervening in the acquisition of Perpetuus, a manufacture of graphene-based products. The notice cites a takeover (pdf) involving Taurus International—a company of scant detail registered to a semi-detached house in London—and a Chinese nano-materials scientist with industry links in China who already works with Perpetuus. Graphene is a relatively new material, which has 200 times the strength of steel, but is light, potentially super conductive, and can be used in layers just one atom deep. Its applications are still being developed across sectors such as health, aerospace, and electronics. Perpetuus is a leader in using plasma to add a coating of graphene to polymers. The government statement said that the intervention was because “at least …