Aug 26 2009
Southwest Nanotechnologies (SWeNT), a leading developer and manufacturer of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNT) and Specialty Multiwall Nanotubes, today introduced its newest, most electrically conductive grade of SWCNT. This new product, called SWeNT CG 200, www.swentnano.com/tech/products.php will expand the range of application of Carbon Nanotubes by making available a more conductive SWCNT for coatings in commercial quantities.
SWeNT CEO Dave Arthur said: "Lots of great work has been done on SWCNT-based conductive coatings in laboratories around the world, opening the doors for new solutions in a range of applications. However, most of this work has been done using SWCNT from non-scalable synthesis processes, and employing low-yield, expensive, secondary purification and separation methods, thereby making them impractical for commercial use. SWeNT CG 200 uses our scalable CoMoCAT synthesis process, making possible the supply of commercial quantities with the consistency, purity and quality needed for many conductive coating and printing applications. Furthermore, this conductivity is achieved without the need for secondary purification or separation processes, thereby making it a much more affordable product for targeted applications."
Ricardo Prada Silvy, director of research and development at SWeNT, added: "By making adjustments to our catalyst systems and other process variables we are able to make a very pure, very consistent product, and to achieve our target of longer, larger diameter tubes. This is another example of the flexibility and power of the CoMoCAT process. Equally important, data from NanoRidge's (www.naoridge.com) proprietary analysis technique confirms that we have a material with a much higher concentration of metallic SWCNT species than any other commercially-available SWCNT yet tested. The concentration of metallic SWCNT is an important factor in determining the electrical performance of SWCNTs."
Testing in Bucky Paper, in conductive polymer composites and in conductive coatings makes clear that CG 200 is an important advancement of commercially viable, conductive Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes. We continue to work on even higher conductivity materials, but CG 200 will prove to be the right product for many applications."
Emerging applications for conductive SWCNT include military transparencies, touch screens, lighting devices, anti-static coatings, photovoltaic devices, super capacitors, batteries, Bucky Paper* for composites and Stealth coatings.