SWeNT Exhibits at 2012 Materials Research Society Fall Meeting

SouthWest NanoTechnologies Inc. (SWeNT) exhibited new carbon nanotube (CNT) products at the 2012 Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting & Exhibit, Nov. 27-29 in Boston, MA.

SWeNT will feature single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) SG65i, developed for use in printed semiconductor devices. SG65i is produced using the patented CoMoCAT process, widely recognized for its unique ability to control SWCNT chirality. SWeNT will also feature SMW210, a new grade in its SMW line of specialty multi-wall CNT.

SG65i is an advancement on SG65, recognized for its high concentration of semiconducting species. For SG65i ≥ 95% of the CNT are semiconducting in nature. This enables a wide range of printed electronics applications, requiring little or no additional processing to fabricate printed TFTs, for example.

SMW210 and its highly purified sister product, SMW200, have demonstrated the greatest ease of dispersion and lowest percolation threshold of any MWCNT product in multiple customer thermoplastic compound evaluations.

This enables ESD (electrostatic discharge) performance at lower filler loadings than either carbon black or other multi-wall CNT, in a variety of polymers. This low percolation threshold minimizes the degradation of physical properties of the polymer, a common problem in heavily loaded compounds, and higher conductivity at comparable loading broadens the range of applications for conductive polymer compounds.

Because certain post-synthesis processes are not needed for SMW210, the pricing is much lower. SMW210 has a hybrid structure with metal-oxide particles attached to the CNT, improving dispersion still further, at a much lower cost than SMW200. In thermoplastic compounds, there is little performance difference between SMW200 and SMW210 with respect to ease of dispersion, conductivity and percolation, with most customers for conductive polymers choosing SMW210 due to economic benefits.

SMW200 has also been demonstrated as a carbon black replacement in lithium ion battery cathodes. Very low loadings (1 wt %) of SWM200 have resulted in doubled cycle life, higher capacity, lower heat build-up and better low temperature performance.