Carbon nanotube sheets promise lower cost, simpler integration

Carbon nanotube sheets promise lower cost, simpler integration

Producing a 3 x 6-ft sheet of thermally and electrically conductive carbon nanotube material is a fairly impressive feat. But Peter Antoinette, president and CEO of Nanocomp Technologies (Concord, NH) said the true importance of his company’s most recent breakthrough is getting carbon nanotube performance that is on par with standard components, which he believes current nanotube technology has not been able to achieve.

“In talking with our customers, we found out that nanotubes had been a disappointment,” he said. “The tubes are short and don’t [offer] the performance versus a component.”

These most recent developments are the direct result of the company’s prior breakthroughs, specifically their ability to produce continuous high-volume output of millimeter-long highly pure carbon nanotubes. Until recently, carbon nanotube growers have only been able to provide the material in lengths of microns and in powder form.

The enhanced length of nanotubes enable them to be used for applications such as EMI shielding, electrical conductors, thermal dissipation, lightning protection, and advanced structural composites on both a micro and macro scale. Further, shorter tubes are typically expensive and difficult to integrate. “The nature of the long tubes is they provide a plug-and-play experience for the user,” Antoinette said.

As an example of the technology’s use in macro-scale applications, Antoinette points to interest by the satellite community. About one third of the weight of a satellite’s 30,000-kg weight is the copper cabling, and Antoinette believes this technology can reduce that by at least half. Avionics manufacturers are also looking into the material’s electrical conductivity properties for lightning protection on jets.

For board-level, micro-scale applications, Antoinette said he expects handset companies will be interested in the technology to reduce crosstalk, stray EMI emissions emanating outside the handset, and better cabling.

As a demonstration of the technology, the company has already produced high-frequency cables for the aerospace industry that reduce weight from about 8.0 g/cc in copper cables to 0.2 to 0.4 g/cc. By April 2008, Antoinette expects the company will have invented and released some form of connector to allow designers to integrate the nanotubes into their designs. For more information, visit http://www.nanocomptech.com.

Ralph Raiola