CNTs & Graphene in Germany and at the Printed Electronics & Photovoltaics Europe 2010 IDTechEx, Cambridge, UK

CNTs & Graphene in Germany and at the Printed Electronics & Photovoltaics Europe 2010 IDTechEx, Cambridge, UK

CNTs & Graphene in Germany and at the Printed Electronics & Photovoltaics Europe 2010

By Cathleen Thiele, Technical Analyst, IDTechEx

2 February 2010: The demands placed on new, high-tech materials are continually increasing, and existing material systems are reaching their limits. Due to their exceptional electrical and mechanical properties, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene and their composite materials offer high potential for use in diverse applications.

Germany, as well as the rest of the world, is increasingly paying attention to the potential this group of materials offers. More and more start-up companies, networks and projects are dedicating their work to research & development as well as applications of CNTs and Graphene.

Only recently Bayer MaterialScience (BMS), Germany, one of the world's largest polymer companies, invested EUR 22 million into the newly opened pilot facility for the manufacture of CNTs at Chempark Leverkusen. With an annual production capacity of 200 metric tons it is the largest facility of its kind in the world. BMS is producing and marketing multi-walled carbon nanotubes under the trade name Baytubes®.

Leverkusen and the North Rine-Westphalia region have a leading role in the nanotechnology field worldwide. “We are expecting nanotechnology to create a total of 100,000 new jobs in the German industry in the medium term,” said Dr. Joachim Wolff, member of the Bayer MaterialScience Executive segment.

CONTACT, a new research and training project funded by the European Commission's “Marie Curie” programme, involves 10 partner organisations from 7 different countries. Coordinated by the German Fraunhofer ICT (Institute for Chemical Technology), the main objective is to carry out research and development on nanomaterials and processes, characterisation methods, simulation tools and of course the implementation of the materials in real world applications including rotor blades for wind power plants and energy storage materials for e-mobility applications.

The research aim of CONTACT is the tailored industrial supply-chain development of CNT-filled polymer composites with improved mechanical and electrical properties. This will involve the optimisation of CNT synthesis and dispersion, and the processing of CNT compounds, as well as the modelling and characterisation of CNT and CNT composites. The new technologies will be upscaled for applications in four industrial case studies: construction, wind blades, electrically conducting parts and electrodes for redox-flow batteries.

The German Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart is collaborating with the Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences in China on coated carbon nanotubes for high-capacity batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries are in great demand for applications from laptops to hybrid cars – but the list of requirements is long. They need to be lightweight, cheap and environmentally friendly, but also store enormous charge. Coating CNTs with a nanoporous layer of TiO2 results in a crystalline solid made up from 'coaxial cables' that are perfect for trapping lithium ions. When combined, the storage capacity of TiO2 is four times higher than usual and the nanotubes hold three times as many ions. Since the material is simple to produce and far cheaper than electrodes that are based on rare metals, the team is hoping that it can be more widely applied – perhaps for other energy storage devices such as supercapacitors.

The forthcoming IDTechEx Printed Electronics & Photovoltaics Europe 2010 features a whole session dedicated to the increasing role of CNT and graphene including applications and recent findings from research and development. With more than 1000 attendees and over 80 exhibitors expected this is genuinely the world's largest event on printed electronics and photovoltaics. Hear from major end users discussing their requirements and experiences, along with the full breadth of technologies from around the world.

Under the world-class speakers presenting at this event is Dr. Daiyu Kondo, researcher at Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., Japan, who will give an update on synthesis of graphene and CNT for future carbon electronics. The talk will cover few-layer graphene synthesis by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and its electrical properties, the synthesis of a novel carbon composite structure consisting of vertically aligned CNTs and multi-layer graphene, and of course applications.

Later on Dr. David Brown, CEO at Canatu Finland, is presenting the companies low cost, high performance carbon nanomaterial films and their use for energy, electronics and other applications. This will include insight to the company's proprietary carbon NanoBud™ materials, new CNT and NanoBud™ synthesis processes and component production via Direct Dry Printing™.

The newly updated IDTechEx report “Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene for Electronics Applications: Technologies, Players & Opportunities” provides insight to the field of CNT and Graphene for printed electronics and photovoltaics. This concise and unique report gives an in-depth review to the applications, technologies, emerging solutions and players. For more information see www.IDTechEx.com/nano. If you have any questions about this report, please do not hesitate to contact Raoul raoul@idtechex.com or call + 1 617 577 7890 (US.

Printed Electronics Europe will take place from April 13-14, with Masterclasses being held on April 12 and 15 at the MARITIM Hotel & International Congress Center Dresden, Germany. In addition, tours to local centres of excellence have been arranged, giving delegates a chance to see products and operations first hand. For full details, visit www.IDTechEx.com/peEurope.

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