SouthWest NanoTechnologies Inc. (SWeNT), Norman, OK, and consulting firm Chasm Technologies Inc. (Chasm), have established a carbon nanotube coatings application development center at Chasm’s facility located in the Boston area.

NORMAN, OK – SouthWest NanoTechnologies Inc. (SWeNT), Norman, OK, and consulting firm Chasm Technologies Inc. (Chasm), have established a carbon nanotube coatings application development center at Chasm’s facility located in the Boston area.

SWeNT expanded its production capacity with a new manufacturing facility in Norman, OK, late last year, increasing its single-wall carbon nanotube production capability 100-fold at one-tenth the unit cost. To stimulate demand for its carbon nanotube materials, SWeNT is increasing emphasis on applications development, especially in the areas of coatings and composites.

Chasm and SWeNT will use the center to demonstrate the feasibility of achieving customer specifications for carbon nanotube coating and printing applications. They will use a variety of thin-film coating and patterning technologies, including rod coating, slot-die coating, spray coating, inkjet printing, flexographic printing, screen printing and imprint lithography. Coating trials can be done at bench scale (sheets) or pilot scale (continuous lengths up to 12” wide), accommodating a wide range of substrates.

The roll-to-roll equipment is easily configurable to achieve a variety of web paths for operations such as drying, curing, rinsing and laminating. Customized coating formulations can be prepared onsite. The center also includes a wide range of test equipment to characterize coated product structures.

Single-wall and small-diameter multi-wall carbon nanotubes exhibit extraordinary properties when incorporated into coating formulations. They show great promise for many applications including lower-cost displays, more rugged touch screens, miniature sensor devices, energy-efficient LED lighting and cost-efficient solar photovoltaic (PV) modules.