NASA Nanotube Technology Enters the Commercial Marketplace
By Nona Minnifield CheeksBig things are happening in nanotechnology.
Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are now available to university and industry researchers at a higher quality and lower cost than ever before, thanks to a
technology developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The innovation was licensed and commercialized by Idaho Space Materials (ISM) in Boise.One of the basic nanotechnology structures, a carbon nanotube is a graphite sheet of carbon, the thickness of one atomic layer, wrapped over on itself to create a long, thin, strong tube. Although CNTs were discovered 15 years ago, their use has been limited because of the complex, dangerous and expensive methods required to produce them.
Most methods, including chemical vapor deposition, laser ablation, microwave and high-pressure CO conversion (HiPco), use a metal catalyst to encourage carbon to grow in nanotube form without capping. However, the use of a metal catalyst dramatically increases the pre- and postproduction costs.
Those drawbacks were eliminated, however, when NASA Goddard Researcher Dr. Jeannette Benavides developed a simpler, safer, and much less costly process for manufacturing single-walled CNTs without the use of the metal catalyst. Benavides’ innovative method produces higher yields of better-quality CNTs, while dramatically reducing costs associated with removal of impurities.
NASA believed that its improved production process could increase the prevalence of carbon nanotube technology in many areas, including medical applications such as portable/field equipment, implantable biosensors, artificial limbs and organs, and drug delivery; miniature and consumer electronics; research instruments (e.g., microscopy); fuel cells; radiation shielding; and innovative polymers. Given the SWCNT technology’s wide range of applicability, Goddard’s Innovative Partnerships Program office began promoting it at conferences, in print and online in search of a licensee.
NASA’s new process caught the attention of entrepreneur Wayne Whitt, who was seeking an innovation with which to start an advanced materials company. Believing that the NASA process was an ideal fit, he founded ISM in December 2005 and applied for a nonexclusive license for the new technology. As license negotiations moved forward, Benavides met with ISM officials to demonstrate and fully explain the technology. The license agreement was signed in March 2006.
ISM enhanced NASA’s process, boosting yield and production capacity. As part of these efforts, the company worked with the Electron Microscopy Center at the University of Idaho, which had the specialized equipment needed to characterize ISM’s nanotube specimens. University researchers also called upon the expertise of Benavides in performing the Raman spectroscopy on ISM’s samples. The characterization data provided ISM with feedback on variations in its manufacturing process, allowing procedures to be improved. ISM later obtained a Raman spectroscopy system from Kaiser Optical Systems to perform in-house characterization of nanotubes.
Once ISM’s production process had been perfected, the company launched its commercialized SWCNTs as NOMEC 1556 in August 2006, and began supplying them to university researchers at a reduced price.
“Licensing NASA’s technology allowed us to begin operations and rapidly commercialize an innovative product without the traditional R&D costs and time,” says Whitt. “We were able to focus on process enhancement and commercialization, which resulted in significant improvements in yield and production capacity without sacrificing product quality.”
Because the new process does not use a metal catalyst, no metal particles need to be removed from the final product. Eliminating the presence of metallic impurities results in the SWCNTs exhibiting higher degradation temperatures (650°C rather than 500°C) and eliminates damage to the SWCNTs by the purification process.
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| Inventor Dr. Jeannette Benavides sets up the process for manufacturing the single-walled CNTs without the use of the metal catalyst. |
The nanotubes agglomerate, or collect, during formation, and are dispersed afterward by a milling procedure. The milling equipment is coated with zirconium oxide to provide a durable material that will withstand extraordinary strength of the nanotubes.
Whereas traditional catalytic arc discharge methods produce an “as prepared” sample with a 30-50 percent SWCNT yield, the new method produces SWCNTs at an average yield of 70 percent.
ISM can produce single-walled CNTs at a rate of 50 grams per hour and can scale manufacturing infinitely to match consumer demand. The company expects the high production rates to facilitate research into new uses for SWCNTs.
“ISM believes that carbon nanotubes will be a building block for a better world, making people’s lives better through a wide range of uses, including medical advances, fuel cells, video displays, solar cells and a host of other applications,” explains ISM vice president Roger Smith. “Getting single-walled CNTs into the hands of researchers will help accelerate their transition from a conceptual idea to a practical product.”
“I’m very excited to see that this agreement is now making CNTs more readily available, particularly for academic and other research programs,” says Benavides. “The fact that they now have access to lower-cost CNTs bodes well for the future of nanotechnology.”
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| A micrograph of nanotubes is shown, while the inset photo depicts a curled tube. |
NASA also will see positive results. The diffusion of the Agency’s patented technology, and ISM’s sales of the resulting products, generates revenue that NASA can reinvest in space program research. And NASA now has a source from which to purchase low-cost, high-quality SWCNTs for use in space exploration and science missions.
This technology transfer success story was made possible by the efforts of NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program, which has a two-part focus: forming partnerships between NASA and industry, academia or other government agencies to support the space program; and transferring NASA technology to new applications.
“We look forward to seeing the impacts of this agreement on ISM as well as the research community. With agreements such as this, it’s particularly exciting to watch the multi-faceted benefits unfold,” says Darryl Mitchell, IPP technology manager at Goddard.
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