SBIR-STTR Award

A prototype high-volume continuous-flow carbon nanotube (CNT) synthesis process will be developed to implement a process that has demonstrated >95% yields of high-purity CNTs. The reactor’s multi-zone furnace and direct-injection catalyst delivery system will be placed under computer control, and the product stream will be delivered to a modified version of an existing flow-synthesis reactor. This system will be used to provide the capability to deagglomerate, purify, functionalize, stabilize, and characterize the CNTs. In-line product characterization and control monitoring will be integrated, including UV-VIS-NIR photoluminescence, Raman, pH, and time-resolved fluorescence. In-line centrifuging and size-exclusion chromatography will be used to sort the CNT product. The product will be analyzed using X-ray, electron-microscope, and thermal gravitational methods. The flexibility and control of the continuous-flow system will allow statistically significant measure of the process quality — allowing for efficient scaling. Life-cycle cost, including capital requirements, for a multi-ton/day factory will be performed alongside an environmental impact analysis. The results of the Phase I program will result in a complete end-to-end demonstration of the prototype system. These results will be used in Phase II to optimize the CNT manufacturing, and scale to moderate-volume production.

Keywords:
Cnt, Flow Reactor, Cvd, Carbon Nanoparticle, Carbon Nanotube,

Current methods of growing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) of specific chirality yield mixtures of single-walled CNTs (SWNTs) with different structures and electronic properties, and methods to separate nanotubes by their electronic properties remain expensive and small-scale. Accordingly, synthesis today entails high capital and operating costs. A process is proposed that sidesteps the most difficult problems in SWNT nucleation thermodynamics, by performing re-growth from cloned mono-chiral SWNT hosts, vertically embedded in Master Templates. The objective of the Phase II SBIR effort is to demonstrate reproducible fabrication of SWNT Master Templates, to demonstrate accelerated growth of seeded SWNTs on the reusable template, and to demonstrate methods for harvesting SWNTs from the template, preserving it for reuse. This opens the possibility to establish amplified SWNT growth chemistries, and provides the opportunity to repeatedly grow nanotubes with only the desired chiral conformation, in principle to unlimited lengths. The CAPTOR process provides the degree of process flexibility necessary to scale the reaction to high-volume, low-cost production using standard chemical industry capital equipment, such as fluidic reactor beds.

Keywords:
Cnt, Cnt, Swcnt, Nanotube, Single Wall Carbon Nanotube, Carbon Nanotube, Swnt