NanoIntegris is a nanotechnology company based in Boisbriand, Quebec specializing in the production of enriched, single-walled carbon nanotubes.[1] In 2012, NanoIntegris was acquired by Raymor Industries, a large-scale producer of single-wall carbon nanotubes using the plasma torch process.
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Nanotechnology |
| Founded | January 2007 |
| Headquarters | Boisbriand, Quebec |
| Website | www.nanointegris.com |
The proprietary technology through which NanoIntegris creates its products spun out of the Hersam Research Group[2] at Northwestern University.[3]
Process
editThe process through which these technologies emerged is called Density Gradient Ultracentrifugation (DGU). DGU has been used for some time in biological and medical applications[4] but Dr. Mark Hersam utilized this process with carbon nanotubes which allowed for those nanotubes with semi-conductive properties to be separated from those with conductive properties. While the DGU method was the first one to convincingly produce high-purity semiconducting carbon nanotubes, the rotation speeds involved limit the amount of liquid, and thus nanotubes, that can be processed with this technology. NanoIntegris has recently licensed a new process using selective wrapping of semiconducting nanotubes with conjugated polymers.[5] This method is scalable thus enabling the supply of this material in large quantities for commercial applications.
Products
editSemiconducting SWCNT
editEnriched Semiconducting carbon nanotubes (sc-SWCNT) using either a density-gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU) or a polymer-wrapping (conjugated polymer extraction(CPE)) method. While the DGU method is used to disperse and enrich sc-SWCNT in an aqueous solution, the CPE method disperses and enriches sc-SWCNT in non-polar aromatic solvents[6]
Conducting SWCNT
editEnriched Conducting carbon nanotubes[7]
PlasmaTubes SWCNT
editHighly graphitized single-wall carbon nanotubes grown using an industrial-scale plasma torch. Nanotubes are grown using a plasma torch display diameters, lengths, and purity levels comparable to the arc and laser methods. The nanotubes measure between 1 and 1.5 nm in diameter and between 0.3-5 microns in length.[8]
Pure and SuperPureTubes SWCNT
editHighly purified carbon nanotubes. Carbon impurities and metal catalysts impurities below 3% and 1.5% respectively.[9]
PureSheets/Graphene
edit1-4+ layer graphene sheets obtained by liquid exfoliation of graphite[10]
HiPco SWCNT
editSmall-diameter single-walled carbon nanotubes[11]
Applications
editField-Effect Transistors
Both Wang[12] and Engel[13] have found that NanoIntegris separated nanotubes "hold great potential for thin-film transistors and display applications" compared to standard carbon nanotubes. More recently, nanotube-based thin film transistors have been printed using inkjet or gravure methods on a variety of flexible substrates including polyimide [14] and polyethylene (PET) [15] and transparent substrates such as glass.[16] These p-type thin film transistors reliably exhibit high-mobilities (> 10 cm^2/V/s) and ON/OFF ratios (> 10^3) and threshold voltages below 5 V. Nanotube-enabled thin-film transistors thus offer high mobility and current density, low power consumption as well as environmental stability and especially mechanical flexibility. Hysterisis in the current-voltage curves as well as variability in the threshold voltage are issues that remain to be solved on the way to nanotube-enabled OTFT backplanes for flexible displays.
Transparent Conductors
Additionally, the ability to distinguish semiconducting from conducting nanotubes was found to have an effect on conductive films.[17]
Organic Light-Emitting Diodes
Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) can be made on a larger scale and at a lower cost using separated carbon nanotubes.[12]
High Frequency Devices
By using high-purity, semiconducting nanotubes, scientists have been able to achieve "record...operating frequencies above 80 GHz."[18]
References
edit- ^ "NanoIntegris Official Site". Archived from the original on 2011-02-05. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
- ^ Hersam Research Group
- ^ Nanotechnology Now October 28th, 2008
- ^ Application of Density Gradient Ultracentrifugation Using Zonal Rotors in the Large-Scale Purification of Biomolecules, Downstream Processing of Proteins, Volume 9: 6, Jan. 2000
- ^ Ding, Jianfu; Li, Zhao; Lefebvre, Jacques; Cheng, Fuyong; Dubey, Girjesh; et al. (2014). "Enrichment of large-diameter semiconducting SWCNTs by polyfluorene extraction for high network density thin film transistors". Nanoscale. 6 (4). Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC): 2328–2339. Bibcode:2014Nanos...6.2328D. doi:10.1039/c3nr05511f. ISSN 2040-3364. PMID 24418869.
- ^ Semiconducting Nanotubes
- ^ Conducting Nanotubes
- ^ "Purified Plasma Nanotubes". www.nanointegris.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-07.
- ^ Purified Nanotubes
- ^ PureSheets Graphene
- ^ HiPco Nanotubes
- ^ a b Wang, Chuan; Zhang, Jialu; Ryu, Koungmin; Badmaev, Alexander; De Arco, Lewis Gomez; Zhou, Chongwu (2009-12-09). "Wafer-Scale Fabrication of Separated Carbon Nanotube Thin-Film Transistors for Display Applications". Nano Letters. 9 (12). American Chemical Society (ACS): 4285–4291. Bibcode:2009NanoL...9.4285W. doi:10.1021/nl902522f. ISSN 1530-6984. PMID 19902962.
- ^ Engel, Michael; Small, Joshua P.; Steiner, Mathias; Freitag, Marcus; Green, Alexander A.; Hersam, Mark C.; Avouris, Phaedon (2008-12-09). "Thin Film Nanotube Transistors Based on Self-Assembled, Aligned, Semiconducting Carbon Nanotube Arrays". ACS Nano. 2 (12). American Chemical Society (ACS): 2445–2452. doi:10.1021/nn800708w. ISSN 1936-0851. PMID 19206278.
- ^ Wang, Chuan; Chien, Jun-Chau; Takei, Kuniharu; Takahashi, Toshitake; Nah, Junghyo; Niknejad, Ali M.; Javey, Ali (2012-02-09). "Extremely Bendable, High-Performance Integrated Circuits Using Semiconducting Carbon Nanotube Networks for Digital, Analog, and Radio-Frequency Applications". Nano Letters. 12 (3). American Chemical Society (ACS): 1527–1533. Bibcode:2012NanoL..12.1527W. doi:10.1021/nl2043375. ISSN 1530-6984. PMID 22313389.
- ^ Lau, Pak Heng; Takei, Kuniharu; Wang, Chuan; Ju, Yeonkyeong; Kim, Junseok; Yu, Zhibin; Takahashi, Toshitake; Cho, Gyoujin; Javey, Ali (2013-08-02). "Fully Printed, High Performance Carbon Nanotube Thin-Film Transistors on Flexible Substrates". Nano Letters. 13 (8). American Chemical Society (ACS): 3864–3869. Bibcode:2013NanoL..13.3864L. doi:10.1021/nl401934a. ISSN 1530-6984. PMID 23899052.
- ^ Sajed, Farzam; Rutherglen, Christopher (2013-09-30). "All-printed and transparent single walled carbon nanotube thin film transistor devices". Applied Physics Letters. 103 (14). AIP Publishing: 143303. Bibcode:2013ApPhL.103n3303S. doi:10.1063/1.4824475. ISSN 0003-6951.
- ^ Green, Alexander A.; Hersam, Mark C. (2008). "Colored Semitransparent Conductive Coatings Consisting of Monodisperse Metallic Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes". Nano Letters. 8 (5). American Chemical Society (ACS): 1417–1422. Bibcode:2008NanoL...8.1417G. doi:10.1021/nl080302f. ISSN 1530-6984. PMID 18393537.
- ^ Nougaret, L.; Happy, H.; Dambrine, G.; Derycke, V.; Bourgoin, J. -P.; Green, A. A.; Hersam, M. C. (2009-06-15). "80 GHz field-effect transistors produced using high purity semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes" (PDF). Applied Physics Letters. 94 (24). AIP Publishing: 243505. Bibcode:2009ApPhL..94x3505N. doi:10.1063/1.3155212. ISSN 0003-6951.