SBIR Phase II: Scalable Electrochemical Production Of Carbon Nanotubes From Carbon Dioxide

Skynano Llc, Knoxville TN

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is the development of a scalable carbon nanotube (CNT) production process that consumes atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) as part of the production process. This project will support domestic supply chains for CNT materials at potentially disruptively low cost-levels. There is market need for low cost CNTs to companies where replacement of existing additives with CNTs can lead to improved products at equivalent or lower cost. Two examples of this are in battery additives or tire additives, where CNTs can replace lower quality carbon black materials to break traditional materials trade-offs such as energy vs power density (batteries) or fuel efficiency vs lifetime (tires). This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project develops a novel, sustainable electrochemical Carbon Nanotube (CNT) production technology, which uses CO2 and electricity to produce high quality CNT products that meet and exceed the quality metrics of today's market products, while feasibly offering a disruptively lower priced CNT product. This project leverages experience in electrochemistry and carbon nanomaterials synthesis to develop rapidly scalable electrode architectures and preparation processes to fabricate such electrode architectures that enable the production of CNTs at cost structures that are truly disruptive in the marketplace and enable rapid commercialization. To further complement these technical efforts, this project optimizes post-growth CNT processing to better align products for customer integration and utilization. Finally, this work will demonstrate the commercial viability of the approach and a scaling pathway for the materials platform. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.