David Savastano, Editor05.27.15
Single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) offer great promise for many applications, including thin film transistors, but there are many challenges. Once the technical aspects are covered, scaling up production to commercial levels is the next daunting obstacle.
Raymor Industries, Inc. has overcome this hurdle. A Boisbriand. Quebec, Canada-based materials specialist, Raymor co-developed its plasma torch-derived IsoSol-100, a carbon nanotube ink, with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), Canada’s leading PE R&D organization.
Raymor’s IsoSol-S100 (semiconducting - SWCNT ink) technology has drawn the attention of the flexible and printed electronics industry, as Raymor received IDTechEx’s Best Technical Development Materials Award during Printed Electronics USA 2014. Raymor was honored for IsoSol-100, which is said to be the highest purity semiconducting nanotube ink (99.9% pure) to be offered commercially today.
“This is a win for our team as well as our partners and customers who have helped us to develop world-class products that put Canada on the PE map,” said Jacques Mallette, director of Raymor Industries.
“Raymor is just one example of the kind of innovative foundational research and commercial development underway in Canada for the global PE industry,” added Peter Kallai, executive director of the Canadian Printable Electronics Industry Association (CPEIA).
Jens Kroeger, Raymor’s CTO, noted that the company’s beginnings date back to 2006, with the goal of developing materials in conjunction with Quebec’s renowned work in plasma technology.
“Quebec is renowned for its expertise in plasma technologies, and we focused on high temperature materials,” Kroeger said. “We developed two projects: a titanium powder for 3D printing and carbon nanotubes.”
The projects both proved to be successful, and Raymor decided the time was right to focus primarily on carbon nanotubes, including the 2012 acquisition of NanoIntegris, which has been key to the development of IsoSol.
“We were successful with both projects,” Kroeger said. “We sold our titanium powder business to ARCAM in Sweden, a 3D printer company, and focused on carbon nanotubes. In 2012, we acquired NanoIntegris, which specialized in single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT).”
The challenge was sorting out the SWNTs the company needed, and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) played a pivotal role in finding the solution. This was solved through copolymer extraction, which is scalable.
“SWNTs act as metallics or semiconductors, but collecting the semiconductor particles that had the bandgaps we needed was a challenge, and as a result it was difficult to scale,” Kroeger said. “Working with the National Research Council (NRC), we were able to develop a method to separate the semiconductor particles with the bandgaps, and ultimately scale up our manufacturing. With that, IsoSol came to fruition.
“The NRC was very helpful in developing this method for us,” Kroeger added. “We had used a density-gradiant ultracentrifugation process, but the NRC determined that certain polymers attracted the molecules we wanted. We now are manufacturing IsoSol and have launched the product commercially.”
“The National Research Council has been working with Raymor on carbon nanotube deposition techniques, which we have transferred and licensed to Raymor, and has added more value to carbon nanotubes,” added Thomas Ducellier, executive director, printed electronics program for the National Research Council Canada. “We have been working on this for quite a few years, and we believe that IsoSol has a lot of potential.”
IsoSol-100 is inkjettable, and has numerous applications, including flexible transitors for bio and gas sensing, display drivers and transistor switches.
“IsoSol is ideal for printed transistor applications as well as photovoltaics and RFID,” Kroeger said. “It lends itself well to printed, flexible transistors. It is inkjettable and aerosol printable and won’t clog printheads, and there is no need for surfactants when using IsoSol. We are currently in testing with two very serious companies, and other companies are doing exploratory work with IsoSol.”
Kroeger said that there are many opportunities for Raymor’s technology, but there is also work to be done.
“We think it is a very bright outlook,” he said. “CNTs have been around for 20 years since they were discovered, and we see advances now, but there is still lots of work to be done. Companies are switching to solution processing in Asia. CNTs have excellent stability, and performances will not decrease in time. They are also fairly easy to solution coat, and are also five to 10 times less expensive than printed silver. All told, Raymor and NanoIntegris have more than 600 clients, and are very credible in the field of CNTs.”
Raymor Industries, Inc. has overcome this hurdle. A Boisbriand. Quebec, Canada-based materials specialist, Raymor co-developed its plasma torch-derived IsoSol-100, a carbon nanotube ink, with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), Canada’s leading PE R&D organization.
Raymor’s IsoSol-S100 (semiconducting - SWCNT ink) technology has drawn the attention of the flexible and printed electronics industry, as Raymor received IDTechEx’s Best Technical Development Materials Award during Printed Electronics USA 2014. Raymor was honored for IsoSol-100, which is said to be the highest purity semiconducting nanotube ink (99.9% pure) to be offered commercially today.
“This is a win for our team as well as our partners and customers who have helped us to develop world-class products that put Canada on the PE map,” said Jacques Mallette, director of Raymor Industries.
“Raymor is just one example of the kind of innovative foundational research and commercial development underway in Canada for the global PE industry,” added Peter Kallai, executive director of the Canadian Printable Electronics Industry Association (CPEIA).
Jens Kroeger, Raymor’s CTO, noted that the company’s beginnings date back to 2006, with the goal of developing materials in conjunction with Quebec’s renowned work in plasma technology.
“Quebec is renowned for its expertise in plasma technologies, and we focused on high temperature materials,” Kroeger said. “We developed two projects: a titanium powder for 3D printing and carbon nanotubes.”
The projects both proved to be successful, and Raymor decided the time was right to focus primarily on carbon nanotubes, including the 2012 acquisition of NanoIntegris, which has been key to the development of IsoSol.
“We were successful with both projects,” Kroeger said. “We sold our titanium powder business to ARCAM in Sweden, a 3D printer company, and focused on carbon nanotubes. In 2012, we acquired NanoIntegris, which specialized in single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT).”
The challenge was sorting out the SWNTs the company needed, and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) played a pivotal role in finding the solution. This was solved through copolymer extraction, which is scalable.
“SWNTs act as metallics or semiconductors, but collecting the semiconductor particles that had the bandgaps we needed was a challenge, and as a result it was difficult to scale,” Kroeger said. “Working with the National Research Council (NRC), we were able to develop a method to separate the semiconductor particles with the bandgaps, and ultimately scale up our manufacturing. With that, IsoSol came to fruition.
“The NRC was very helpful in developing this method for us,” Kroeger added. “We had used a density-gradiant ultracentrifugation process, but the NRC determined that certain polymers attracted the molecules we wanted. We now are manufacturing IsoSol and have launched the product commercially.”
“The National Research Council has been working with Raymor on carbon nanotube deposition techniques, which we have transferred and licensed to Raymor, and has added more value to carbon nanotubes,” added Thomas Ducellier, executive director, printed electronics program for the National Research Council Canada. “We have been working on this for quite a few years, and we believe that IsoSol has a lot of potential.”
IsoSol-100 is inkjettable, and has numerous applications, including flexible transitors for bio and gas sensing, display drivers and transistor switches.
“IsoSol is ideal for printed transistor applications as well as photovoltaics and RFID,” Kroeger said. “It lends itself well to printed, flexible transistors. It is inkjettable and aerosol printable and won’t clog printheads, and there is no need for surfactants when using IsoSol. We are currently in testing with two very serious companies, and other companies are doing exploratory work with IsoSol.”
Kroeger said that there are many opportunities for Raymor’s technology, but there is also work to be done.
“We think it is a very bright outlook,” he said. “CNTs have been around for 20 years since they were discovered, and we see advances now, but there is still lots of work to be done. Companies are switching to solution processing in Asia. CNTs have excellent stability, and performances will not decrease in time. They are also fairly easy to solution coat, and are also five to 10 times less expensive than printed silver. All told, Raymor and NanoIntegris have more than 600 clients, and are very credible in the field of CNTs.”