[nanoPost] Fullerenes for organic photovoltaics

Company USA

Producer of nanostructured carbon materials including fullerenes, nanotubes and their chemical derivatives.

Fullerenes and Fullerene Derivatives

The company manufactures a full range of fullerenes, including fullerene black, C60, C70, C76/78, C84 and higher fullerenes.  Their core combustion process gives a degree of control on how much of each they make. 

They also tailor these to specific applications via chemical derivatization.  For example, the PCBM derivative is the current derivative of choice for organic photovoltaics.  For solar and other polymer electronics, they are now producing a broader range of derivatives that are enabling their customers to explore a full range of electronic properties and morphologies.  Their range of derivatives also includes water and lipid soluble that we are now producing for applications in health care. 

Single and Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNT and MWCNT)

As is true in their fullerene process, their nanotube system is exothermic which provides for a substantially lower cost approach than CVD or high pressure CO-based systems.  

Unique variables that influence the characteristics of CNTs include:

- operating temperature and pressure
- type & particle size of catalyst
- fuel type and fuel-oxygen ratio
- dilution with inert gas
- cold gas velocity
- in-situ processing of substrates
- use of electric fields to achieve greater degrees of alignment

For example, they have demonstrated that higher operating pressures result in longer nanotubes, and higher throughputs; catalyst choice quantitatively determines production of SWCNTs or MWCNTs. 

Their system affords the possibility of capturing the as-produced SWCNTs in water or other liquids (a “pre-dispersion”) to enable easier processing into devices. They are working on the functionalization and dispersion of nanotubes for particular electronic applications. 

For one polymer electronics application they are "cutting" SWCNTs to shorter lengths and following that with chemical functionalization to aid dispersion.  For another application area they are producing longer nanotubes and exploring alternative dispersion methods to aid in processing using lithographic techniques.   

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