Carbon Nanotubes for Industrial Applications

Carbon Nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are rolled graphene cylinders whose properties are governed by wall count, diameter, length and purity. Klean Commodities supplies industrial carbon nanotube grades — including single-wall material — to manufacturers moving nanomaterials out of the laboratory and into production lines. Everything is quoted against a defined application, volume and schedule.

Grade families

• Single-wall (SWCNT) — highest conductivity per unit loading, used where inactive mass is expensive.
• Multi-wall and wider grades — more economical reinforcement and antistatic performance at higher loadings.
• Dispersions and concentrates — pre-dispersed formats that shorten the path to a stable compound.

Applications that are already commercial

Antistatic and ESD plastics for electronics handling, conductive elastomers and coatings, battery and supercapacitor electrode additives, structural composites for transport and sporting goods, and functional inks. In each case nanotubes compete not on novelty but on total formulation cost — a small addition that removes a larger quantity of conventional filler and the processing penalty that came with it.

What to specify when you enquire

Tell us the matrix, the target property and the processing route. Wall count, aspect ratio, purity and format follow from those three answers. An enquiry that specifies only "carbon nanotubes" cannot be quoted meaningfully; an enquiry that specifies a polypropylene masterbatch targeting a defined surface resistivity on a twin-screw line can be quoted precisely.

Scale-up realities

Nanotube programmes fail at the scale-up step more often than at the bench. Dispersion energy that works in a laboratory mixer does not translate directly to a production extruder, and agglomerates that are invisible at small scale become visible defects at volume. We encourage buyers to secure pilot-quantity supply early so the production trial is run on the same grade and lot family that will be contracted.

Supply security

Nanotube capacity is campaign-based worldwide. Buyers planning a product launch should treat CNT supply as a long-lead item and contract ahead of their ramp rather than assuming spot availability. We quote term agreements specifically to remove that risk from a production plan.

Cost modelling that reflects reality

Compare nanotubes on cost per unit of delivered property, not cost per kilogram. A material at several times the price of a conventional conductive filler can still reduce total formulation cost if it is dosed at a tenth of the loading and restores processability that the conventional filler destroyed. Build the comparison on a finished-part basis, including scrap rate and cycle time, and the commercial picture usually looks very different from the raw material quote.