NanoIntegris
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Nanotechnology |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Boisbriand , Canada |
| Products | Enriched single-walled carbon nanotubes, graphene sheets |
| Parent | Raymor Industries |
NanoIntegris is a nanotechnology firm located in Boisbriand, Quebec, focusing on the manufacture of enriched, single-walled carbon nanotubes. In 2012, Raymor Industries, a leading manufacturer of single-wall carbon nanotubes utilizing the plasma torch technique, acquired NanoIntegris.
The company’s exclusive technology was developed from research conducted by the Hersam Research Group at Northwestern University.
Process
At the heart of NanoIntegris’ innovation lies Density Gradient Ultracentrifugation (DGU), a method initially applied in biological and medical sciences and adapted by Mark Hersam to isolate semiconducting from metallic carbon nanotubes. While DGU achieves high-purity semiconducting nanotubes, its throughput is limited by centrifuge speed constraints. To overcome this scalability issue, NanoIntegris adopted a selective polymer-wrapping technique involving conjugated polymers, allowing for large-scale manufacturing of semiconducting nanotubes suitable for commercial use.
Semiconducting SWCNT
Semiconducting carbon nanotubes (sc-SWCNT) enriched through density-gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU) for aqueous suspensions or via conjugated polymer extraction (CPE) for dispersal in non-polar aromatic solvents.
Conducting SWCNT
Conductive carbon nanotubes available in enriched form.
PlasmaTubes SWCNT
Single-wall carbon nanotubes produced industrially via plasma torch synthesis, exhibiting diameters between 1 and 1.5 nm and lengths ranging from 0.3 to 5 microns, with purity and dimensions comparable to those obtained by arc discharge and laser ablation methods.
Pure and SuperPureTubes SWCNT
Carbon nanotubes purified to contain less than 3% carbonaceous impurities and under 1.5% residual metal catalyst content.
PureSheets/Graphene
Graphene sheets consisting of one to more than four layers, produced through liquid-phase exfoliation of graphite.
HiPco SWCNT
Small-diameter single-walled carbon nanotubes synthesized by the HiPco process.
Applications
Field-Effect Transistors
Nanotubes separated by NanoIntegris demonstrate significant promise for use in thin-film transistors (TFTs) and display technologies, surpassing conventional carbon nanotube performance. These nanotube-based TFTs have been fabricated on flexible substrates such as polyimide and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), as well as on transparent glass surfaces. The resulting p-type TFTs deliver high charge carrier mobilities (>10 cm²/V/s), ON/OFF current ratios exceeding 10³, and threshold voltages below 5 V. They offer benefits including enhanced mobility, increased current density, improved power efficiency, environmental stability, and mechanical flexibility. However, challenges persist in minimizing hysteresis effects and threshold voltage variability to facilitate their integration into OTFT backplanes for flexible display panels.
Transparent Conductors
The separation of semiconducting from metallic nanotubes improves the quality and performance of transparent conductive films.
Organic Light-Emitting Diodes
The use of purified carbon nanotubes supports cost-effective, large-scale fabrication of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).
High Frequency Devices
Devices constructed with high-purity semiconducting nanotubes have attained record-breaking operational frequencies surpassing 80 GHz.