Manufacturing Lightweight Carbon Nanotube Electrical Cables: Increasing the Conductivity
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Surrey
Department Name: ATI Electronics
Abstract
Individual Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are as conductive as copper, they can carry more current and have ~7 times smaller density. They also perform better at high frequency, because they have a significantly-reduced skin effect, where the higher the frequency, the thinner the layer at the surface that can carry the current is, leading to increased resistance. Mechanically, CNTs are more stable as electrical conductors, as they do not suffer from creep, a phenomenon where metals deform, in time, under stress and which leads to electrical failures in wires and printed circuit boards. An electrical CNT wire that is as conductive as an aluminium or copper one will be lighter, tougher, able to carry more current and perform better at higher frequencies. Lift a power drill or a vacuum cleaner and imagine that their weight is cut in half, without losing power. The problem when going to a large scale is how to pass the current between individual nanotubes. The structure of graphite is that of individual sheets of sp2-bonded carbon, held together by weak van der Waals forces in directions perpendicular to the individual sheets; these weak forces are the reason why these planes slip across each other and the graphite lead in the pencil works. Conductivity in the plane is very high, but out of plane is much smaller; this means that if we put two nanotubes together, the electrons find a barrier between the nanotubes that they must tunnel through, reducing the conductivity. What we propose to do is to effectively weld nanotubes, by introducing defects in the nanotubes in a controlled way and then healing them together, such that the defects migrate and cancel each other between the tubes, leading to cross-linking of the CNTs in the area of contact. Therefore, our challenge is to discover a manufacturing solution for CNT wires and cables, and we are best placed to do this because we start from our proven method for getting CNTs aligned by electrospinning and we have the right expertise in the management of defects in materials, from introduction/implantation to self-healing.
Planned Impact
The proposed research is supported by T Swan Ltd, a premier independent manufacturer of performance and speciality chemicals located in Consett, County Durham. Their company is set up to produce tens of kg of CNTs and can upscale to the level of Nanocyl-Belgium and Cnano and Timesnano in China, to tonnes-per-year, if a significant application breakthrough is found, such as being able to produce lightweight conductors. This will impact significantly not only the company, but also the local economy in the North of England, creating new high-skilled jobs and wealth. The prospect is of interest also to one of the major manufacturers of electrospun fibres, Revolution Fibres, in New Zealand, who have offered their worldwide contacts and resources to help deliver the impact of a breakthrough in increasing the conductivity of carbon nanotube wires. Revolution Fibres are also looking to open a subsidiary in the UK, as a result of this, adding value to the local economy. Lightweight conductors for space and robotics applications are of interest to BAE Systems, as they will result in lighter, more powerful electrical motors that will increase the autonomy and reliability of such systems. Electrical motors will be redesigned to work at higher rpm and have higher torque than possible, which will impact throughout from the academic research and prototype design level, to the application of such motors, including for quality-of-life, such as in bionic prosthetics or for people who are immobile or mobility-impaired. The knowledge gained in this research is transferable to the class of novel 2D materials, such as graphene, where the materials are now being produced in kg quantities but with small micron-sizes and their incorporation into conductive layers requires overcoming the interface barriers. Carbon nanotubes and their fantastic possibilities have now been expounded all the way to GCSE-level textbooks; with this proposal we can deliver on some of those promises and enthuse a new generation of scientists and engineers, increasing the UKs position and reputation in the global research and market.
Organisations
- University of Surrey (Collaboration, Lead Research Organisation)
- Kyushu University (Collaboration)
- Revolution Fibres Limited (Collaboration)
- KYMIRA Sports (Collaboration)
- Scion (Collaboration)
- University of Bristol (Collaboration)
- Tata Steel (India) (Project Partner)
- Revolution Fibres (Project Partner)
- Thomas Swan (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- BAE Systems (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
Publications
Forouharshad M
(2019)
Textile-Compatible, Electroactive Polyvinylidene Fluoride Electrospun Mats for Energy Harvesting
in Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics
Hurrell A
(2021)
On the relationship of the observed acoustical and related non-acoustical behaviours of nanofibers membranes using Biot- and Darcy-type models
in Applied Acoustics
King S
(2018)
Micro-Centrifugal Technique for Improved Assessment and Optimization of Nanomaterial Dispersions: The Case for Carbon Nanotubes
in ACS Applied Nano Materials
King S
(2022)
A route towards metal-free electrical cables via carbon nanotube wires
in Carbon Trends
King S
(2018)
Large area uniform electrospun polymer nanofibres by balancing of the electrostatic field
in Reactive and Functional Polymers
King S
(2021)
A Route Towards Metal-Free Electrical Cables Via Carbon Nanotube Wires
in SSRN Electronic Journal
King SG
(2020)
Low-Cost Catalyst Ink for Simple Patterning and Growth of High-Quality Single- and Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes.
in ACS applied materials & interfaces
Le Borgne B
(2019)
Eco-Friendly Materials for Daily-Life Inexpensive Printed Passive Devices: Towards "Do-It-Yourself" Electronics
in Electronics
Description | 1) Carbon nanotube wires must be treated as networks, rather than solid conductors, meaning that we cannot readily relate their resistance and cross-sectional area; instead we must relate it to their weight, compared to the electrical properties of a similar length of International Annealed Copper Standard (IACS) wire; 2) using longer (~0.5 mm) carbon nanotubes to form electrical wires leads to a reduction of the resistance (by up to half compared to similar but shorter quality nanotubes; 3) Electrospun composites of carbon nanotubes and poly-acrylo-nitrile (PAN - this is the polymer which, when carbonised, gives carbon fibres) are stronger but not as conductive as carbon fibres; 4) Without welding or treating (eg iodine doping) individual nanotubes, carbon nanotube wires are typically 2 to 3 orders of magnitude more resistive than IACS but can withstand similar ampacities (current per unit area - see also outcome 1). 4) Electrospinning leads to alignment of polymer molecules and crystallisation in the vicinity of nanomaterials mixed in the solution, eg CNTs - these can act as crystallisation centres. 5) Electrospinning produces directly the highest piezoelectric-phase PVDF |
Exploitation Route | Currently, nanotube wires may have niche applications where high ampacity is required (eg power systems in RF or MW applications) or where efficent heating through thermal radiation (CNTs are nearly ideal black body radiators) is required, such as maintaining the temperature of ion batteries in harsh, cold environments. Electrospinning has significant advantages in producing PVDF-based piezo-electric materials as it creates the piezo-electric phase during the production, without the need for thermal and electrostatic further treatment, and is directly compatible with textiles. |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Construction Education Electronics Energy Healthcare Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology |
Description | ICURe - Midlands Cohort 22 |
Amount | £35,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | C4 Surrey Electrospinning |
Organisation | Innovate UK |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2019 |
End | 09/2019 |
Description | Smart Energy Harvesting Textiles (IAA) with KYMIRA Ltd |
Amount | £25,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | RN0321Q |
Organisation | University of Surrey |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2018 |
End | 09/2018 |
Description | Textile-compatible foetal movement sensors - Sensing electronics (IAA) with KYMIRA Ltd |
Amount | £25,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | RN0320L |
Organisation | University of Surrey |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2019 |
End | 06/2019 |
Title | New Electrospinning System |
Description | A new small area electrospinning rig has been designed and built for the more efficient use of high-cost high-performance polymers. This new system being more customisable and assessable than the previous systems available allows for the better application of the electrospinning technique. |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | With a second rig available now to any user, more options and outputs are achievable. As a result of this rig, a collaboration was set up with KYMIRA allowing for nanofibres to be spun for smart textiles. |
Description | Biological Sensors |
Organisation | University of Surrey |
Department | School of Biosciences & Medicine |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Hospitals |
PI Contribution | Provided electrospinning and nanofibre knowledge. Provided several nanofibre yarns for testing. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provided access characterisation equipment. Provided testing of the samples provided. |
Impact | None Yet. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Bristol composites |
Organisation | University of Bristol |
Department | School of Physics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We provided several electrospun samples to be used in composite manufacture and testing. We also shared electrospinning knowledge with postgraduate students. |
Collaborator Contribution | Partners contributed novel polymer materials, composite manufacture and testing. |
Impact | paper submitted - not yet published |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Cell Growth Substrates |
Organisation | University of Surrey |
Department | Department of Chemistry |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Provided electrospinning and nanofibre knowledge. Provided numerous samples for cell growth. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provided knowledge of cell culture. Provided testing of cell growth on our substrates. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Electrospun Carbonised Lignin |
Organisation | Scion |
Country | New Zealand |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | We set this collaboration up and will be testing their new novel carbonised electrospun lignin nanofibres for a range of analysis. |
Collaborator Contribution | Scion's team will in kind carbonise our large areas of nanofibres and run their own testing systems. |
Impact | This collaboration is related to next generation of nano-material. There have been no outputs yet. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Electrospun Water and Air Filtration |
Organisation | University of Surrey |
Department | Advanced Technology Institute (ATI) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Provided advice or electrospinning capability with respect to polymers and nanofibres, for the manufacture of air and water filteration devices. |
Collaborator Contribution | Existing water filtration devices have been provided in order to demonstrate a benchmark. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | KYMIRA Sports |
Organisation | KYMIRA Sports |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | KYMIRA approached us to develop a flexible, textile-integrated piezeoeletric energy harvester based on electrospun PVDF fibres. We have developed this into a 6 month Impact Acceleration Account proposal (University - internally funded competition) and have delivered a demonstrator for a knee-joint energy harvesting application. The PVDF polymer has several phases, only one of which is the most desirable for this application and, through our electrospinning expertise, we have been able to increase significantly the amount of this phase and make it compatible with the textile fabrication process. As a result of this success, we have now moved on to a second project, which is to fabricate foetal monitoring sensors that are compatible to textiles, rather than belts or harnesses that are very constrictive and difficult to wear continuously. |
Collaborator Contribution | KYMIRA brought textile and flexible electronics know-how, as well as testers and knee-joint simulators. They have also introduced a 'pregnanct belly' simulator and know-how about sensor architecture. |
Impact | This is a multi-disciplinary collaboration: electronic engineering, mechanical engineering, nanotechnology, health, textile manufacturing |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Nanofibre Fuel Cell Membranes |
Organisation | Kyushu University |
Country | Japan |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Provided advice and demonstrations on electrospinning capability. Produced several CNT inks and nanofibre samples. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provided advice and overviews on the workings of a fuel cell and advised on how CNTs can be used within them. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | RevolutionFibresLTd |
Organisation | Revolution Fibres Limited |
Country | New Zealand |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Exchange of CNT ink formulation know-how. |
Collaborator Contribution | Exchange of large area electrospinning, commercialisation and electrospinning industrial applications know-how |
Impact | No outputs yet |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Scion |
Organisation | Scion |
Country | New Zealand |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Scion has been sending us state-of-the-art electrospun lignin samples as next-generation conductors. We have been analysing the samples, as well as participating in some carbonisation of the samples. |
Collaborator Contribution | Scion has been carbonising electrospun samples of ours which are much larger than we can normally process, they are also using a higher temp furnace. |
Impact | This is too early to list any outputs yet. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Thermoelectric CNT Devices |
Organisation | University of Surrey |
Department | Advanced Technology Institute (ATI) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We have been using our knowledge of CNT dispersion to provide better solutions for processing into thermoelectric devices. |
Collaborator Contribution | Extensive electrical testing of the CNT networks as well as other characterisation techniques. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Triboelectric Generators |
Organisation | University of Surrey |
Department | Department of Physics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Provided knowledge of electrospinning, nanofibre capability and polymer science advice. Supplied several nanofibre sheets comprised of different polymers. Purposed a wetspinning technique and tested said technique, providing samples to be tested. Supplied electropsun fibres, spun directly onto conductive textiles. |
Collaborator Contribution | Supplied triboelectric knowledge. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Company Name | Radical Fibres |
Description | Radical Fibres designs and manufactures textiles using nanofibres for a range of commercial applications. |
Year Established | 2019 |
Impact | Company established 2019, sold to Nanolayr New Zealand for ~£1M, currently operating as Nanolayr UK, the R&D arm of Nanolayr New Zealand. |
Website | https://radicalfibres.com/ |
Description | 7th UK - Japan Symposium on Fundamental Research Advances in Carbon Nanomaterials (London) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This was a conference organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry focusing in the field of carbon nano materials. Here I presented my poster titled "Refinement of Steam Purification Process for Carbon Nanotubes". This poster generated a lot of interest and has resulted in further collaboration with Japanese researchers lead by Prof. Stephen Lyth. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.rsc.org/events/detail/20930/7th-uk-japan-symposium-on-fundamental-research-advances-in-ca... |
Description | ANEM 2018 Conference, Perth Aus. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | ANEM 2018 Conference in Perth Australia. A presentation titled "Highly Conductive Carbon Nanotube Sheets and Wires by Aligned Electrospinning". |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.anemaustralia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Program-final-ANEM2018-online-version-lates... |
Description | Carbon nanotube research could enable lighter, faster electric motors - Online Press Release |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | This was a press release focusing primarily on the research conducted by myself. This press release was made by the University of Surrey and was used to successfully win further funding in the production of manufacturing carbon nanotube wires. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.surrey.ac.uk/features/carbon-nanotube-research-could-enable-lighter-faster-electric-motor... |
Description | Conference NANOP2016 Paris 7-9 Dec 2016 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Stolojan attended this conference as a speaker and member of the organising committee - talk titled "The manufacture of complex micro-optical elements on the ends of optical fibres, using a Focused Ion Beam Microscope". This talk discussed methods of manufacturing very small, specialised lenses in polymers and has led to Dr Stolojan, through collaborators at NPL, to be invited as a stakeholder in PhotIND EU project: http://www.photind.eu/ It also led to exploratory discussions with groups in France and Switzerland who are developing medical applications based on lenses on the end of fibres, such as endoscopes. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://programme.exordo.com/nanop2016/ |
Description | E-MRS Fall 2016 (Warsaw, Poland) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This conference is potentially the largest in the World for materials research. This conference was located in central Warsaw, Poland. At this conference I presented an oral presentation titled "Aligned Carbon Nanotube Paper and Wires for Electrical and Mechanical Applications". This presentation was well received and gained further interest from 2 of the audience members. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.european-mrs.com/meetings/2016-fall |
Description | EPSRC showcase event Materials Resarch Exchange 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | 2 day event to demonstrate ground-breaking new materials and the process of taking these to commercialisation. Several link were made with researchers from other universities and their characterisation facilities (eg SAXS at Warwick, Analytical electron microscopy at Oxford), as well as exploratory application avenues for electrospun nanomaterials in art (London School of Art) and funding avenues with MBDA and Qinetiq. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://www.mre2018.co.uk/ |
Description | EUPOC 2019 Conference Italy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The was the EUPOC 2019 conference on electrospinning and nanofibre technologies. The talk title was "Highly conductive aligned carbon nanotube sheets and wires". |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://cdn.website-editor.net/0ca4eb8b03aa46b6ae033a2d167e3bd8/files/uploaded/Booklet%2520of%2520Ab... |
Description | EUPOC 2019 Conference Italy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | EUPOC 2019 Conference Italy on nanofibre and related technologies. Presentation title "ELECTROSPUN PVDF WITH ENHANCED ? FOR ENERGY HARVESTING TEXTILES" given by Vlad Stolojan. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://cdn.website-editor.net/0ca4eb8b03aa46b6ae033a2d167e3bd8/files/uploaded/Booklet%2520of%2520Ab... |
Description | Electrically-conducting aligned carbon nanotube wires and sheets manufactured via electrospinning - talk at NART 2017 - Liberec, 24/9/17 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Electrically-conducting aligned carbon nanotube wires and sheets manufactured via electrospinning - oral presentation. A direct result was the establishment of a direct collaboration with Prof Ramakrishna's group at National University of Singapore, with a review paper due out in May 2018 and a visit to NUS by Stolojan in May 2018. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2017 |
Description | Electrospinning expert discussion to look towards new innovation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | This was a meeting held in Frankfurt with the electrospinning experts from Reveolution Fibres Ltd to discuss new innovation and ideas, with the hope of developing new outputs. This was a day-long event of discussions and planning. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | InnoLAE 2019 Conference, UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | InnoLAE 2019 Conference in Cambridge UK. A poster titled "Low-cost RC Filter Using Materials from Daily-Life". |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | NART 2016 (Raleigh, North Carolina) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Nanofibers, Applications And Related Technologies (NART) is a World Wide conference focusing on nanofibres and there production. This conference was held in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina. At this conference I presented my poster titled "Electrospinning of Highly Conductive Low Weight Carbon Nanotube Wires". This poster was a huge success, gaining interest from a majority of the conference attendees. This poster resulted in multiple interest from external parties looking to collaborate. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.nartconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/NART16-Program.pdf |
Description | NART 2017 - Electrospinning Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This is an annual conference were some of the World leading experts in nanofibres and related technologies. Here we delivered an oral presentation on our current work using electrospinning. This led to numerous positive questions and discussions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://nart.tul.cz/ |
Description | Oral presentation NART2019 Liberec, Czech Republic 18/9/19 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Presentation title: Electrospun PVDF with enhanced b-phase component for energy harvesting textiles and foetal movment sensors. Audience comprised academics, students and industry participants and there were significant discussions about starting collaborations on smart sensing textiles. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://nart.tul.cz/program |
Description | Press Release |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Press release on the successful completion of a collaborative project in New Zealand. Titled "ATI RESEARCHER COMPLETES 3-MONTH SECONDMENT TO REVOLUTION FIBRES" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.revolutionfibres.com/2018/10/ati-researcher-completes-3-month-secondment-to-revolution-f... |
Description | Press release |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Manufacturer press release on the success of our research project. Titled "High Conductivity Fibres using Elicarb® Carbon Nanotubes from Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd.". |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://thomas-swan.co.uk/high-conductivity-fibres-using-elicarb-carbon-nanotubes-from-thomas-swan-c... |
Description | Singapore NUS |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited talk with Prof Ramakrishna's group NUS (Singapore) on electrospinning and advances in carbon nanotube conductors. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://me.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/ME-Seminar_20180522_Dr-Vlad-Stolojan.pdf |
Description | Symposium on Acoustics of Nanoporous Materials, Salford UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | A small symposium on the acoustics of nanofibres. This has resulted in new research being conducted and the potential for a future funded application. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Talk Okayama University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk on CNT wires to Prof Okayama's group, attended by staff and postgraduate students at the Engineering department. The discussion afterwards resulted in a continued collaboration with Prof Okayama's group, who are also working on CNT wires produced from direct spinning form vertical CNT forests, and whose methods for post-production annealing were of intereest to us. We have modified some of his methods with successful outcomes and are currently writing a joint paper. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Technical consulation with Technology Analyst at IDTechEx |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Technical consultation provided to Technology Analyst on the achievements, technology and prospects of CNT cables and CNT-metal hybrid solution (eg. CNT-Cu alloys). Working towards a commercial analysis document. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Thermoelectric Devices Based On Carbon Nanotubes |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | A poster was given titled "Thermoelectric Devices Based On Carbon Nanotubes" at the InnoLAE 2018 conference. This poster resulted in outside parties registering interest into project progress. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://www-large-area-electronics.eng.cam.ac.uk/innoLAE2018 |
Description | UK-wide Nanotube Collaborative Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | This was a conference or workshop designed to get all of the industry leaders together to discuss the use of CNTs for electrical transmission. This sparked discussion and debate with industry as to whether the use of CNTs is a possibility. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/externalsites/uk-nanotube-collaborative-inaugural-workshop/ |
Description | Wearable Triboelectric Nanogenerators ICMAT 2017 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A presentation title "Wearable Triboelectric Nanogenerators ", given at the ICMAT 2017 in Singapore. This led to discussions and many requests for further details and reports. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://icmat2017.mrs.org.sg/ |
Description | invited talk Ultrawire Workshop, Wolfson College, Cambridge, 13-14 July 2017 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | This was a Workshop on the Commercialisation of Nano-Carbon Wire Technology organised by Cambridge Nanomaterials Ltd and attended by an international industrial audience involved in Copper wire manufacturing, defence technology and construction technology (specialised concrete). The presentation led to discussions on the standardisation of measurements for CNT and led to exploratory discussions with several industrial partners and an academic partner. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://ultrawire.eu/ |