STTR Phase I: Cost- and energy-efficient synthesis of long carbon nanotubes from waste plastics

这个小型企业技术转移(STTR)第一阶段项目将开发一种两阶段工艺，包括热塑性塑料废物的热解和在催化剂存在下的燃烧，以制造具有可重复质量的长碳纳米管(CNT)。使用聚合物废物的概念是新颖和革命性的，特别是在碳纳米管制造领域。聚合物废物通常会被送到垃圾填埋场。这项研究如果成功，不仅将对环境和土地污染产生重大影响，还将显著降低碳纳米管的制造成本。碳纳米管的成本一直非常高，主要是因为工艺产率低，质量要求严格，特别是在制造长长碳纳米管的时候。拟议的研究有望从固体聚合物废物产品中制造出一种重要的新工程材料，并仍然控制和保持所需和预期的高质量。研究小组确定的初步目标应用是取代用作平板显示器、液晶显示器(LCD)和太阳能电池的透明导电氧化物(TCO)涂层的ITO薄膜，所有这些薄膜目前都在开发，以满足医疗、电子和替代能源市场的需求。如果成功完成并在商业规模上实施，这项研究的更广泛影响将是聚合物废物的减少和转化为非常高附加值的产品，这在开发影响从微电子、先进复合材料、医疗设备、航空航天和汽车材料等大量行业的先进技术方面具有极其重要的技术和商业意义。高强度结构工程材料、新型微纳器件、传感器、生物医学诊断工具、信息存储、检索和分析工具、能够开发高质量纳米制造工艺的机床和机器。这些新技术开发的全球竞争得到了全球许多国家的大力资助，其中包括所谓的发展中国家，这给美国创新者带来了重大挑战，他们的目标是通过领先于可以转化为非常成功的商业产品的新的创新想法，保持领先地位。

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will develop a two-stage process consisting of pyrolysis of thermoplastic waste, and combustion in the presence of a catalyst, to manufacture long-length carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with reproducible quality. The concept of using polymer waste, which normally ends up in landfills, is novel and revolutionary, especially in the field of manufacture of CNTs. Not only does this research, if successful, will have a significant impact on the environment and land pollution, but will dramatically reduce the cost of manufacture of CNTs. The cost of CNTs has always been very high, mainly because of low process yields, and stringent quality requirements, especially when long length CNTs are manufactured. The proposed research has the promise to manufacture an important new engineering material from solid polymer waste product, and still controlling and maintaining the high quality needed and expected. The initial target application identified by the research team is for replacement of indium tin oxide (ITO) films used as transparent conductive oxide (TCO) coatings for flat panel displays, liquid crystal displays (LCD) and solar cells, all of which are currently being developed to meet the needs of medical, electronics and alternative energy markets.The broader impacts of this research, if successfully completed and implemented on a commercial scale, will be in the polymer waste reduction and conversion into a very high value-added product which is technologically and commercially extremely important in developing advanced technologies that impact a large number of industries, from microelectronics, advanced composites, medical devices, aerospace and automotive materials, high strength structural engineering materials, novel micro-and nano-scale devices, sensors, biomedical diagnostic tools, information storage, retrieval and analysis tools, machine tools and machines capable of developing high-quality nano-manufacturing processes. The worldwide competition for these new technology developments are aggressively funded by many nations around the globe, including the so-called developing countries, providing a significant challenge to the U.S. innovators a worthy goal of remaining ahead of the pack by taking the lead on new, innovative ideas that can be turned into highly successful commercial products.