NEC begins marketing 'carbon nanohorn'

Technology Jan. 30, 2013 - 05:11AM JST ( 0 )

TOKYO —

NEC Corp on Tuesday announced the availability of the “carbon nanohorn,” a form of carbon nanotube, that can be used for a wide range of purposes, including medical innovations and capacitor enhancement.

Carbon nanohorns were first discovered in 1998 by a research team lead by Dr Sumio Iijima, Senior Research Fellow, NEC Corporation. Each carbon nanohorn is approximately 2-5 nm (nanometers) in diameter and 40-50 nm long. When several thousand are collected together, carbon nanohorns or carbon nanohorn aggregates can form a spherical shape that is approximately 100 nm in diameter with a wide surface area per unit mass. This formation boasts a range of unique characteristics that include easy dispersion and high conductivity.

Carbon nanohorns are expected to be used with materials spanning industries throughout the world, including the medical field (e.g. as a carrier for drug delivery systems), the electrical component field (e.g. capacitors, actuators and fuel cells) and others.

“NEC is initiating these sales activities following the development and successful testing of technologies and equipment that can mass produce 1kg of 95% pure carbon nanohorns each day,” said Masayuki Hasegawa, assistant general manager, NEC.  “We are now approaching businesses, universities, research centers and others in order to promote the sale and co-development of applications using carbon nanohorns. NEC aims to provide these materials to 20 organizations within the next 3 years.”