Carbon Nanotechnologies Licenses Production Process to DuPont

HOUSTON, Jan. 14 -- Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. (CNI) announced it has an agreement with DuPont Central Research & Development (CR&D) to license CNI's patented laser-oven buckytube production process for use in the area of field emission flat panel displays. DuPont CR&D, working with DuPont Displays, will use the buckytubes (single-wall carbon nanotubes) produced by this specialized process to allow a new generation of flat panel displays. The laser oven process is one of four primary routes to produce buckytubes for which CNI has the critical technology.

Buckytubes are cylindrical carbon molecules that are one billionth of a meter in diameter, conduct electricity better than copper, conduct heat better than diamond and have tensile strength more than 100 times that of steel, yet are lightweight.

"The DuPont technology with laser-oven-produced buckytubes will provide bright displays that operate at low voltage and consume only a fraction of the power used by conventional televisions or by plasma panel displays," said James Romine, director of Material Science at DuPont CR&D.