Canatu achieves record-high carbon nanotube opto-electric performance

Canatu achieves record-high carbon nanotube opto-electric performance with its Carbon NanoBud (CNB™) transparent conductive film

Expands potential applications and makes CNB more affordable for automotive ADAS heater and capacitive touch applications

Carbon nanomaterial company Canatu more than doubles the performance of its Carbon NanoBud (CNB™) transparent conductive film. Multi-year research and development program results in the best industrially applicable sheet resistance to optical transparency ratio ever seen in Carbon Nanotube (CNT) films. With sheet resistance of 35Ω/sq at 90% transmittance, Canatu CNB offers proven, high-performance material for automotive ADAS heater and flexible capacitive touch applications that require high electrical conductivity and high optical transparency. Featuring ultra-low haze and low reflection, the unique CNB film can be formed to any 3D shape enabling design freedom.

“Advances in the synthesis and scalable manufacturing are critical to mass adoption of CNTs. In transparent conductor applications, both optical and electrical properties are the most important factors of competitiveness. I have followed Canatu with high interest and thrilled to see Canatu has made a new world record in commercial-scale manufactured CNT thin film transmittance and electrical conductivity, ” says Shigeo Maruyama, a highly respected, Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tokyo.

“This is by far one of the greatest technical advancements in Canatu history. It strengthens our competitiveness and expands potential applications for CNB, while marking a solid base for the future development of CNB,” says Juha Kokkonen, CEO of Canatu.

Increasing electrical conductivity without harming transmittance or adding cost is a key challenge of transparent conductive films. Constraints can be alleviated by optimizing core factors affecting CNT network properties and performance, such as dimensions of individual CNT tubes and tube bundles, tube chirality, distribution of CNT wall numbers, and eliminating contamination and defects in CNT structures.

“Our team possesses deep nanotechnology expertise, accumulated over years of systemic research and development. This allows us to control every aspect of the CNB synthesis process. We are able to create longer single or multi-wall tubes that are super clean, thereby enabling extremely thin, strong and transparent CNB networks, ” says Heikki Heinaro, Vice President, Engineering, Canatu Oy.