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[December 2006]
Bayer Focusses on New Applications for Carbon Nanotubes
At the NanoSolutions trade fair in Cologne this week, Bayer MaterialScience and Bayer Technology Services are showing how Bayer is successfully using the potential for innovation offered by nanotechnology.
Bayer’s participation in the fair focusses on Baytubes® carbon nanotubes (CNTs). A cost-effective production process has been developed for these that paves the way for their introduction into industrial applications. "Our presence here in Cologne is primarily intended to make a broad specialist audience aware of the undreamed-of opportunities that Baytubes® offer," explains Martin Schmid, head of the new Baytubes® operations at Bayer MaterialScience.
"For example, they make plastics conductive and improve their stiffness and strength. The latter characteristics are already being utilized in the production of various sports goods such as ice hockey sticks and baseball bats." Baytubes® also have great potential in the production of rotor blades for wind turbine plants. Large components like these made from carbon fibre-reinforced epoxy resins could be made thinner and therefore lighter by using carbon nanotubes, thus increasing the specific output of the power plants. Carbon nanotubes are also in great demand as a conductibility additive in the production of anti-static packaging, which is used, for example, to package sensitive electronic components.
Until now, the synthesis costs for CNTs often significantly exceeded €1,000 per kilo, while product quality fluctuated. However, the production process developed by Bayer Technology Services enables Baytubes® to be manufactured at a consistent material purity of over 95% and at greatly reduced costs. "We want to use the trade fair to showcase our strengths as an industrial manufacturer and supplier of carbon nanotubes," comments Mr Schmid. "We can then use our polymer know-how to support our customers in integrating Baytubes® into various plastics. One focus of this work concerns dispersion in different materials and the test methods related to this." Bayer MaterialScience operates a pilot plant for the production of Baytubes® with an annual capacity of 30 tons, but an industrial-scale plant with an annual capacity of 3,000 tons is planned.
Bayer Technology Services is presenting its comprehensive nanotechnology know-how and service portfolio at NanoSolutions. As well as covering the development of cost-effective processes for synthesising and isolating customised nanoparticles such as the above-mentioned Baytubes®, this also involves the modification and processing of nanoparticles in the context of application development and the characterisation of nanoparticles.
"The interplay of synthesis development, application development and characterization enables us to develop innovative products that have been efficiently functionalized for our customers using nanotechnology on an industrial scale," explains Dr Axel Eble, Head of Product Design & Nanotechnology at Bayer Technology Services. As well as developing new materials, this is also of relevance to the electronics industry and life sciences sectors such as pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics and crop protection. For example, nanophosphors are being introduced for diagnostic applications. "Although we have long been familiar with nanotechnology, it is only in recent years that the synergies have become well-known enough in many industries to enable us to fully utilize its potential for our customers in new product developments," commented Dr Eble.
www.bayerbms.com
ENDS