STTR Phase I: Cooperative Nanostructure Driven Self-Assembly in Carbon Nanotube/Block Co-Polymer Systems

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project addresses one of the key barriers for commercial development of the next generation membrane technologies that exploit extremely fast transport through the carbon nanotube pores. These pores enable nearly frictionless flow that could drastically lower membrane resistance and produce in significant energy savings for a wide range of membrane-based separation processes. The first carbon nanotube membranes were made from aligned CVD-grown nanotube arrays that are costly and hard to scale up. The objective of this Phase I project is to demonstrate assembly of bulk single wall carbon nanotube-polymer composites at high loadings and establish understanding of the thermodynamics and kinetics of these processes. Another objective is to develop a strategy for scalability of this process as well as identify the main parameters that control the quality of the resulting aligned nanocomposites. Membrane separation technologies are one of the cornerstones of modern economy, and this $12B/year market has been growing at an annual rate exceeding 9%. Membranes are also critically important for global societal and humanitarian problems, such as availability of clean water (one of 6 people in the world lacks access to clean water and water shortage is a growing problem in the Western US). In particular, small-pore membranes enable reverse-osmosis processes that are the most energy-efficient route for seawater desalination that could tap into plentiful water resources available in the ocean. Development of a scalable process for aligning small-pore carbon nanotubes into a membrane would produce membranes with permeability of up to 100 times higher than current RO membranes, and would represent a paradigm shift for the RO membrane market. Commercialization of this process could potentially make RO desalinated water costs in line with the current municipal water costs, and thus unlock an almost inexhaustible water source for the US and global population. This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).