J. Kim and E. Park
Naieel Co, Ohio, United States
Keywords: Boron Nitride Nanotubes, Mass Production, Space, Thermal Management, Battery
While the material propeties of BNNT is known superior than CN(carbon nanotubes)T, the lack of mass production, due to its slow chemical reaction kinetics and low synthesis yields, is the bottleneck for the industrial applications of BNNT, in addition to a large amount of the impurities in the sample. In this respect, we developed a thermochemical reaction process for mass production of BNNT using solid based bulky precursors and continuously operable furnace system in addition to a simple purification process. Currently, we are able to produce chemically pure BNNT products with 80, 90, 95, or even 99wt% nanotubes assays. The production capacity is as high as ~1 ton/year (for 80wt% assay BNNT which used for industrial applications) usinga small pilot system, and energy consumption for manufacturing system operation is as low as ~3 kWh. We can further reduce the BNNT production cost as the scale of production increases,while currenly BNNT price is ranged from $50 to $2000 per gram depending on the quality and nanotubes assay. Our BNNT technology will boost the use of BNNT in various industrial areas including IT/IoT, space/defense, energy and environment, and even biomedical technologies near future.