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Nanolab - Information on Nanotubes and Nanoarrays. July 17th, 2002

In an email conversation with Allen MacCannell, Director of Sales for NanoLab, I learned about various manufacturing and research uses for their carbon nanotube powder and aligned nanotube arrays.

I had asked about an article in Hoover's Online, called Self-Assembly vs. Electron Beam Lithography, which states "These new materials and devices are now in demand from practically every corner of the manufacturing world.".

My question, therefore, was (paraphrasing) "how and where are your products being used?"

The following is his reply (thank you Allen):


NanoLab's sales of carbon nanotube powder (multiwalled) and aligned nanotube arrays have gone from $191,000 in 2001 to more than double that for the first six months of 2002. We are clearly still in the startup category, albeit self-sustaining. There is no hype in our admitting that the demand for our products is still for "research quantities" of no more than 200 grams per order.

The research demand, meanwhile, comes from all corners of the manufacturing world. We have corporations and government agencies buying the powder for the following design purposes (in descending order of importance):

1) New catalysis procedures for petrochemicals
2) New fabrics
3) New composites
4) New filtration devices
5) New coatings
6) New displays (nanotubes are made to stand up in a conductive paste to form a giant array)
7) New electronics circuits


We have corporations and government agencies buying the aligned nanotube arrays for the following design purposes (in descending order of importance):

1) New sensors (chemical, gas, bio)
2) New field emitters (electronics and lightingindustries)
3) New electrodes (batteries and supercapacitors)
4) New thermally conductive compounds and devices
5) New display devices
6) New nano-manipulating devices
7) New electronics circuits


The US government consumes 70% of our shipments. Corporations from the following countries buy the most nanotube products: the USA, Japan, Korea and the Netherlands.