SABIC buys nanotechnology company

SABIC has taken a majority stake in Black Diamond Structures (BDS). BDS is a nanotechnology company engaged in the prodution and commercialization of MOLECULAR REBAR®, a proprietary technology of modified carbon nanotubes that offers great potential for enhancing the performance of energy storage applications using lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries.

 

BDS becomes part of SABIC’s Specialties business. According to Alan Leung, Vice President of Specialties, the carbon nanotube technology of BDS will allow SABIC Specialties to address several demanding challenges in the energy storage market. In particular, BDS provides game-changing benefits to battery manufacturers looking for breakthrough improvements in charge rates, battery cycle life and energy density.

 

Conventional carbon nanotubes are known for their tendency to get entangled, cake and hold high residual impurities, limiting their capabilities of enhancing electrical and mechanical material properties in real world applications. In contrast, the MOLECULAR REBAR® product supplied by BDS delivers clean and discrete carbon nanotubes of uniform aspect ratio, enabling their use to create high-performance energy storage applications.

 

 

BDS Chief Executive Officer, John Hacskaylo, says that this proprietary nanomaterial can be directly incorporated in existing production processes of batteries without requiring additional investments, allowing a fast-track for manufacturers to improve their next generation of batteries. Tests have shown that MOLECULAR REBAR® type carbon nanotubes significantly improve the cycle life of a lead-acid battery and enhance the performance of lithium-ion batteries to meet the increased power capacity demands of the industry.

 

Moreover, MOLECULAR REBAR® is expected to play an effective role in the downgauging and downsizing of new battery designs. This not only meets the growing global demand for lighter batteries in the hybrid and electric vehicles market, but also reduces battery production costs, helping manufacturers to increase output and achieve higher economies of scale. With the addition of MOLECULAR REBAR® technology to the portfolio of SABIC’s Specialties business, new opportunies are anticipated beyond the energy storage market and unleash innovations in material science for enhancing the properties of specialty resins and functional compounds.