nanoREV.

Extension of Rice University’s CNT Patent Portfolio

Due to the groundbreaking work of Richard Smalley in the fabrication of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes, Rice University has obtained some pretty broad patent protection for carbon nanotubes over the past few years. The majority of the basic carbon nanotube patents from Rice have so far focused on single walled carbon nanotubes, which are the most pristine form of carbon nanotubes and occur in two basic types - conductive and semiconductive - making them attractive for future electronics applications. However, in the nearer term many applications of carbon nanotubes are appearing that use the multi-walled variety of carbon nanotubes rather than the single walled variety. While multi-walled CNTs are not available as semiconductors in many cases they can be easier to fabricate and less fragile than single-walled CNTs and more suitable for applications wherein electrical or thermal conduction is most important such as field emission displays, thermal cooling, and flexible electrodes.

Recently, some patents have issued based on continuation patent applications that have broadened Rice’s basic patents beyond single walled CNTs to cover “fullerene nanotubes”. For example

US Patent 7,390,477 (priority March 7, 1997) -

Claim 1 -  A composition of matter comprising at least about 99% by weight of fullerene nanotubes.

US Patent 7,390,767 (priority March 7, 1997) -

Claim 1 -  A method for producing a catalyst support comprising: (a) providing a plurality of fullerene nanotubes; (b) contacting an end of at least some of the fullerene nanotubes of the plurality with at least one catalytic metal; and (c) activating the catalytic metal.

While originating from Rice University it is likely that these patents fall under the control of Unidym due to their merger with Carbon Nanotechnologies.