Fullerene as a Practical Material for Commercial Usage
Frontier Carbon Corporation, JP
Keywords: carbon nanotubes, fullerene
Fullerene, well known as buckyball, is ''a carbon molecule'' and has attracted a lot of attention for its unique features. However, high production cost and limited availability have been the main obstacle in the development of the fullerene market. Frontier Carbon Corporation (FCC), which is a joint venture between Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation, started production an sales of fullerene in May 2002 with a capacity of 400 kg/year. And in May 2003, FCC increased the capacity by 100-fold, 40 ton/year, to supply fullerene and its derivatives with reasonable prices for commercial use. Fullerene-based products started to emerge in 2003 first in sports industry such as bowling balls and golf-club heads in Japan, both of which are of high performance and have become popular products. In applications including sports, energy, IT devices, and general industrial fields FCC is targeting fast-track development through alliances with customers, and has not only supply pure fullerene but also provide some fine-tune fullerene and derivatives in some specific end products.. Growth of the market will lead to a general increase in knowledge about the practical technologies to use fullerene and thus open new applications.
Nanotech 2004 Conference Technical Program Abstract