Nanoscale structures, Giga-sized impact: Japanese research team named European Inventor Award finalists

• Sumio Iijima, Masako Yudasaka, and Akira Koshio recognised for their work on carbon nanotubes
• This new structural form of carbon offers excellent physical properties
• Makes existing technology faster, lighter and more powerful
• Offers completely new possibilities in aerospace technology and biomedicine
• EPO President Battistelli: "Applications of carbon nanotubes are virtually limitless."

Munich/Tsukuba, 21 April 2015 - Bendable displays, sensor implants that monitor blood sugar levels, and an elevator that transports tourists into outer space - what may sound like a science-fiction film suddenly seems within reach thanks to Sumio Iijima's discovery of carbon nanotubes. This previously unknown allotrope of carbon has half the weight of aluminium, is stronger than steel, and offers excellent electrical and thermal conductivity. Although industrial applications are still in their early stages, the possibilities of carbon nanotubes appear endless: they help create faster computers, more efficient solar modules and stronger cars and aeroplanes. For their discovery and development of a production process for carbon nanotubes, Sumio Iijima, Masako Yudasaka, and Akira Koshio have been named finalists for the 2015 European Inventor Award in the category Non-European Countries. The European Patent Office (EPO) will present the 10^th edition of the annual innovation award in Paris on 11 June.

"The work of Professor Sumio Iijima and his team shook the foundations of their field," said EPO President Benoȋt Battistelli, announcing this year's finalists. "Carbon nanotubes hold the key for enormous progress in all areas of technology. We have only discovered a fraction of their possible applications. Despite their microscopic dimensions, their potential is monumental."

Landmark discovery of a material

Carbon nanotubes are miniscule cylindrical structures composed of carbon atoms that can only be seen under extremely powerful electron microscopes. They are the hardest material known to man, with a conductivity that surpasses copper 1 000 times over. The Japanese physicist Sumio Iijima, a specialist in nanoparticle research at NEC Corporation, discovered them in 1991, as he began to investigate fullerenes. Also known as "buckyballs", fullerene molecules resemble a soccer ball composed of carbon atoms with a honeycomb-like structure. In the course of this research, Iijima discovered a new format of the carbon molecule (allotrope) - carbon nanotubes. These microscopic tubes can be imagined as a section of wire-mesh fence, rolled together to form a cylinder. At that time, scientists only knew of three forms of pure carbon: diamond, graphite, and fullerene. Carbon nanotubes have a small diameter, which varies from less than one to several nanometres; they can, however, reach lengths of several millimetres. Iijima discovered single-walled and concentrically arranged multi-walled carbon nanotubes, which have different physical properties. Depending on their structure, the electrical behaviour of the tubes is either metallic or semi-conducting. Iijima has received numerous awards for his work: the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics in 2002 and both the Balzan Award and the Gregori Aminoff Prize in 2007. He also obtained the Kavli Prize in 2008.

Stony path to production

Sumio Iijima is a professor at the renowned Meijo University in Nagoya and a Senior Research Fellow at NEC Corporation, as well as a Honorary AIST Fellow at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). Under his leadership, Akira Koshio and Masako Yudasaka collaborated to develop a method for creating carbon nanotubes without metallic catalyser particles, which are poisonous for humans and also contaminate the material. Known as the plasma method, this method vaporises carbon rods in hot plasma, which results in very pure, multi-walled carbon nanotubes with sharp tips that can be used to manufacture device displays. Metal-free production means that the new carbon structures can even be used in the field of biomedicine.

Higher, faster, farther

Industrial applications using carbon nanotubes still remain limited, though their physical properties harbour enormous potential. Many materials, such as polymers and metals, can be significantly improved through the use of carbon nanotubes as filler. Companies currently only use nanotubes in a "loose" form, that is, an unorganised mass of tubes, to enhance the thermal and electrical properties of other materials. Products of this type include flash drives that can be rewritten over 10 million times more often than conventional drives, or chips that send electronic signals ten times faster than before. There are also applications in the automotive industry: Carbon nanotubes can be integrated in lightweight cables to reduce the overall weight of vehicles. An additional innovative product is the blackest substance on earth: Vantablack. Because the carbon nanotubes completely absorb light, Vantablack is suitable for surface coating inside telescopes. NASA, an organisation that requires powerful telescopes for its space research, is currently conducting tests with Vantablack. Other innovative concepts involving the use of carbon nanotubes are conceivable, such as creating a space elevator that conveys people and cargo to a space station or using nanoparticles for efficient drug transport in diseased organs in the field of biomedicine.

The commercialisation of carbon nanotubes is still in its early stages. More than one hundred companies around the world produce nanotubes. The highest production capacities are in the Asia-Pacific region, followed by the US and the EU. Over
1 000 businesses and institutions are already investigating the allotrope. In 2010, the industry recorded revenue of around EUR 552 million, generated primarily by the production of multi-walled carbon nanotubes with EUR 526 million. According to estimates, overall revenue from the nanotube business should increase to EUR 913 million by 2016.

Additional resources

• Read more about the inventors
• View the patent: EP1464618
• Ten years of the European Inventor Award: a retrospective look at the inventors and ideas that have changed our lives
• About the European Patent Office (EPO)
• Study on the economic impact of patents and other IP rights

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