AIXTRON AG today announced
a previous order for one Black Magic CNT system from Porifera Inc. Successfully
installed by the local AIXTRON support team at Porifera's state-of-the-art facility
in Hayward, CA, USA, the system enabled the first CNT material to be grown within
less than a week.
The Black Magic tool will be used for the development of water filter membranes
based on nanotubes. Dr. Olgica Bakajin, Chief Technology Officer and founder
of Porifera, comments: “Having evaluated various equipment options for
the production of aligned CNT films, we quickly reached the conclusion that
the AIXTRON Black Magic system offered the most flexibility, best uniformity
and process control. These were the key requirements for Porifera's production
of next-generation separation membranes.”
California based start-up company Porifera Inc., has enjoyed considerable success
in just a few years. For example, it was the runner up for the Air Water and
Waste Prize at the 2008 Cleantech Open. Porifera is developing carbon nanotube
membranes with vastly superior permeability, durability, and selectivity for
critical applications including water purification and carbon sequestration.
Porifera is the exclusive licensee of this technology which was developed at
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Porifera's vision is to harness
the unique properties of carbon nanotubes to improve membrane performance, enabling
affordable and plentiful fresh drinking water worldwide. Porifera's scientists
and engineers are leading experts in advanced materials and membrane technologies.