C3Nano improves silver nanowire ITO replacement
The material is especially useful for flexible touchscreens and now comes with an optical haze of just 0.15 percent, CEO Cliff Morris, told eeNews Europe.
The ActiveGrid Gen7 ink delivers about 50 percent lower haze compared to the previous ink generation from C3Nano. This optical clarity comes with conductivity of 30 to 100 ohm/square and the flexibility to withstand more than a million bend cycles.
ActiveGrid Gen7 ink is now available for volume shipments to customers.
C3Nano uses its patented NanoGlue technology to fuse the junctions of silver nanowires. By reducing contact resistance fewer nanowires can be used and yields superior clarity.
ActiveGrid is already in mass production for two of the world’s initial flexible display smartphones. The company currently holds more than 20 core patents with an additional 45 pending, covering NanoGlue, nanomaterial synthesis, ink formulations, conductive films, and the use of conductive and patterned conductive films in a variety of devices and applications.
Jennifer Colegrove, CEO and principal analyst at Touch Display Research Inc. has said she expects silver nanowire transparent conductor materials will continue to have rapid growth for the next several years.
Founded in 2010 as a spinout from Stanford University, C3Nano’s investors and partners include GSR Ventures, Nissha Printing Co., Ltd., Phoenix Venture Partners, Hitachi Chemical, Lens Technology, Nagase America, and an unnamed Internet technology company headquartered in Silicon Valley.
The C3Nano’s revenue streams include licensing of IP, sale of ink and the sale of coated films, either performed by company’s own plant or at contracted coaters in Korea and Japan. “We raised $21 million a couple of years ago,” said Morris. “We’re looking to raise more.”
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