Black Diamond Structures
Molecular Rebar Design, LLC / Black Diamond Structures, LLC know the importance of Intellectual Property (IP). Since 2009, we have obtained >155 patents across global geographies relating to the use of detangled carbon nanotubes (CNT), and mixtures of detangled CNT, matching the description of MOLECULAR REBAR® in batteries like those in consumer devices (ex. cell phones, laptops) and eVehicles. Recently, we retained Susman Godfrey, LLP to file suit against Samsung Electronics and LG Energy Solution for infringing certain of our patents.
The publicly available complaints can be found here:
SAMSUNG:
https://insight.rpxcorp.com/litigation_documents/15580731
LG:
https://insight.rpxcorp.com/litigation_documents/15580732
Londrina, Brazil; October 15-17th, 2023
Black Diamond Structures was pleased to attend and actively present at the 6th FENIBAT conference in Londrina, Brazil; the largest gathering of lead-acid battery and lithium-ion professionals in the nation. BDS was happy to meet with our customers, new and old, some of which have been actively deploying MOLECULAR REBAR®-based battery products into the field for almost a decade. We are happy to support the South American market with our bespoke and proprietary detangled carbon nanotube technology.
At FENIBAT, Black Diamond Structures provided an overview of our MOLEULAR REBAR® technology’s global adoption. We also provided an introduction to the unique mechanism which powers our materials’ performance. MOLECULAR REBAR® provides a combination of nanoscale strengthening and crystallographic modification agents which promote high, stable surface area and greater uniformity of pore structure throughout the negative or positive active mass. In effect, these actions promote optimal plate structure throughout life and permit more consistent performance, partly through mitigation of hard sulfate build-up and sponge-lead structure stabilization.
Our first process additive, PbLite was also released to the South American market during FENIBAT 2023 and provides a fast method of increasing plate production output and consistency while paying for itself in waste reductions and increased manufacturing efficiency. By changing the rheological properties of the paste, PbLite improves the overall consistency of the paste and permits easier application of paste to the grid resulting in fewer plate rejections and decreased need for thickness/weight optimization during the process. In effect, PbLite can produce 20-150 extra plates, when compared to a control pasting, as confirmed by S. American and European battery manufacturers which pays for the cost of the material and permits manufacturers to extract more batteries per paste, increasing revenue and output while also improving battery consistency, as measured in electrical testing. Unlike our other products, PbLite does not affect cycling performance.
PbAC is a key additive for mitigation of corrosion and paste shedding which is often vital in high-temperature corrosion-inducing environments. This product, and its mechanism, was also reviewed.
Siem Reap, Cambodia; September 5-8th, 2023
The lead-acid battery industry is changing and Black Diamond Structures intends to support the transition from a heavily automotive-focused industry to a more general energy storage market. In our presentation, we share new data from manufacturers deploying MOLECULAR REBAR® detangled carbon nanotube products in application spaces which are predicted to grow strongly in the next 5-10 years.
With a combination of field trial data, laboratory-based research on full-scale batteries, and active material structural analysis, we will showcase a number of new and updated customer testimonials which exemplify the power of MOLECULAR REBAR® products in eRickshaw, eBike, EFB, Traction, and Auxiliary battery systems.
In these applications, critical to the future of the global lead-acid battery industry, MOLECULAR REBAR® products show enhanced charge recovery, more efficient energy usage/consumption and improved duty cycles in real-world test scenarios at an excellent cost/value proposition. Specific, quantifiable details will be shared during our presentation.
Black Diamond Structures continues to innovate in the field of lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries to help battery manufacturers design the next generation of future products. We continue to explore additional chemistries and nanomaterial sources to ensure that our products remain industry-leading while constantly growing our Patent Portfolio to defend against lower tier products and protect our customers from knock-off products.
The conversion of clusters of multi-wall carbon nanotubes into individual, discrete nanotubes called MOLECULAR REBAR® for new applications
Carbon Nanotubes (CNT’s) have been extensively researched and promoted since the early 1990’s with Richard Smalley of Rice University as a leading proponent. Their intrinsic properties of very high specific stiffness and strength, excellent electron conductivity and the nanoscale geometry were fully expected to revolutionize various industries from electronics to advanced materials. This theoretical performance expectation justified globally intense research interest and expense (estimated to be $35 billion over the last 20+ years). Unfortunately, the promise and the commercial delivery did not match, and today, while CNT’s have a variety of uses, they are not as widely used as originally predicted. The purpose of this article is to illustrate with practical examples that carbon nanotubes, if made into a discrete and dispersible form, can reach their full theoretical properties and commercial potential.
The key technical issue is that carbon nanotubes, as produced in commercial processes such as a fluidized bed reactor, are entangled in micron sized, or larger, clumps that are difficult to separate while maintaining the desired length of the discrete nanotubes. As entangled micron sized clumps of materials, the nanotubes do not have the aspect ratio nor the nanoscale to deliver the theoretical properties needed to produce valued performance.
Start-up hopes to win business with technique to straighten out and disperse nanotubes
By Marc S. Reisch (Reprinted from Chemical & Engineering News)
A decade ago, the sky seemed to be the limit for carbon nanotubes. Prices were dropping, new capacity was coming on-line, and companies were touting the nanomaterials for their thermal conductivity, mechanical strength, and energy storage ability.
Many firms imagined a future in which carbon nanotubes would be widely used to reinforce polymers, provide electromagnetic shielding for electronics, and augment the charge-holding capability of batteries. Some analysts were predicting that nanotube sales would exceed $1 billion annually by now.
But truth be told, sales in 2014 barely reached $50 million. At about $100 per kg, carbon nanotubes are still expensive, as well as difficult to work with.
Now, MOLECULAR REBAR® Design, an Austin, Texas-based start-up, says it has come up with a breakthrough modification to carbon nanotubes, making them easier to use and lowering overall costs in a product.
The Saudi Arabian chemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp. apparently agrees. In January, SABIC formed a joint venture with MOLECULAR REBAR® called Black Diamond Structures. It is betting that MOLECULAR REBAR’s ® technology will propel demand for nanotubes in consumer electronics, energy storage, and construction applications.
“Theoretically, nanotubes are wonderful,” says Kurt Swogger, MOLECULAR REBAR’s ® chief executive. But most nanotube production processes yield micrometer-sized balls of entangled nanotubes that are almost impossible to disperse as discrete tubes in rubber, plastics, or battery electrolytes, he says. As a result, nanotubes have only made limited market inroads.
Swogger, a chemical engineer who led R&D at Dow Chemical’s multi-billion-dollar performance plastics business before he retired in 2007, figured there had to be a way to make nanotubes easier to use. He started up MOLECULAR REBAR® in 2008 with Clive Bosnyak, another Dow scientist and polyolefin expert.
Swogger won’t say exactly how he and his enterprise, which now has 28 employees, succeeded in unentangling the troublesome tubes. Some firms have tried surfactants, but he says MOLECULAR REBAR’s ® solution involves a multistep acid treatment and filtration process.
Unentangled, the firm’s nanotubes form a reinforcing network in plastics and rubber similar to the metal rebar used to reinforce concrete, Swogger explains. But “instead of working like a two-dimensional crisscrossing network of steel in concrete, unentangled nanotubes become part of a 3-D composite-reinforcing system,” he says.
Because the nanotubes can be so readily dispersed, fewer are needed to strengthen a polymer or hold an electrical charge. Overall, the cost of using the tubes is lower, Swogger claims.
In years past, companies aggressively scaled up nanotube production in anticipation of demand that never arrived, points out Ross Kozarsky, an analyst at the technology consulting firm Lux Research. Bayer, for instance, built up nanotube capacity in Germany only to exit the business last year because of disappointing sales.
Globally, nanotube makers can crank out about 3,000 metric tons of the stuff annually, Kozarsky says. The trouble is that 2014 demand stood at just 520 metric tons, he says. But he expects sales to take off if advances such as MOLECULAR REBAR’s ® take hold.
Kozarsky considers MOLECULAR REBAR® “among a handful of promising nanotube start-ups” in part because it doesn’t make the tubes. Rather, it buys nanotubes and sells them in a dispersible concentrate.
Other firms are similarly developing technology to make use of existing nanotube capacity. They include Zyvex Technologies, which produces polymer-modified carbon nanotube additives for plastics and rubber, and NanoSperse, a maker of nanomaterial dispersions for composites.
Until now, Swogger says, he and partner Bosnyak financed MOLECULAR REBAR® themselves, though a few unnamed companies helped by buying options on the firm’s technology. But Molecular Rebar is at a point where it needs an outside investor, such as SABIC, to help exploit opportunities.
With MOLECULAR REBAR’s ® technology, Swogger contends, nanotubes can finally live up to their potential and usher better materials to market. “We and our customers can make a lot of money with nanotubes,” he says.
Pacific Batteries Ltd this week launched the first Fijian made Valve Regulated Lead Acid Batteries (VRLA) batteries. The company added that these batteries are designed with a new to the world specialty additive, discrete carbon nano-tubes based on MOLECULAR REBAR® technology that enables solar batteries to recover charge more quickly and fully in cyclonic conditions where sunlight limitations hinder the ability to full recharge.
This three year technology development was done in cooperation with USA based Black Diamond Structures, the business responsible for the continuing development and marketing of the Molecular Rebar® technology
To make this possible, the company invested $500,000 on the new product. These are an advanced type of lead acid batteries, where acid is absorbed in glass-mat and are also called AGM technology batteries. The main applications are in solar photo voltaic, UPS, Telecom, ATM and other electronic surveillance systems.
In a statement, Pacific Batteries listed the following advantages for the use of the battery – totally sealed, can be kept in any position, maintenance free and long life.
It said that their products are specially designed for solar photovoltaic application in tropical and cyclonic prone conditions.
Black Diamond Structures board directors, Kurt Swogger, P.E. and Dr. Clive Bosnyak, receive prestigious “Inventor of the Year” award from Houston Intellectual Property Law Association
Black Diamond Structures, a developer and manufacturer of innovative nanomaterial products and solutions, announced today that two members of their board of directors, Kurt Swogger and Dr. Clive Bosnyak, are recipients of the prestigious “Inventor of the Year” award given by the Houston Intellectual Property Law Association for the development of their proprietary technology, MOLECULAR REBAR®. Swogger and Bosnyak are co-founders of MOLECULAR REBAR® Design, LLC, a leading nanomaterial innovator, and hold five key patents for MOLECULAR REBAR®.
Black Diamond Structures is a joint venture between MOLECULAR REBAR® Design and SABIC, the world’s second largest diversified chemical company. It develops, manufactures and commercializes products based on the MOLECULAR REBAR® technology.
MOLECULAR REBAR® are discrete, open ended, and highly functionalized multi-wall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) that are free from catalysts and waste matter. The technology is a scientific breakthrough providing opportunities for development and commercialization of innovative new materials for a wide variety of products and market segments. The addition of MOLECULAR REBAR® to materials significantly enhances mechanical, physical, transport and electromagnetic properties.
Black Diamond Structures is currently working with manufacturers of lead acid batteries across the globe to enhance performance utilizing this technology.
MOLECULAR REBAR® can be implemented into existing battery processes efficiently and provide substantial benefits in most applications:
- Increasing charge acceptance by >25%
- Increasing cycle life by >50%
- Improved formation efficiency.
Commenting on the award, Swogger stated, “Clive and I are very pleased and honored that the Houston Intellectual Property Law Association has recognized our work related to creating more value for carbon nanotubes. MOLECULAR REBAR® has some remarkable properties and the prediction for use in nanomaterials is very gratifying. We are very fortunate and delighted to be working with this technology in so many markets and applications where we can make such a difference to so many customers and products.”
Bosnyak further remarked, “In addition to the innovative breakthroughs made on the science and to meet rapidly growing global customer demands there has also been remarkable progress on the ability to scale up and manufacture MOLECULAR REBAR® here in Texas. This has created valuable employment and growth opportunities that further strengthens the position of Texas as a leader of nanomaterials technology.”
Swogger and Bosnyak, both formerly with The Dow Chemical Company, have extensive experience in developing and commercializing breakthrough products. Swogger, as Vice-President of Dow’s R&D, is well known for his work in Polyolefins and INSITE Technology™. Bosnyak, as Senior Scientist at Dow, has been the recipient of a number of awards and international recognition for his work, including the R&D 100 Award.
Andrew Kodis, CEO of Black Diamond Structures, lauded the two innovators saying, “I am truly honored to be associated with the scientific advancements achieved by Kurt, Clive and their team. Since 1983, HIPLA has honored inventors and their discoveries from every industry and profession – it is a remarkable list of scientific effort and creativity. To be included among those previously honored is a remarkable achievement.”
For further information
Dru Kefalos, Chief Marketing Officer
Black Diamond Structures
dkefalos@bd-structures.com
512.792.4635
Notes to Editors
ABOUT BLACK DIAMOND STRUCTURES
Black Diamond Structures, LLC is a developer and manufacturer of innovative nanomaterial products and solutions. Created in 2015 as joint venture between MOLECULAR REBAR® Design, a leading nanomaterial innovator, and SABIC, the world’s second largest diversified chemical company, Black Diamond Structures is taking nanomaterial technology to a new level.
Our products are based on MOLECULAR REBAR® Design’s revolutionary carbon nanotube (CNT) technology, MOLECULAR REBAR®. MOLECULAR REBAR® are discrete, open ended, and highly functionalized CNTs that are free from catalysts and waste matter. The technology significantly advances the science for nanomaterials and provides opportunities for development and commercialization of innovative new materials to be used in a wide variety of products and market segments.
Together, with SABIC’s commercial and manufacturing capabilities and MOLECULAR REBAR® Design’s advanced nanotechnology, Black Diamond Structures, LLC is unleashing the power of nanomaterials to improve the world we live in.
About our Partners:
MOLECULAR REBAR® Design, LLC (MRD)
MOLECULAR REBAR® Design, LLC, based in Austin, Texas, was established to develop and commercialize a breakthrough form of modified carbon nanotubes (CNT’s), called MOLECULAR REBAR®. These are the world’s first CNT’s that are disentangled from the usual clumping and individualized through a patent-protected process which enables significantly enhanced performance for a myriad of high-value materials.
SABIC
SABIC ranks as the world’s second largest diversified chemical company. The company is among the world’s market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
SABIC’s businesses are grouped into Chemicals, Polymers, Performance Chemicals, Fertilizers, Metals and Innovative Plastics. SABIC has significant research resources with 19 dedicated Technology & Innovation facilities in Saudi Arabia, the USA, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, India, China and South Korea. The company operates in more than 45 countries across the world with around 40,000 employees worldwide.
SABIC manufactures on a global scale in Saudi Arabia, the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific.
MOLECULAR REBAR® is a registered trademark of MOLECULAR REBAR® Design, LLC
INSITE Technology™ is a registered trademark of The Dow Chemical Company
MOLECULAR REBAR® Design, a developer and manufacturer of innovative nanomaterials products and solutions, announced that Kurt Swogger (CEO) and Dr. Clive Bosnyak (CSO), are recipients of the prestigious “Inventor of the Year” award given by the Houston Intellectual Property Law Association for their development of their proprietary technology, MOLECULAR REBAR. Swogger and Bosnyak are co-founders of MOLECULAR REBAR® Design, LLC, a leading nanomaterial innovator, and hold five key U.S. patents for MOLECULAR REBAR.
MOLECULAR REBAR are discrete, open ended, and highly functionalized multi-wall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) that are free from catalysts and waste matter. The technology is a scientific breakthrough providing opportunities for development and commercialization of innovative new materials for a wide variety of products and market segments. The addition of MOLECULAR REBAR to materials significantly enhances mechanical, physical, transport and electromagnetic properties.
SABIC and Molecular Rebar Design, LLC have signed a joint venture agreement to develop and commercialize nanomaterials for select market segments and applications. The joint venture, Black Diamond Structures, LLC will develop, manufacture, and commercialize products based on MOLECULAR REBAR® Design’s unique and revolutionary carbon nanotube (CNT) technology, MOLECULAR REBAR®.
CNTs when made commercially consist of large entangled bundles of nanotubes. These bundles are far less useful than discreet or individual nanotubes. MOLECULAR REBAR® are discreet, open ended, highly functionalized CNTs that are free from catalysts and waste matter and are demonstrated to advance the science and applications for nanomaterials.
Black Diamond Structures, LLC will focus on applications in select market segments including Energy Storage, Energy Generation, Automotive & Light Truck, Consumer Electronics, and Construction.
Commenting on the Joint Venture, Ernesto Occhiello, SABIC Executive Vice President, Technology & Innovation, said Black Diamond Structures, LLC is aligned to SABIC’s 2025 strategy and part of the drive to develop higher value-added specialty businesses globally and in Saudi Arabia. “SABIC believes that nanotechnology is an important part of the future. We focus on making nanointermediates more viable for industrial implementation via improved scale-up, ease/effectiveness of use and partnership with customers. We believe the new JV is well aligned withemerging market needs, and thus is poised for accelerated deployment and development for both existing and new applications.”
Kurt Swogger, Chief Executive Officer of MOLECULAR REBAR® Design, said, “We believe the synergistic combination of MOLECULAR REBAR® Design’s advanced nanotechnologies with SABIC’s commercial and manufacturing capabilities will lead to many exciting opportunities for innovative, new materials in high growth market segments.”
Contemporary applications are changing the failure mechanisms of lead acid batteries. Sulfation at the negative electrode, acid stratification, and dendrite formation now precede positive electrode failures such as grid corrosion and active material shedding. To attenuate these failures, carbon has been explored as a negative electrode additive to increase charge acceptance, eliminate sulfation, and extend cycle life. Frequently, however, carbon incorporation decreases paste density and hinders manufacturability.
Discrete carbon nanotubes (dCNT), also known as MOLECULAR REBAR®, are lead acid battery additives which can be stably incorporated into either electrode to increase charge acceptance and cycle life with no change to paste density and without impeding the manufacturing process. Here, full-scale automotive batteries containing dCNT in the negative electrode or both negative and positive electrodes are compared to control batteries. dCNT batteries show little change to Reserve Capacity, improved Cold Cranking, increased charge acceptance, and enhanced overall system efficiency. Life cycle tests show >60% increases when dCNT are incorporated into the negative electrode (HRPSoC/ SBA) and up to 500% when incorporated into both electrodes (SBA), with water loss per cycle reduced >20%. Failure modes of cycled batteries are discussed and a hypothesis of dCNT action is introduced: the dCNT/Had Overcharge Reaction Mechanism.