By Julianna Parker
The Norman Transcript
The new 18,000-square-foot, $3.9 million facility to manufacture single-walled nanotubes was dedicated with speeches, a ribbon cutting, lots of smiles and one big hug.
"It's like when you see your little baby graduating with a
Ph.D., that is what this is for me," SWeNT founder and chief
scientist Daniel Resasco said at the event.
In addition to Resasco, Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, Secretary of
Commerce and Tourism Natalie Shirley, Norman Mayor Cindy Rosenthal
and Norman Economic Development Coalition executive director Don
Wood, SWeNT chairman W. Arthur "Skip" Porter and SWeNT CEO David
Arthur spoke at the event at the new manufacturing plant at 2601
Technology Place.
Southwest Nanotechnologies started in 2001 based on a process developed by a team of University of Oklahoma researchers in 1999.
The team led by OU chemical engineering professor Resasco invented the CoMoCAT process to create single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) that was reliable, affordable and easily duplicated for the first time ever. Resasco founded SWeNT in 2001 to create the nanotubes in a collaboration between private industry and academia.
Single-wall carbon nanotubes consist of a hollow cylinder of carbon with a diameter equal to approximately one nanometer -- a billionth of a meter. They have extraordinary optical and electronic properties, tremendous strength and flexibility, and high thermal and chemical stability. These properties allow for a wide range of applications in the automotive, aeronautics, electronics, displays, energy and healthcare markets.
SWeNT looks to be the leader in the new and rapidly expanding single-wall nanotube industry.
"It's like nylon," Wood said. "When nylon was invented, nobody knew what it was gonna be used for. Then all of a sudden, it was in everything."
The company has received a lot more attention since moving into its new manufacturing facility where its single-wall carbon nanotube production capability has increased 100-fold at one-tenth the cost.
The new facility was a perfect example of the potential of partnerships, Wood said. The coalition helped SWeNT move into the new facility by building the plant and then renting it to the company.
This company will be an example to the rest of the state, Shirley said. SWeNT is an Oklahoma company that effectively partnered several sectors of society to keep talent and jobs inside the state, she said.
"Oklahoma has to -- we must -- focus on creating a knowledge-based economy that is based on companies like this one: high tech and cutting edge," Shirley said. "Our competitive future, our economic growth and our quality of life absolutely depend on it. Today we celebrate Southwest Nanotechnologies -- a home-grown, global company."
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