PRESS RELEASE2025.3.28
CARBON FLY, Inc. won the 12th “Technology Management and Innovation Awards – JATES Chairman’s Award”
This time, the company was recognized for its success in developing continuous production technology for high-quality Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs), a highly functional material that has been anticipated for many years, as “the industrial development of the versatile material Carbon Nanotubes.” The company was recognized for its potential to bring innovation to various industries.
Since their discovery in Japan in the 1990s, CNTs have been expected to be used in a wide range of fields, including as conductive additives in lithium-ion batteries for drones and EVs, structural materials (prepregs) for aircraft and space satellites, and sports and leisure goods, as well as functional resins for automobiles and everyday items, due to their multiple excellent properties, including light weight, high strength, high thermal conductivity, and flexibility. However, while excellent results have been achieved at the laboratory level, no manufacturing method that simultaneously satisfies the quality, cost, and mass productivity requirements for CNTs, as well as appropriate usage methods, have been established, and as a result, the industrial sector has not seen the results that were initially expected.
With a view to commercializing CNTs at the industrial level, we have developed continuous production technology that combines quality, cost, and mass productivity. As a result, we are developing products that demonstrate excellent performance in actual applications such as conductive additives, structural materials (prepregs), and functional resins, and that can be mass-produced.
Reasons for selection
CNTs have excellent properties such as high strength, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, light weight, and stability, and the company has succeeded in developing continuous production technology for high-quality CNTs using its unique catalyst technology that uses sputtering. In addition to manufacturing and selling CNTs themselves, the company also develops, manufactures, and sells manufacturing equipment. High-quality CNTs have the characteristic of being directly processed into fibers and sheets called spinnable, and the company was recognized for the fact that CNTs can be expected to be used in a variety of fields in the future.
Business development history
2022
January:
-Established CARBON FLY, Inc.
September:
-Awarded the Deep Tech Grand Prix “Mitsui Chemicals Award”
2023
July:
-Announced Caltema®, a mass production device for high-quality CNTs
October:
-Jointly developed CNT hybrid prepreg CyFT® with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Next Corp.
2024
May:
-Developed a dispersion liquid for negative electrode that revolutionizes the performance of lithium-ion batteries (LiBs)
-Business partnership with Mizuno Corp. for research and development of sporting goods ideas
September:
-Acquired Vacuum Products Corp., which has a track record in developing vacuum equipment, etc.
-Established US subsidiary CARBONFLOW, Inc.
October:
-Developed high-performance resin pellets containing CNTs
12th Technology Management and Innovation Awards
These awards recognize outstanding examples of world-changing innovations to revitalize Japan’s economy and aim to promote innovation in Japan by having industrialists learn about the process. The awards have been held since 2012. At the 12th Technology Management and Innovation Awards, the projects and winners were decided for the Prime Minister’s Award, the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Award, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award, the Science, Technology and Economics Association Chairman’s Award, and the Selection Committee Special Award. From over 100 applications, 10 for each award were selected and awarded.
Reference: List of winners of the 12th Technology Management and Innovation Awards
12th Technology Management and Innovation Awards
About CARBON FLY, Inc.
CARBON FLY is a startup company in Tokyo founded by a materials scientist in January, 2022 which focuses on the development and mass production of ultra-high quality CNTs. CARBON FLY has succeeded in developing technology to control and mass-produce high-quality CNTs, a long-standing challenge in the CNT industry. The CNTs can be molded into powder, fibers, and films. They can be used not only as conductive paste for lithium-ion batteries, but also as basic material in a wide range of fields, including aerospace, mobility, and energy. CARBON FLY is also promoting research into using CO2 as a raw material for these ultra-high quality CNTs, aiming to contribute to carbon neutrality.