Tag Archive for: NANOMYTE®

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Collaboration Yields New High-Performance Graphene Dispersions

March 5, 2025

Somerset, NJ – NEI Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of a new line of advanced graphene dispersions developed in collaboration with HydroGraph Clean Power Inc. These innovative dispersions can be seamlessly integrated into existing electrode slurries, replacing or supplementing traditional conducting carbons. When mixed with active materials and binder, these conductive additives enable the creation of flexible electrodes, expanding design possibilities for high-performance cells.

Why is this unique?

The new FGA-1 dispersions utilize HydroGraph’s pristine Fractal GrapheneTM, produced through a proprietary detonation synthesis process. This unique graphene exhibits 100% sp2 bonding and a turbostratic arrangement with an average of six graphene layers per particle. This nanoscale structure contributes to exceptional conductivity and facilitates improved rate capability and energy density, providing a significant advantage for diverse battery applications.

“One key advantage of these conductive additives is their lower percolation threshold. Due to its 2D geometry, graphene facilitates improved interconnectivity between active material particles and the conductive network within the electrode compared to spherical carbon black particles,” said Dr. Ranjith Divigalpitiya, CSO of Hydrograph.

SEM of Hydrograph graphene at 10k and 50k magnification

New Product Line: Carbon-Based Conductive Additives

The new line of advanced conductive additives, available in both NMP-based and water-based dispersions, expands NEI Corporation’s comprehensive portfolio of high-performance battery materials. This strategic addition complements NEI’s existing offerings of cathode, anode, and electrolyte materials for both lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries, enabling the company to provide customers with even more complete and integrated solutions.

“Our collaboration with Hydrograph and the launch of these graphene dispersions demonstrates NEI’s commitment to innovation and supporting battery researchers,” said Dr. Ganesh Skandan, CEO of NEI Corporation.

Product Preview

NANOMYTE® FGA-1AD

FGA-1AD is a ready-to-use aqueous graphene dispersion designed to replace or supplement traditional conducting carbons in electrode slurries to enhance performance.

  • Description: 7 wt.% Graphene dispersion in Water
  • Density (20 °C): 1.04 g/cc
  • Viscosity (20 °C): 150 cP (40 s-1)

Available Quantities: 1L and 4L (request quote)

Technical Links: Specification Sheet (pdf) | Safety Data Sheet (pdf)

NANOMYTE® FGA-1ND

FGA-1ND is a ready-to-use graphene dispersion in NMP designed to replace or supplement traditional conducting carbons in electrode slurries to enhance performance.

  • Description: 7 wt.% Graphene dispersion in NMP (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone)
  • Density (20 °C): 1.07 g/cc
  • Viscosity (20 °C): 1200 cP (40 s-1)

Available Quantities: 200mL, 500mL, 1L, and 4L (request quote)

Technical Links: Specification Sheet (pdf) | Safety Data Sheet (pdf)

Applications

Some example applications for these graphene dispersions include anode and cathode conductive additives in Li-ion batteries, replacement conductive additive for CNT, conductive additive for Si anode slurries, replacement conductive additives for carbon black, replacement active material for activated carbon in super capacitor electrode, conductive additive for supercapacitor electrode.

Request a quote today!

About NEI Corporation

For over 27 years, NEI Corporation has provided advanced material solutions to customers worldwide. NEI excels in designing, developing, and producing application-specific materials. The company offers a comprehensive range of solutions, including cathode, anode, and electrolyte materials for lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries, as well as extensive in-house materials development, characterization, and testing services. NEI’s materials science expertise facilitates close partnerships and seamless product integration.

For company updates, follow NEI Corporation on LinkedIn and X.

About Hydrograph Clean Power Inc.

HydroGraph Clean Power Inc is a leading producer of pristine graphene using an “explosion synthesis” process, which allows for exceptional purity, low energy use and identical batches. The quality, performance and consistency of HydroGraph’s graphene follows the Graphene Council’s Verified Graphene Producer® standards, of which very few graphene producers are able to meet.  For more information or to learn about the HydroGraph story, visit: https://hydrograph.com/

For company updates, please follow HydroGraph on LinkedIn and X.

Download Press Release (pdf) ↓

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NEI Expands Selection of Materials for Lithium-ion & Sodium-ion Batteries

January 13, 2022

Somerset, New Jersey (USA) – Today, NEI Corporation announced customers can now order from an expanded selection of cathode, anode, and solid electrolyte materials for both lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries. The company, which is a leader in the development, manufacture, and supply of specialty materials, has been a go-to organization for producing and delivering custom powders and dispersions of particles in liquids and polymers, as well as electrodes cast on metal foil.

NEI offers a variety of battery materials, with a particular forte in producing specialty materials with compositions and particle morphologies that are not commonplace. In addition, NEI has expertise in producing composite particles that have a surface coating. Off-the-shelf products are sold under the tradename NANOMYTE®.

“We want our customers to easily access high quality and consistent battery materials so they can focus on their core mission,” said Dr. Ganesh Skandan, CEO of NEI Corporation. “The NEI team stands ready, willing, and able to produce and supply materials that our customers want, in any quantity needed, for them to pursue their commercialization efforts.”

Particle Size Distribution graph of Na0.44MnO2+x , which is typical of most of NEI's sodium based cathode/anode powders

Particle size distribution (PSD) of Na0.44MnO2+x , which is typical of most of NEI’s sodium based cathode/anode powders.

NEI has been routinely supplying increasing quantities of simple metal oxide compositions such as Na0.44MnO2+x and Na0.7MnO2+x with a narrow particle size distribution. The portfolio of sodium-ion compositions now includes more complex materials, such as sodium iron phosphate (NaFePO4), sodium nickel phosphate (NaNiPO4), sodium titanium phosphate (NaTi2(PO4)3), sodium chromium oxide (NaCrO2), and others. The average aggregate particle size (D50) for most compositions can be tailored to be in the range of 1 – 2 µm, with the primary particles being much smaller. The particle structure can be further tuned to include a surface coating of carbon or a conducting polymer, such as polyaniline, PANI, or an ionically conducting ceramic material. Some of the materials have been tested and validated in-house using half-cell configuration (i.e., sodium metal anode). For example, Na0.44MnO2+x has a second cycle charge and discharge capacity that is > 105 mAh/g.

Second cycle charge/discharge profile of Na0.44MnO2+x cathode powder

In addition to engineering the particle morphology, all sodium-based cathode and anode materials can be supplied as cast electrodes on a current collector of choice. Customers can specify the active material, binder content, amount of conducting carbon and active material per unit area (in case of cathode and anode).

NEI Corporation has built a reputation for supplying consistent and high-quality solid electrolyte materials – oxide materials, such as Al-doped lithium lanthanum zirconium oxide (LLZO) and tantalum-doped LLZO (LLZTO), phosphate compounds, such as LATP or LAGP, and a variety of sulfide-based materials. While the average particle size (D50) for these standard powders is in the 3 – 5 microns range, customers can request a smaller D50.

Cole-Cole plot of sintered LAGP pellet

Cole-Cole plot of sintered LAGP pellet

The ionic conductivity of the oxide materials, measured in-house using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy in a test cell shown in the inset of the picture (left), is in the range of 1 x 10-4 S/cm to 5 x 10-4 S/cm, and that of sulfides can be as high as 1 x 10-3 S/cm.

A recent and exciting development has been the offering of composite solid electrolyte materials in the form of either a polymer-based dispersion or cast membrane. Customers can choose any oxide ceramic solid electrolyte and a base polymer or co-polymer from PEO, PVDF, PVDF-HFP, and PAN. The type of lithium salt in the polymer can be selected from LiTFSI, LiClO4, LiFSI, and LiBOB.

In addition to increasing the suite of materials being offered, NEI has developed new materials synthesis capabilities, which serve as demonstration stations for exploring new compositions that are difficult to produce using conventional processing. A case in point is precursor materials obtained from recovered nickel, cobalt and manganese salts from recycled lithium-ion batteries. The solution-precipitation setup, installed at NEI, serves as a test-bed to determine processing parameters for materials such as NMC532 and NMC622, or any mixed metal oxide for that matter.

There is also increasing interest in cathode materials that are fluorinated and/or contain vanadium, which as multiple valence states and can lead to high capacities. To this end, NEI has produced LiFeSO4F and LiVPO4F with a high degree of crystallinity and phase purity.

Overall, the introduction of these new materials and processes will provide new capabilities to lithium battery developers and manufacturers to enable practical solid-state batteries. Dr. Skandan adds, “It is exciting for the team at NEI to tread on uncharted waters and explore synthesis and processing of new materials, and particularly using newly developed processes. We welcome the opportunity to serve the needs of the Battery community.”

Download Press Release (pdf) ↓

About NEI: Founded in 1997, NEI develops, manufactures, and sells advanced materials for a broad range of industrial customers around the world. The company’s core competencies are in designing, developing, and producing products that meet the specific application needs of its customers. More importantly, NEI is a solutions provider, working closely with customers to produce and implement materials for their applications. NEI’s products, which are sold under the registered trademark NANOMYTE®, are backed by a suite of issued and pending patents. NEI’s products include:  Lithium-ion Battery Materials, Na-ion Battery Materials, Functional & Protective Coatings, and Specialty Nanoparticle-based products. NEI also offers associated materials characterization and testing services.

For more information, give us a call or email us.

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NEI Introduces Optically Transparent Hardcoat with UV Protection

June 30, 2021

Somerset, New Jersey (USA) – NEI Corporation announced today that it has introduced NANOMYTE® UVP-100, an optically transparent coating that provides simultaneous protection from ultraviolet radiation, as well as from scratching and abrasion. A key attribute of the single layer UVP-100 coating is that it is relatively thin, only about 5 – 10 microns thick. The new coating can be used on a wide variety of polymer materials, particularly those that are susceptible to damage by ultraviolet light from the sun. NANOMYTE® UVP-100 complements NEI’s portfolio of functional coatings, which include easy-to-clean, hydrophobic, anti-fog, anti-ice, and abrasion resistant coatings.

UVP-100’s coating composition has a unique chemistry that’s comprised of highly efficient UV-absorbing materials that are incorporated into a hard coat matrix. The figure below shows the UV-Vis spectrum of UVP-100 on glass, as compared to that of an uncoated glass control. 90% of the UV radiation with wavelength <375 nm is essentially blocked with a film approximately 6 µm thick. The coating remains fully transparent and is highly stable to UV radiation. The coating showed no damage (e.g., cracking and delamination) even after 250 hours of continuous exposure to intense UV radiation (0.9 W/m2) at 60°C in QUV accelerated weathering testing.

UV-Vis Spectrum of UVP-100

UV-Vis spectrum of UVP-100 vs. uncoated glass (control)

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Uncoated polycarbonate plaque (left) vs. NANOMYTE® UVP-100 coated polycarbonate plaque (right) – after exposure to ultraviolet light for the same time period

The development of NANOMYTE® UVP-100 coating is based on NEI’s patented NANOMYTE® SR-100 scratch resistant coating technology, which is being used in a number of commercial applications. Using standard abrasion tests, such as ASTM D-1044 (500-gram load, CS-10F wheel, 1000 cycles), uncoated polycarbonate will generate a measured delta haze of 30 – 35%. Commercially available hard coatings on polycarbonate lead to a delta haze of 2% to 6%. By comparison, NANOMYTE® SR-100 typically generates < 1% delta haze (ASTM D1044), and UVP-100 exhibits a delta haze value under 2%. Additionally, NEI’s UVP-100 coating has excellent chemical resistance, passing the 2-hour test for 0.1N HCl, 0.1N NaOH and xylene (i.e., no damage can be seen after 2 hours exposure to the above chemicals). The coating also has good solvent resistance – displaying no damage after 200 double rubs of MEK on the coating surface.

Application of UVP-100 is easy, using standard coating processes (such as immersion, flow, or spray coating) that require no specialized equipment. NEI also supplies a primer product – NANOMYTE® SR-Primer – which works well with a range of plastics to promote adhesion.

Additional Information: NANOMYTE® UVP-100 Technical Data Sheet | Safety Data Sheet (Part A) ♦ (Part B) | Request a Quote

Download Press Release (pdf) ↓

About NEI: NEI Corporation is an applications-driven company that utilizes materials science & chemistry to develop and produce Advanced Materials for a broad range of markets. NEI’s line of Protective Coatings provide tailored functionalities, such as hydrophobicity, self-healing, fog resistance, self-cleaning (or easy-to-clean), scratch resistance, anticorrosion, and icephobicity.

NEI is most receptive to new applications brought to it by its customers. A typical interaction begins by applying the coating on the customer’s parts and submitting it to the customer for evaluation. Either parts are coated at NEI’s applications laboratory, or the customer procures a sample quantity of liquid coating for in-house application. The implementation process then moves through pilot scale tests and eventual qualification. NEI’s engineers support the development and qualification efforts of its customers every step of the way, including drawing up technical specifications and engaging with third party coating applicators, if necessary.

For more information, give us a call or email us.