Carbon nanotubes are highly conductive (thermally and electrically), extremely strong and light-weight, can absorb electro-magnetic interference and has photo-acoustic effect whereby they spontaneously ignite when exposed to an intense light source.

The addition of low concentrations of carbon nanotubes to plastic makes it electrically conductive. This allows electrostatic painting to be used when coating automotive parts, removing the need for costly primers.

Anti-Static Properties

The anti-static properties of carbon nanotube coatings have potential applications in packaging where anti-static coatings are used in the electronics to prevent damage to sensitive electronic components during shipping and storage.

Carbon nanotubes in their pure and undamaged form are the best thermally conductive materials. As the electronics world strives to fit more and more functionality into less and less space, overheating is becoming a major problem. This is forcing greater pressure on materials and coatings involved in electronics manufacturing to be thermally conductive in an attempt to remove the heat from the device as quickly as possible. Another aspect of thermal management is the demand for rapid curing times of polymeric materials such as ink resins and elastomers. The use of low loadings of carbon nanotubes increases the speed of thermal dissipation from a coating or resin allowing for a much faster curing time in automated processes where the speed of curing limits the rate of production.

Electro-magnetic interference (EMI) shielding in laptops and mobile phones is becoming increasingly important to preventing interference with and from other portable electronic devices. As an extension to the electrostatic dissipation properties, carbon nanotube coatings can be designed to absorb EMI.