1/31/2022 – CABLE contest winner: Clean Carbon Conductors/DexMat

Last issue, WJI presented the 10 Stage 1 winners in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Conductivity-enhanced materials for Affordable, Breakthrough Leapfrog Electric applications (CABLE) conductor manufacturing initiative. One winner, Clean Carbon Conductors/DexMat, focuses on carbon nanotubes. Below, DexMat CEO Dimitri Tsentalovich discusses his work. A second winner will be presented in March.

WJI: How did your team form?
Tsentalovich: DexMat began commercializing Galvorn Carbon NanoTube (CNT) conductors in 2015 and teamed up with Rice University to solve critical R&D challenges for scaling the production of CNT materials over the years. The DexMat/Rice team that has substantial combined experience in academic research, engineering, and product development. In 2021, DexMat and Rice partnered with Prysmian to form the Clean Carbon Conductors team and take advantage of Prysmian’s significant expertise in the development and introduction of new materials in their wire and cable products. Rice University Professor Matteo Pasquali is a cofounder of DexMat.

WJI: What is your contest focus?
Tsentalovich: The objective of the Clean Carbon Conductors effort is to produce higher conductivity Galvorn CNT conductors. DexMat has a low-cost, scalable fluid phase process for manufacturing CNT conductors out of raw CNTs. By partnering with Rice University and Prysmian to deliberately focus on enhancing electrical conductivity, we believe that within the next 10 years, our team can produce CNT fibers and yarns with >65 MS/m electrical conductivity (over 112% IACS) through a process that will be cost-competitive with Cu wire production, but with a substantially reduced climate impact.

WJI: How did the collaboration with the Prysmian Group help?
Tsentalovich: The Prysmian Group has been a tremendous resource for our team. Prysmian’s R&D team has contributed valuable insights to the importance of considering factors such as manufacturing costs, product life-cycle environmental impact and the commercialization pathway for enhanced conductivity Galvorn conductors.

WJI: Where do you see your CNTs most benefiting wire and cable?
Tsentalovich: CNTs are positioned as the most promising solution for reducing the weight of aircraft wiring. DexMat has already demonstrated a 50% weight reduction by replacing the Cu braid EMI shielding layer of an RG-316 cable with Galvorn CNT film. Enhanced conductivity Galvorn CNT conductors would enable a 70% reduction in the mass of most electrical cabling on any commercial aircraft, resulting in a total weight reduction of several hundred kilograms per aircraft; this would result in significant fuel savings, and thus a reduced climate impact as well.

WJI: Can your process to be commercialized on a large scale?
Tsentalovich: Galvorn CNT fibers, yarns, and films are commercially available and can be purchased directly from DexMat. Over the next few years, we plan to scale-up Galvorn conductor production by a factor of at least 100, while continuing to work on increasing conductivity and other properties. Working with institutions like Rice University and companies like Prysmian is sure to help accelerate the path to both large scale production and enhanced conductivity. For more information, contact DexMat at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.dexmat.com.

Prysmian Group perspective
For the past decade, we have been exploring and testing engineered nanocarbons that offer great potential as strength members and electrical conductors. The holy grail is a lightweight material, with high electrical & thermal conductivity, high tensile strength and low coefficient of thermal expansion, produced with a minimal environmental impact. We believe DexMat has made significant strides with their Galvorn CNT fiber technology in this regard, both in terms of product performance and process scalability. Luca De Rai, vice president of Energy R&D.