- Based in Houston, Texas, the Clean Carbon Conductors team, with members from Rice University and DexMat Co., is designing enhanced-conductivity CNTs by improving fiber quality, alignment, packing density, and by electrochemically doping the CNTs.
- Team NAECO from Peachtree City, Georgia, submitted their entry for Conductivity Enhanced Alloys with Nano Additives, which involves first mixing copper with trace amounts of additives before combining it with graphene using solid phase processing.
- MetalKraft Technologies in Athens, Ohio, with members from Lehigh University also is using solid phase processing to create Copper-Graphene Ultra Wire with small amounts of commercially available low-defect crystalline graphene.
- In Niskayuna, New York, the GE Research team will use Electron Beam Melting Additive Manufacturing of Ultra-Conductive Components to fabricate a nanocarbon-metal composite from copper and low-cost graphite powder, carbon black, or possibly higher-cost nanostructured carbon.
- VT Materials in Blacksburg, Virginia, submitted their entry for an Enhanced Conductivity Overhead (ECO) Wire made from aluminum (potentially from recycled wires), graphene, and other nano additives.
- Based in Butte, Montana, the 59701 Nano Innovations team is designing a Highly Conductive CNT-Composite-Cable made from CNTs that are manufactured from carbon dioxide and small amounts of metal, such as copper from the local mine.
- For their intercalation compounds of carbon fibers (ICF) project, the University of Texas at Austin team will create an high-conductivity carbon fiber, which competes with CNTs in conductivity, by alternating layers of carbon fiber with transition metal chlorides.
- The SuperWire team in Burlington, Massachusetts, proposed A Manufacturing Strategy for CNT Power Cables to create a lightweight, high-strength, braided CNT-metal composite cable by adding either copper or aluminum.
- The Super Cool Conductor from Selva Research Group in Houston, Texas, is making a rare-earth, high-temperature superconductor that could be manufactured at half the cost of copper and cooled with liquid nitrogen or cryocooling for applications such as long duration electric storage.
- In Ashland, Massachusetts, the NanoAL Lightning team is creating Ultra-High Strength/Highly Conductive Aluminum Alloys using traditional manufacturing equipment and specialized nanoprocesses to replace steel cores in overhead power lines.
For more information on Stage 1 winners, please visit the CABLE Prize page on the American-Made Challenges website.