OCSiAl, the world’s largest manufacturer of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and which is based in Luxembourg, invites researchers worldwide, including Luxembourg, to participate in the annual international TUBALL Awards. The winner, who will be announced at this year’s “Nanoaugmented Materials Industry Summit” (NAUM 2020), will be granted a prize of $10,000 (the equivalent of 9,000 EUR) and have the opportunity to enter into a partner agreement with OCSiAl. The first annual TUBALL Awards were held in 2019 and the winner was a scientist from Ireland for a breakthrough in lithium-ion batteries. The new round of applications for this year’s Awards opened on 1 January 2020 (https://awards.tuball.com). 
 
SWCNTs (also known as graphene nanotubes) are often called “the building material of the future” because of their ability to improve almost all materials around us. Thousands of researchers across the globe are working with SWCNTs and achieving impressive results. The TUBALL Awards were established to help bring these breakthrough developments to people’s lives. These Awards are the first to acknowledge R&D projects using SWCNTs across the whole range of their commercial applications. 
 
The TUBALL Awards were initiated by OCSiAl, an innovative “unicorn” company that is based in Luxembourg. Knowing the immense potential of nanotubes to change materials, the company actively supports the transformation of the most promising projects from laboratory to industry. Scientists interested in project development with SWCNTs, irrespective of whether they also wish to apply for the Awards, receive free samples of TUBALL nanotubes. 
 
The first awardee, Prof. Jonathan Coleman from the AMBER Centre at Trinity College Dublin, collaborating with Nokia-Bell Labs Ireland and other AMBER researchers, developed technology that uses TUBALL SWCNTs in the cathode and anode of a lithium-ion battery instead of the conventional additive carbon black. Thanks to the exceptional properties of SWCNTs, the research group was able to make the first-ever battery electrode that works at 100% of its theoretical capacity. The results that Prof. Coleman and the AMBER/Nokia team have achieved in the laboratory pave the way to make batteries more compact, scalable for industry, quicker to charge and with 2.5 times more energy density than any battery currently on the market.  
 
The TUBALL Awards acknowledge the best SWCNT R&D projects once per year. The current round of applications opened on 1 January 2020. The Award provides applicants with an opportunity to receive $10,000 in recognition of their work on the project. Any individual researcher or research group from around the globe can participate. The Award will be given to a project that is designed to significantly improve the properties of industrial materials and that contributes to the development of global industries. 
 
OCSiAl is now rapidly expanding its business. By the end of 2019, it had increased its annual production capacity to 75 tonnes of SWCNTs and opened a new technical support center in China. The company plans to launch the first train of the world’s largest graphene nanotube synthesis facility and a center for applied nanotechnology in 2023 in Differdange. The project will create up to 200 jobs for highly qualified scientists and engineers.