Tailored Materials Corp. Launches with $2 Million in Equity; Startup's Processes Create Ultra-Pure, Double-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

TUCSON, Ariz.--July 15, 2004--Tailored Materials Corp. Inc. (TMC), an emerging manufacturer of ultra-pure, carbon Double-Wall Nanotubes (DWNTs) for field emission displays and other devices, announced today that it raised $2 million in equity for its first round private financing, to commercialize and scale up its proprietary technology.

Founded mid-2004, TMC addresses critical needs in CNT applications: high selectivity and reproducible purity, for optimum, "tailored," mechanical and electronic properties. The breakthrough employs proprietary knowledge of nanotube formation processes, promising large-scale manufacture of high-quality DWNT.

TMC plans to sell product to major U.S. and global display and device vendors. "Double-wall nanotubes -- which our patent defines as nanotubes with two to five walls -- offer performance equal or better than single wall nanotubes (SWNT) for conduction and emission of electrons, but show significantly longer useful lifetimes, translating to more practical, cost-effective devices," explained Chuck Hassen, TMC's vice president business development.

"Application developers have been limited using CNT due to quality and availability constraints. Our solution will serve billion dollar global markets in areas as diverse as batteries, solar cells, displays, medical imaging and diagnostics devices. Lab tests bode well both at TMC, and at facilities of potential customers to whom we provided samples. Compared to other nanotubes, DWNT require lower voltage to produce a given amount of current and have longer service lifetime -- two important plusses in TMC's target applications."

TMC licensed process and composition of matter patents pending from Fullerene International Corp. (FIC), and obtained equipment, experienced personnel and know-how from MER Corp., that enable production of DWNT with true mass yield in the 90%+ purity range. MER first made fullerenes and nanotubes commercially, starting in 1992, and remains a leader in production and new applications R&D.

Board of Directors

Dr. R. O. Loutfy, president, TMC; Teruyuki Nakazawa, CEO, FIC; and Dr. Timothy Reckart, senior vice president of Research Corporation Technologies, serve as TMC's board of directors.

About TMC

Tucson, Ariz.-based TMC Inc. makes carbon DWNTs for high-value applications. TMC's technical breakthrough employs proprietary knowledge of the formation and purification mechanisms of CNTs, enabling selective manufacture of high-performance, CNT "tailored materials."