Maardu, Estonia – 11.11.2025 – UP Catalyst, a European deep-tech company converting CO₂ into sustainable carbon materials, has reached a new milestone in third-party testing of its CO₂-derived carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Independent results from European battery cell manufacturer confirm superior performance compared to benchmark materials, demonstrating that CO₂-derived CNTs can substitute fossil-based CNTs for next-generation batteries and advanced applications.

An external laboratory confirmed that UP Catalysts CNTs deliver a 65% lower power resistivity compared to commercial reference materials. Subsequent tests conducted by a European battery cell manufacturer demonstrated how this superior conductivity translates into improved capacity retention under fast-charge conditions: the cells with UP Catalyst MWCNTs retained the same or higher capacity at 1C compared to the 0.1C baseline (10-hour charge) and exhibited up to a 10% higher capacity retention under 2C conditions.

In simple terms, this means that batteries made with UP Catalyst’s CNTs allow electricity to flow more efficiently and keep their storage capacity even when charged in 30 minutes — supporting both high performance and fast-charging use cases.

“These results prove that our CO₂-based CNTs are not only sustainable but also deliver outstanding electrochemical performance in real-world testing scenarios. Achieving both lower resistivity and higher fast-charge capability is critical for enabling high-performance lithium-ion batteries,” says Dr. Sebastian Pohlmann, CTO of UP Catalyst.

Conventional graphite and CNT production is highly polluting. The carbon footprint of conventionally produced fossil-based graphite and CNTs is substantial. According to the benchmark, synthetic graphite has a carbon footprint of over 25 kg of CO₂-eq/kg, while CNTs have a footprint of approximately 170 kg CO₂-eq/kg. In real production, these figures could be significantly higher.

With these independent results in place, UP Catalyst is focused on expanding testing with industry partners while already working to bring its materials into real-world applications.

“The confirmation from independent testing partners validates our technology, and we now invite more formulators, OEMs, and battery cell manufacturers to test our CNTs in their own applications,” says Florian Wunsch, CCO of UP Catalyst.