Founder, Cheap Tubes Inc. and CTI Materials LLC — 21 years supplying research-grade carbon nanomaterials to scientists, engineers, and industrial customers across academia, defense, aerospace, energy storage, and advanced manufacturing.
Background
Mike Foley has worked in high-tech manufacturing since 1994. Before founding Cheap Tubes Inc. in 2005, his career spanned semiconductor wafer fabrication and thin film optics manufacturing, where he developed deep expertise in process control, materials characterization, and the engineering disciplines required to scale advanced materials from laboratory to production environments.
In 2005, Mike founded Cheap Tubes Inc. to make research-grade carbon nanotubes accessible at fair pricing to academic researchers, R&D groups, and industrial customers who needed reliable supply backed by real characterization data. What started as a focused carbon nanotube distributor has grown over 21 years into a comprehensive nanomaterials supplier covering single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, graphene nanoplatelets, fullerenes, MXene, nanowires, and specialty composite formulations.
Mike also founded CTI Materials LLC, which holds and develops the Flexiphene patented graphene surfactant technology and other proprietary nanomaterial formulations.
Patents and intellectual property
Mike holds 2 granted U.S. patents in carbon nanomaterial dispersion and applications, with additional patents currently in prosecution covering novel polymer composites, films, and nanomaterial dispersion technologies.
Selected for NASA’s Enceladus mission
Mike’s patented materials were selected by NASA for use in the Enceladus mission as a dual-capacitance layer in ion-selective electrodes. The mission targets the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life in the subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon Enceladus — one of the most promising places to find life beyond Earth. The electrodes are designed to detect bacterial secretions: bacteria are the most basic form of life and therefore the most likely first evidence of life to be found in an alien ocean.
Areas of expertise
- Single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotube selection, characterization, and bulk supply
- Graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, and graphene nanoplatelet formulations
- Polymer composite design with carbon nanomaterial additives
- Nanomaterial dispersion chemistry and surfactant systems (Flexiphene)
- Industrial-scale supply chain for research-grade materials
- Quality control and characterization — TGA, BET, Raman, TEM
Buying guides authored by Mike
- Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNT) Buying Guide
- Graphene Nanoplatelets (GNP) Buying Guide
- Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT) Buying Guide
Outside the lab
Vermont-based, Mike chose southern Vermont for the access to mountains and water that he and his family enjoy year-round. When not running Cheap Tubes Inc. and CTI Materials LLC, he can usually be found hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, or boating with his family.
Get in touch
For technical questions about nanomaterial selection, custom formulations, characterization data, or bulk supply, contact Cheap Tubes Inc. directly.