Manufacturing industry

The purpose of this patented invention is to improve the viability of fuel cell devices in miniature scale while simultaneously taking advantage of surface-to-volume scaling relationships to enhance performance. One example manifestation would include a polymer electrolyte material molded with integral flow channels and coated with a suitable catalyst to distribute the necessary reactants for the electrochemical production of electric current.

High-barrier packaging is of interest to those packaging products in the food pharmaceutical medical chemical and cosmetics industries. It is required to protect packaged products from the infiltration of unwanted gases water vapor and flavors. High-barrier films are usually achieved by co-extrusion lamination coating and layering of polymer films. However problems such as de-lamination and migration can limit the effectiveness and/or robustness of these barrier films eventually compromising the barrier characteristics of the packaging.

Technology Description: Epoxidized vegetable oils and vegetable oil esters yield stable coatings for metal beverage cans. The coatings provide inertness and mechanical characteristics similar to or better than those obtained with the traditional petroleum oil derived epoxy resins. The coatings do not impart any off flavors or objectionable taste to the beverage even after extended and punishing storage tests. The coatings of natural and renewable origin are more biocompatible than petroleum based products.

Background:Nature makes use of hydrophilic/hydrophobic coatings in very unique and effective manners. Take for example the Lotus flower that grows in muddy/murky waters yet emerges and remains remarkably clean. The leaves of the Lotus as well as many other flowers seem to cause water to bead up and roll off taking any contaminants or parasites along with it. It is now recognized that the fascinating fluid behaviors observed for the Lotus plant arise from a combination of the low interfacial energy and rough surface topography of waxy deposits covering their leaves.

Researchers at the University of California Davis have developed a novel and high throughput production process of making nano/submicro-sized fibers. By extruding in-situ micro or submicrofibrillar blend of cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) and polymers (polyolefin polyesters and proteins) into regular size fibers CAB serves as a sacrificial matrix and other polymers as micro/nano-fibrills in the matrix in coarse fiber form. After removal of CAB with acetone extraction micro as well as submicro fibers can be produced.

Applications: 1) Solar cells 2) Photovoltaic devices 3) Semiconductor films Patent Information: Patent Pending (US 20140045346)

To make paper from wood wood first must be transformed into pulp. However current pulping techniques require high amounts of energy or large quantities of wood and can result in poor quality paper. The inventors previously developed an efficient method for producing pulp from wood chips by pretreating the chips with oxalic acid and sodium bisulfate (see WARF reference number P00342US). This processing step required little time and improved both the economics of the pulping process and the properties of the finished paper product.