Brief

Providing access to fresh water in areas of scarcity

Technology Overview

Water is one of the most important resources in the world, however there is scarce access to fresh water in some locations. The developed device can be used for collecting water from the atmospheric moisture with no without energy input except for solar radiation. The device is comprised of a water absorbing material, a protection wall and a water container. When the water absorbing material is below phase separation temperature, hydrogen bonds are formed with water molecules resulting in the absorption of water from the air.

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Brief

Enhancing the structure of molybdenum disulfide

Technology Overview

Sulfur-containing compounds are by-products from oil and gas production. Molybdenum disulfide is the preferred catalyst for hydro-desulphurization, which is the catalytic chemical process to remove sulfur from natural gas or other refined chemical products. However, molybdenum disulfide is limited to the surface area of the material. The developed process expands the surface area of the material by increasing the porosity and internal cavities of the material.

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Brief

Single-atom and sub-1 nm probe for highly focused electron and ion beam microscopy and nano-probe microscopy.

Technology Overview

Nano-probes are the most critical parts in all scanning probe microscopes, like atomic force microscopes and scanning tunneling microscopes, as the resolution of the microscope is a direct function of the probe apex size, where optimum resolution can be achieved by having extremely sharp probes. These atomically sharp nano-probes can be used for characterizing and manipulating, bio and chemical molecules, nanomaterials. In electron and ion microscopes like scanning electron microscope (SEM), and ultra-high resolution transmission electron microscope (UHTEM), nanoprobes
are used as a source of electrons and ions where highly focused electron and ion beams can be produced.

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Brief

Improved process of preparing pharmaceutical tablets

Technology Overview

A gel material from structure-modified or processed cellulose combined with an active pharmaceutical ingredient can be used to improve the process of tablet production. The approach introduces a continuous process that can reduce labor, time, and cost of production. In addition, the approach results in an improved tablet with desirable properties.

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Brief

Sustainable solution for product packaging and other applications

Technical Overview

Convenience, safety, low price, and good aesthetic qualities are among the major factors that make plastics useful for numerous applications. Synthetic polymers that are produced from petrochemical products have low recovery/reproduction rates and are not easily degraded in the environment. The developed method in the present technology is used to make a biodegradable composite using an aqueous mixture comprised of partially hydrolyzed cellulose in a dissolution media; combing the mixture with a solution of aliphatic polyester in a polar organic solvent;
removing solvent and dissolution media to form a wet biodegradable composite; and drying the wet biodegradable composite to form a dry biodegradable composite.

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Brief

Enhanced utilization/conservation of water using cellulose gels

Technology Overview

Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer that can be extracted inexpensively from plants and other organisms. The developed cellulose gel compositions are prepared by modifying native cellulose to generate a material with enhanced water absorption and retention properties. The material is produced through the regeneration of cellulose in aqueous polyethylene oxide. The material has been demonstrated to hold twenty times its weight.

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Brief

Antifogging glass technology to tackle dirt and grim on glass

Technology Overview

The fabrication of (titanium dioxide) TiO2 coatings deposited by e-beam evaporation was achieved, with the ability to induce the production of self-cleaning superhydrophilic glass without the need for UV irradiation. After being annealed at 500 °C, the non-porous films exhibited radiation-free superwetting behavior. The superhydrophilic and antifogging
properties, which can be reactivated by a thermal treatment or prolonged through UV exposure, confirmed the excellent potential of these materials for self-cleaning application, both outdoors and indoors. The deposition of a 20 nm layer did not alter the optical and mechanical properties of the glass. In addition, film adhesion to the substrate and photocatalytic activity proved to be very effective. The prepared 20 nm coating (20-TiO2-GLASS) shows enhanced antifogging properties compared to bare glass and the commercial self-cleaning glass

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Brief

Multi-chamber reactor for converting waste oil into biofuel

Technology Overview

Biodiesel is an important alternative fuel that includes a fatty acid methyl or (ethel) esters produced from trigylcerides as the product of vegetable, lipid, animal, trapped grease, or recycled cooking oil. However, production of biodiesel is limited due to current production methods. The developed multi-chamber continuous tubular reactor for the transesterification of oil can improve production. The multi-chamber design operates in a helical flow pattern to enhance mass transfer and increase conversion.

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Brief

Highly efficient in-situ fabrication process of 2D−2D-type nanohybrids

Technology Overview

The rapid growth in interest and the large number of achievements in recent years suggests that perforated two-dimensional (2D) materials with precise control of nanopores and density are indeed new generation materials with direct application in various market segments (i.e., membrane technology,
electronics, energy storage and generation, DNA sequencing, etc.). In the present invention, a method is developed to perforate 2D materials sheets with controlled pore size and density. Further, an integrated approach is developed using the present method to produce membranes at an industrial scale. 2D materials developed by various technologies can be used to perforate with the existing method.

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Brief

Enhanced filters designed to alleviate pharmaceutical pollution of water

Technology Overview

Pharmaceutical compounds are emerging contaminants in the water supply due to increasing use throughout the world. The developed photo-regenerable filters are designed to remove pharmaceutical compounds and other contaminants from water. The filter is comprised of carbon nanotubes and high surface area titanium dioxide nanospheres, in which the high surface area titanium dioxide nanospheres are dispersed in the carbon nanotubes.

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Brief

Innovative method to obtain metal and metal oxide nanostructures

Technology Overview

In this invention, a robust method for fabricating high-aspect-ratio structures through a self-folding process of planar thin films is developed. It relies solely on three standard microfabrication steps, lithography, etching, and sputtering processes, provides the flexibility to position the spalled structures
according to the application requirements, and is fully compliant with CMOS fabrication standards. This method has been successfully demonstrated for metal-oxides and metals. The width of the fabricated structures is dependent on the thickness of the film deposited by sputtering, where structures as small as 20 nm in width have been obtained.

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Technology Overview

Smart sensors for in-situ measurement for monitoring and fracture mapping during and after geological hydro-fracturing. The sensors records and provides near to real-time data on temperature, pressue, chemical composition, etc. A record set of these sensors can be embedded in the proppant and provide status of the well. All data and information within the fractured rock and any information changes is transmitted wirelessly.

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