The NanoMaterials Innovation Center

Leading edge business creation in New York State

130125

How We Operate

Alfred Technology Resources, Inc. (ATRI)

501(C)3 not-for-profit

Nanomaterials Innovation Center, LLC (NMIC)

(Wholly-Owned Subsidiary) Technical Services for industry, academia

and government

Other for-profit subsidiaries

Ceramics Corridor Innovation Centers

(CCIC) (incubation program) facilities for hi-tech

business start-up & R&D projects

How Did NMIC Evolve? Alfred Technology Resources

Economic development stimulation founded 1987

Ceramic Corridor Innovation Centers Incubators in Corning NY and Alfred NY built in 1992

Economic impact – 2697 jobs, payback of $236,188 per job on an investment of $3,708

NanoMaterials Innovation Center Nanomaterial R&D, tech transfer, commercialization

founded 2009

Close cooperation with Alfred U Analytical

Consulting

Research partnerships

NMIC Products and Capabilities

Client services

Industrial microwave processing – batch / continuous / controlled atmosphere

Powder and dispersion preparation

Powder forming into solid shapes

Nanotube research

Consulting

Business development, energy materials

Materials

Phosphors for lighting and taggants

Scale-Up

“From Beakers to Buckets”

Scale up to small pilot level; ~kg per hour

Critical for small companies and large companies establishing proof of concept

Participate in research projects:

Cornell U – graphene based microwave absorbers (DoE)

Alfred U / UCSD – energy storage materials (NSF)

How Are Advanced Materials Made?

Processes we operate at NMIC

Vapor phase

Plasma synthesis

Liquid phase

Sonochemical

Solid phase

Combustion synthesis

Microwave synthesis

Attrition milling

Vapor Phase - Plasma

Allows production of particulate material from vapor precursors or liquid intermediates with stoichiometry control

High temperature

Fast heating and cooling

Used in semiconductors, displays, coatings and high volume powder synthesis TiO2 (TiCl4 + O2) in thousands of tons daily

Applications Applicable to many high temperature materials

Solar, fuel cell, battery

TiO2, perovskites, graphene, CNT…

Microwave Plasma Torch

Syntheses of nano powders via microwave spray pyrolysis.

High pressure atomized solutions sprayed through a controlled atmosphere microwave generated plasma can create stoichiometric phase pure nano-powders from gas or liquid feeds

Liquid Phase - Sonochemical

Sonochemical action allows localized high energy cavitation to precipitate nano-sized and stoichiometry-controlled materials

Up to 50000C, 2000 atmospheres when a bubble becomes unstable and collapses (The Sonochemistry Center at Coventry University)

Applicable usually to aqueous solutions

Applications

Solar, fuel cell, battery…

Metals, oxides, graphene…

Ultrasonic Mixer

• Precipitation, mixing and dispersion of nano materials

• Batch or continuous cooled / heated operation

Solid State - Combustion Synthesis

Use a fuel together with the reagents for local heating

Applicable to a wide range of materials from phosphors to capacitor materials to…cement!

Rapid heating and cooling

Applications Can make shapes as well as

powders

Lighting, energy storage, energy usage and many other materials

(TPF Enterprises LLC)

Microwave Heating

Active and passive coupling Active – high dielectric constant materials

Passive – use an active insert to convert microwaves to IR

Many materials do not suscept until several hundred degrees

Advantages Heat the product, not the oven

Energy balance depends on oven load

Rapid heat and cool – crystallite control

Applications Can be used for digestion, composite systems

Lighting, fuel cells, battery, solar

Perovskites and related materials, coatings, shapes (not just powder)

(Wikipedia commons)

Microwave Laboratory Batch Kilns

3000 W microwave bench top periodic kilns.

Max. Operating Temperature ~1650°C.

Flexible set-up with various active and passive configurations

Vacuum / Controlled Atmosphere Microwaves – single and multi-mode

(shared facility)

Continuous Microwave Tunnel Kiln

Continuous microwave pusher tunnel kiln 30 kW / 12 kW

Maximum operating temperatures ~1450°C

Multi-atmosphere control

This continuous microwave is the only one of its kind in North America.

Carbon Nanotube Synthesis

Synthesis of carbon nanotubes on substrates Single and multi-wall

Upgraded mass flow controller and vacuum capability

Novel Phosphor Powders

Series (14) of rare earth doped yttrium aluminum garnets Series (14) of rare earth doped yttrium silicates Advantages

Low cost, highly controlled process Grain size management

Optical efficiency v transparency v processability v cost Broad spectral response to give high quality white light with only 2 phosphors

Applications Lighting

Fluorescent and LED

Taggants – military, electronics, pharmaceuticals

Materials Forming

Tape casting, screen printing, laminating, dicing

Spray drying

Freeze drying

Pellet pressing

Attrition milling

Access to other fabrication equipment at Alfred U and local companies

Thermal processing in conventional and microwave ovens

Explosion – Proof Spray Dryer

Drying and incorporation of processing binders

Tape Casting Suite

Class 10,000 clean room with entrance vestibule.

Ceramic tape caster(185 mm casting width on a 350mm wide Mylar carrier film; 250 mm ceramic tape width).

Dryer

Cutter

Screen printer

Isostatic press and dicer (located exterior to clean room)

Recent Projects Include:

Microwave synthesis of security taggant and phosphor materials

Synthesis and thermal treatment of fuel cell materials

Forming of shape memory alloys

Thermal treatment of oil and gas industry proppants

Processing three allotropes of carbon

Spray drying ceramic and metal compositions for fuel cell manufacture

In Summary

There are many new materials opportunities

There are many process choices

At NMIC we are exploring matching the two for most efficient production!

For more information

Alan Rae arae@nanomic.org (607) 247-5097

John Matteson jmatteson@nanomic.org (607) 247-5102

Concept – ReNew is a related new venture to extract rare earths from e-waste and industrial wastes and process these rare earths to supply the same industries with a domestic source of rare earths

This is a much simpler chemistry than extracting from ores, with a patent pending process developed by our partner (incubator tenant of Alfred Technology Resources Inc.)

The concentrated rare earths produced can be processed using NanoMaterials Innovation Center microwave and related combustion synthesis to phosphors, magnet precursors etc.