Energy Environmental Sciences and Materials

Latest Innovations
Silicone Microspheres by Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis Dr. Suslick from the University of Illinois has a method of facbricating silicone microspheres using ultrasonic spray pyrolysis, providing the first scalable... Read More Dr. Suslick from the University of Illinois has a method of facbricating silicone microspheres using ultrasonic spray pyrolysis, providing the first scalable synthesis of silicone microspheres. This method produces fully cross-linked, micron-sized PDMS microspheres and allows for the tuning of size and composition of microspheres, including production of magnetic and fluorescent microspheres for medical applications. This method is less expensive, simpler, and more scalable than existing methods of synthesizing silicone microspheres.
Smart Polyurea Systems Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a powerful new platform of polyureas that enable systems that are hydrolyzable, self-healing,... Read More Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a powerful new platform of polyureas that enable systems that are hydrolyzable, self-healing, and malleable, opening exciting applications in the packaging, coating, and adhesives industries. In this new class of polyureas, a bulky substituent is attached to one of the nitrogen atoms of the urea bond and destabilizes the typically stable linkage leading to dynamic dissociation. The polymers can be built from the vast library of isocyanate monomers already developed for the polyurea and polyurethane industries, yielding a wide range of materials with varying, engineered characteristics. Hydrolyzable Polyureas (TF14085) Hydrolyzable polymers are currently used in the agriculture and food industries as environmentally friendly plastics and packaging materials and in the biomedical field as drug delivery systems, surgical sutures, and scaffolds for tissue engineering. However, most hydrolyzable polymers, based on polyester materials or materials containing anhydride, acetal, ketal, or imine linkages, are synthesized via condensation or ring-opening polymerizations, often requiring high temperature conditions and catalysts and resulting in by-products. In contrast, because polyureas are made via a simple and clean chemistry without catalysts or by-products, hydrolyzable polyureas offer users the ability to tune polymer systems to specific applications without involving complex chemistries. In this platform of polyureas, the destabilization introduced by the bulky substituent on the nitrogen of the urea bond leads to dynamic dissociation to the corresponding amines and isocyanates, with the isocyanates further undergoing irreversible hydrolysis in aqueous solution and complete degradation of the polyurea. Picture1.png These degradable polymers are easily synthesized by reacting multifunctional bulky amines with isocyanates and exhibit tunable degradation kinetics. Hydrolyzable Polyureas Bearing Hindered Urea Bonds Hanze Ying and Jianjun Cheng Journal of American Chemical Society 2014 136 (49), 16974-16977 Polyureas That Love to Break Down Chemical and Engineering News, December 8, 2014, http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i49/Polyureas-Love-Break-Down.html Self-Healing Polyureas (TF12136) Incorporating the appropriate bulky substituents into polyureas enables polymers that can undergo autonomous, catalyst-free repair at room/low temperatures without the use of microcapsule healing agents, special precursors or customized laboratory/environmental conditions. Commercially available materials are used to produce self-healing polymers with capabilities to re-heal multiple times. Here the bulky substituents are chosen so that (i) the dissociation and reverse (polymer-forming) reactions are rapid and (ii) the polymer-forming reaction is highly favored, thereby insuring optimum bulk mechanical properties of the polymer. Conventional polyureas and poly(urethane-urea)s can thus readily be made dynamic and self-healing while maintaining their stability by replacing regular amines with amines containing bulky substituents. By tuning the substituent, the dynamic properties of the polymer and its mechanical properties can be controlled. Picture2.png Picture3.png Dynamic Urea Bond for the Design of Reversible and Self-Healing Polymers Hanze Ying, Yanfeng Zhang, and Jianjun Cheng Nature Communications 2014 5:3218 doi: 10.1038/ncomms4218 Also see. Malleable Polyureas (TF15006 / 2015-152) The polyurea systems can also be made malleable and recyclable by exploiting the reversible nature of the urea bond with the bulky subsituent. The cross-linked systems bearing the bulky substituents can be ground into powders and pressed/molded as shown below. Picture4.png Picture5.png The polyurea systems can also be recycled as shown below. Picture6.png
Dry-Grind Corn Milling Methods and apparatus for processing corn into one or more corn products. Oil is extracted from corn or corn products or by-products with a solvent. The corn-... Read More Methods and apparatus for processing corn into one or more corn products. Oil is extracted from corn or corn products or by-products with a solvent. The corn-solvent mixture is separated into streams, one of which preferably includes an extract containing at least oil and solvent, and another containing de-oiled corn solids and adsorbed solvent. The solvent is separated from oil, and the de-oiled, desolventized corn solids are processed to provide one or more corn products.
Corn Oil and Dextrose Process Method and apparatus for processing corn into one or more corn products including dextrose. In a preferred process, corn is processed and treated with solvent(s)... Read More Method and apparatus for processing corn into one or more corn products including dextrose. In a preferred process, corn is processed and treated with solvent(s) to extract oil. The oil can be subsequently recovered using membrane technology. Zein may also be produced if the solvent is an alcohol. Starch in the deoiled meal is converted to dextrose by liquefaction and saccharification with enzymes. The reaction mixture containing the dextrose and other components is subjected to one or more unit operations such as screening, filtration, and/or membrane technology to produce one or more of corn gluten, soluble protein, dextrose, and fiber.
High Strength Carbon Nanofibers with Modulated Surfaces Carbon fiber technology is predominantly focused on microfibers in the range of X to Yum. Such fibers have been optimized heavily over the past decades and are now... Read More Carbon fiber technology is predominantly focused on microfibers in the range of X to Yum. Such fibers have been optimized heavily over the past decades and are now used ubiquitously. Carbon nanofibers on the other hand are a new idea and are currently fairly crude, relatively short, unaligned, relatively impure, and necessarily smooth thereby limiting possible applications. The possibilities for carbon nanofibers are very diverse as they have the potential to be used in any conventional microfiber application but can be used in smaller laminar applications with dramatically improved results. This technology is a method and composition of matter used for creating carbon nanofibers that are continuous, aligned, near-zero impurity, and high-strength. Details This technology is a proprietary method of inexpensively, easily and reproducibly creating high mechanical property carbon nanofibers. Applications This carbon nanofibers technology has very significant applications. Because these nanofibers have comparable mechanical properties to carbon microfibers, they can be used analogously in any application a carbon microfiber can be used (for which the global market is many billions). However, these nanofibers have applications that microfibers cannot fulfill, such as ultra-thin laminar layers in high performance composites. Benefits These carbon nanofibers have dramatically improved properties when compared to any other carbon nanofibers currently available on the market. Size: there are currently no carbon nanofibers on the market that have performance near this technology. Current market offerings have strength orders of magnitude lower than these nanofibers. Additionally, currently available fibers cannot be aligned, which dramatically decreases the number of potential applications. Strength and Durability: the tensile strength of these optimized fibers is nearly an order of magnitude higher than what is currently produces and is nearly equal to the industry standard Toray fibers while being significantly smaller. The adhesive strength of these fibers in polymeric materials can be selectively modulated to be dramatically increased by using a proprietary method of creating a uniformly rippled fiber surface. Alignment: this fabrication technique and material choice allows the nanofibers to be formed in a highly aligned manner as opposed to the current birds nest tangle current manufacturing methods necessitate. Such alignment allows much broader application of these fibers. Surface Modulation: a unique process has been developed to allow even, reproducible and tunable surface modulation or rippling. Such rippling allows much better adhesion in polymeric substrates for a dramatically stronger composite.
Efficient and Inexpensive Production of Hydrogen from Tap Water Professor Gary Eden from the University of Illinois has found a remarkable way of generating hydrogen from tap water efficiently and inexpensively, using an array... Read More Professor Gary Eden from the University of Illinois has found a remarkable way of generating hydrogen from tap water efficiently and inexpensively, using an array of microchannel plasmas. This technology can be used to replace carbon-based fuels by producing hydrogen at the point of use in devices such as water heaters, ovens, furnaces, etc., basically anything that requires a flame.
Low self-discharge nano-capacitors Dr. Hubler has developed a novel design of nano-capacitors that employs Coulomb Blockade to suppress self-discharge and increases dielectric strength. Based on Dr... Read More Dr. Hubler has developed a novel design of nano-capacitors that employs Coulomb Blockade to suppress self-discharge and increases dielectric strength. Based on Dr. Hubler's research, nano-capacitors could have several orders of magnitude higher energy density than chemical batteries, but they suffer from short self-discharge time. Derived from quantum physics, this technology shows great potential to make nano-capacitors closer to real application.
An Internally Heated Shape Memory Polymer Dry Adhesive Dr. Kim from the University of Illinois has developed a 2-part dry adhesive which has an electrically conductive layer and an adhesive layer. The electrically... Read More Dr. Kim from the University of Illinois has developed a 2-part dry adhesive which has an electrically conductive layer and an adhesive layer. The electrically conductive layer is made from carbon black and shape memory polymer (SMP), while the adhesive layer is made of SMP. Applying voltage to the adhesive strips allows the SMP to bond to both curved and flat surfaces. Re-application of voltage allows the adhesive to be removed. This technology represents improvements over current dry adhesives because of the internal heating capability, reversibility of shape before and after bonding and reusability.
Parallel Interleaved Inverters for Efficient DC-AC Power Conversion and Low Distortion Current Output Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a new method to reduce the distortion in the output c urrent of multiple inverters used in DC to AC... Read More Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a new method to reduce the distortion in the output c urrent of multiple inverters used in DC to AC power conversion. This new technology helps to reduce the size and cost of the power electronic components currently used in power conversion. Also, this method is scalable and so this concept can be implemented on micro-scale systems.
Virtual Oscillator Control of Power Electronic Inverters Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a device that will synchronize the output of DC/AC inverters for the purpose of combining them into a... Read More Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a device that will synchronize the output of DC/AC inverters for the purpose of combining them into a micro-grid. The system would instantly react to power supplies suddenly connecting or disconnecting without ever allowing any deviation from the present perameters. The benefits over current systems is the lack of communication needed, and the impossibility of dangerous surges while adjusting to sudden changes.