Sep 23 2010
Graphene Devices, a Niagara Falls-based start-up, has secured more than $600,000 in state and federal awards to explore novel uses for graphene, a carbon nanomaterial, and ways to optimize its production using processes a University at Buffalo research team invented.
Graphene coatings and solutions can enhance the strength and electrical and thermal properties of composites including plastic and inks. To manufacture the material, Graphene Devices uses innovative processes that UB chemist Sarbajit Banerjee, an assistant professor, developed with graduate students Vincent Lee, Luisa Whittaker, Robert Dennis and Brian Schultz.
The processes enable the company to scale up production, yielding enough graphene to make manufacturing commercially viable -- something few other businesses have achieved. Graphene Devices also employs techniques that Banerjee and collaborators invented to coat a variety of surfaces with graphene.
Funding that Graphene Devices has secured since spring includes:
- $466,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to refine the firm's production process and study graphene's potential as a replacement for the costly conductive coatings on solar cells and display technologies. NYSERDA announced the two-year award in May.
- $80,000 from the U.S. Navy Small Business Innovation Research program to investigate the benefits of adding graphene to acrylics used in the windshields and windows of fighter planes. The graphene additive could strengthen the acrylics and shield against electromagnetic interference. The Navy announced the award in August, and Graphene Devices could be invited to apply for hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional funding if initial research goes well.
- $70,000 from the U.S. Army Small Business Innovation Research program to develop a nano-magnesium-graphene alloy for use as strong, light-weight structural materials and armor. The Army announced the award in September, and Graphene Devices could be invited to apply for hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional funding if initial research goes well.
- $22,000 from the UB Center for Advanced Biomedical and Bioengineering Technology (UB CAT) to study a graphene coating process for medical devices. The UB CAT announced the award in July. The funding builds on $14,000 the company received from the UB CAT this spring for the project. National Grid is awarding another $25,000 through the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the UB CAT. The UB CAT, located in UB's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, is one of 15 Centers for Advanced Technology at universities across New York State that receive annual funding from the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR).
Source: http://www.buffalo.edu/