Imra America, Inc.

Asahi Glass Company, Limited

University of Michigan

Imra of America, Inc.

University of Texas System

Enpower Greentech, Inc.

Yong Che

Zhendong Hu

Bing Liu

Makoto Murakami

Takeshi Morimoto

Manabu Tsushima

Bing Tan

Yuki Ichikawa

Wei Qian

Wei Guo

Duxin Sun

Hongwei Chen

Yu Jin

Masayuki Ito

Kanokwan Sansanaphongpricha

John B Goodenough

Jingzhou Xu

Zhenlin Liu

Hayley Paholak

Yuzuru Uehara

Kevin V Hagedorn

Zhengong Hu

Guanghui He

Henghui Xu

Yutao Li

The present disclosure relates to an electrolyte membrane for an alkali metal or an alkali metal ion battery, comprising: a composite membrane comprising an ionically conductive polymer; an alkali metal salt; and a filler comprising a carbon nitride nanosheet, an oxygenated carbon nitride nanosheet or a combination thereof.

Electrolyte membrane for an alkali metal battery

A rechargeable energy storage device is disclosed. In at least one embodiment the energy storage device includes an air electrode providing an electrochemical process comprising reduction and evolution of oxygen and a capacitive electrode enables an electrode process consisting of non-faradic reactions based on ion absorption/desorption and/or faradic reactions. This rechargeable energy storage device is a hybrid system of fuel cells and ultra-capacitors, pseudo-capacitors, and/or secondary batteries.

Rechargeable electrochemical energy storage device

In the present invention, a method of producing stable bare colloidal gold nanoparticles is disclosed. The nanoparticles can subsequently be subjected to partial or full surface modification. The method comprises preparation of colloidal gold nanoparticles in a liquid by employing a top-down nanofabrication method using bulk gold as a source material. The surface modification of these nanoparticles is carried out by adding one or multiple types of ligands each containing functional groups which exhibit affinity for gold nanoparticle surfaces to produce the conjugates. Because of the high efficiency and excellent stability of the nanoparticles produced by this method, the fabricated gold nanoparticle conjugates can have surface coverage with functional ligands which can be tuned to be any percent value between 0 and 100%.

Stable colloidal gold nanoparticles with controllable surface modification and functionalization

The described embodiments provide an energy storage device that includes a positive electrode including an active material that can store and release ions, a negative electrode including an active material that is a lithiated nano-architectured active material including tin and at least one stress-buffer component, and a non-aqueous electrolyte including lithium. The negative electrode active material is nano-architectured before lithiation.

Negative electrode active material for energy storage devices and method for making the same

At least one embodiment of the present invention provides preparation methods and compositions for nanoarchitectured multi-component materials based on carbon-coated iron-molybdenum mixed oxide as the electrode material for energy storage devices. A sol-gel process containing soluble organics is a preferred method. The soluble organics could become a carbon coating for the mixed oxide after thermal decomposition. The existence of the carbon coating provides the mixed oxide with an advantage in cycling stability over the corresponding carbon-free mixed oxide. For the carbon-coated mixed oxide, a stable cycling stability at high charge/discharge rate (3A/g) can be obtained with Mo/Fe molar ratios &#x2267;1/3. The cycling stability and rate capability could be tuned by incorporating a structural additive such as AlOand a conductive additive such as carbon nanotubes. The high rate performance of the multi-component material has been demonstrated in a full device with porous carbons as the positive electrode material.

Nanoarchitectured multi-component electrode materials and methods of making the same

The present invention relates to methods, compositions, and kits for generating conjugated gold nanoparticles. In certain embodiments, the present invention provides methods of generating unsaturated conjugated gold nanoparticles by mixing naked gold nanoparticles with a first type of attachment molecules at a molar ratio such that the attachment molecules attach to the naked gold particles at a density level below the saturation level of the naked gold particles (e.g., at a saturation level of 1-99%). In some embodiments, a second type of attachment molecules (e.g., with the opposite charge as the first type of attachment molecules) are mixed with the unsaturated conjugated gold nanoparticles to generate double-conjugated gold nanoparticles (e.g., that are zwitterionic).

Conjugated gold nanoparticles

A rechargeable energy storage device is disclosed. In at least one embodiment the energy storage device includes an air electrode providing an electrochemical process comprising reduction and evolution of oxygen and a capacitive electrode enables an electrode process consisting of non-faradic reactions based on ion absorption/desorption and/or faradic reactions. This rechargeable energy storage device is a hybrid system of fuel cells and ultracapacitors, pseudocapacitors, and/or secondary batteries.

Disclosed is a method of producing a chemically pure and stably dispersed organic nanoparticle colloidal suspension using an ultrafast pulsed laser ablation process. The method comprises irradiating a target of an organic compound material in contact with a poor solvent with ultrashort laser pulses at a high repetition rate and collecting the nanoparticles of the organic compound produced. The method may be implemented with a high repetition rate ultrafast pulsed laser source, an optical system for focusing and moving the pulsed laser beam, an organic compound target in contact with a poor solvent, and a solvent circulating system to cool the laser focal volume and collect the produced nanoparticle products. By controlling various laser parameters, and with optional poor solvent flow movement, the method provides stable colloids of dispersed organic nanoparticles in the poor solvent in the absence of any stabilizing agents.

Production of organic compound nanoparticles with high repetition rate ultrafast pulsed laser ablation in liquids

A method for generating nanoparticles in a liquid comprises generating groups of ultrafast laser pulses, each pulse in a group having a pulse duration of from 10 femtoseconds to 200 picoseconds, and each group containing a plurality of pulses with a pulse separation of 1 to 100 nanoseconds and directing the groups of pulses at a target material in a liquid to ablate it. The multiple pulse group ablation produces nanoparticles with a reduced average size, a narrow size distribution, and improved production efficiency compared to prior pulsed ablation systems.

Nanoparticle production in liquid with multiple-pulse ultrafast laser ablation

An device for Raman spectroscopy such as surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is disclosed herein. Various embodiments may be utilized to prepare a SERS substrate using several deposition techniques such as pulsed laser deposition. Some embodiments optimize coverage, volume, or elements of SERS active metals. The method is a single step inexpensive method for preparing a SERS active substrate. In some embodiments a coating layer underneath the SERS active metals is utilized for additional enhancements.

Method and apparatus to prepare a substrate for molecular detection

A composite nanoparticle, for example a nanoparticle containing one or a plurality of cores embedded in another material. A composite nanoparticle can be formed by a one step process that includes: ejecting material from a bulk target material using physical energy source, with the bulk target material disposed in a liquid. Composite nanoparticles are formed by cooling at least a portion of the ejected material in the liquid. The composite fine particles may then be collected from the liquid. A product that includes composite fine particles may be formed with laser ablation, and ultrashort laser ablation may be utilized so as to preserve composite nanoparticle stoichiometry. For applications of the composite fine particles, optical properties and/or magnetic properties may be exploited for various applications.

Composite nanoparticles and methods for making the same

The present invention provides a non-vacuum method of depositing a photovoltaic absorber layer based on electrophoretic deposition of a mixture of nanoparticles with a controlled atomic ratio between the elements. The nanoparticles are first dispersed in a liquid medium to form a colloidal suspension and then electrophoretically deposited onto a substrate to form a thin film photovoltaic absorber layer. The absorber layer may be subjected to optional post-deposition treatments for photovoltaic absorption.

Non-vacuum method for fabrication of a photovoltaic absorber layer

A method of forming patterns on transparent substrates using a pulsed laser is disclosed. Various embodiments include an ultrashort pulsed laser, a substrate that is transparent to the laser wavelength, and a target plate. The laser beam is guided through the transparent substrate and focused on the target surface. The target material is ablated by the laser and is deposited on the opposite substrate surface. A pattern, for example a gray scale image, is formed by scanning the laser beam relative to the target. Variations of the laser beam scan speed and scan line density control the material deposition and change the optical properties of the deposited patterns, creating a visual effect of gray scale. In some embodiments patterns may be formed on a portion of a microelectronic device during a fabrication process. In some embodiments high repetition rate picoseconds and nanosecond sources are configured to produce the patterns.

Growing community of inventors

Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Yong Che