Apr 7 2010
Nano Engineered Applications (NEA), a Riverside, CA-based start-up firm and Avisio’s majority-owned subsidiary, was awarded an exclusive license for a chemical detection technology by the University of California, Riverside (UCR).
UC Riverside Nosang Myung, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, explains his work
The technology, the patent for which is pending, is based upon a cost-effective, new, and scalable fabrication technique. This technique has the ability to functionalize carbon nanotubes by using the requisite sensing materials to develop high-density devices for detecting small quantities of substances that are sensitive environmentally.
The UCR technology utilizes tubular carbon and carbon nanotubes molecule appearing like a rolled up graphite sheet. This sheet is 100,000× finer as compared to the human hair. Carbon nanotubes, named in 1991, incorporate a substantial surface-to-volume ratio along with specialized electrical properties. These features render them promising materials that will help develop the new generation chemical gas sensors.
The technology is in part funded by a grant provided by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Developed by UCR’s associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Nosang Myung, the technology addresses the critical gas and chemical detection requirements of a wide range of industries like military, industrial, commercial, and security.
Eric Tonui, the UCR’s licensing officer for the technology, informed that NEA was able to identify an underserved and niche market in the chemical detection domain that offers a huge profit potential.
The UC Riverside the NEA had demonstrated the technology during the March 31 signing ceremony that was attended by NEA and Avisio executives, Riverside Mayor Ronald O. Loveridge, and Riverside Chancellor Timothy P. White.