Intellectual Property Law

US Patent 7591897 - Low temperature rapid synthesis of metal oxide nanowires

This patent from the University of Louisville Research Foundation teaches a high volume method of manufacturing metal nanowire materials. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for synthesis of a metal oxide nanomaterial, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting a metal substrate;

creating a non-equilibrium gas comprising oxygen plasma at a low temperature at the point of the surface of the metal substrate of between about 50° C. and the temperature of the boiling point of the metal substrate;

exposing said metal substrate to said oxygen plasma having a neutral oxygen atom density of at least about 1×10^21/m^3 for nucleation of a metal oxide on a surface of said metal substrate;

forming the nanomaterial comprising a metal oxide nanostructure from the metal oxide on the surface of said metal substrate; and

controlling and maximizing the growth rate of said metal oxide nanostructure on said metal substrate by optimizing the density of said neutral oxygen atoms in said oxygen plasma.

Full post as published by TinytechIP on September 23, 2009 (boomark / email).