US Patent 7482163 - Chemical reactivity determination for nanoparticles

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7482163.html

Due to their high surface-to-volume ratio metal nanoparticles such as platinum serve as excellent catalysts for the manufacture of fuels, polymers and drugs. This patent from Nanostellar teaches a method for characterizing the reactivity to achieve better process control. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of estimating chemical reactivity of a particle, comprising the steps of:

determining size and shape of the particle;

approximating atomic energy densities at various locations of atoms in the particle;

calculating local chemical softness values at said various locations of atoms based on the atomic energy densities;

calculating an average surface chemical softness of the particle based on the local chemical softness values; and

estimating the chemical reactivity of the particle based on the average surface chemical softness value of the particle.

US Patent 7423287 - Measuring residual stress in MEMS

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7423287.html

During the manufacture of MEMS devices stress can develop along the movable microcomponents being fabricated. This patent from Qualcomm teaches providing several electrical connection portions in the MEMS structure designed to break based on predetermined stress levels in order to monitor the stress. Claim 1 reads:

1. A device for measuring residual stress of a deposited conductive material, comprising:

a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) including a material; and

a plurality of disconnectable electrical paths,

wherein said plurality of paths are configured to disconnect as a function of residual stress of the material.

US Patent 7378075 - Sol gel CNT alignment

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7378075.html

This patent from Mitsubishi teaches a simplified method of forming aligned carbon nanotube bundles having smaller nanotube diameters for applications such as field emission using a sol-gel approach. Claim 1 reads:

1. A process for preparing aligned nanotubes on a porous carrier, the process comprising:

preparing a porous carrier having fine pores of 0.1 to 50 nm by a sol-gel method;

loading a catalyst onto the porous carrier by contacting the porous carrier with a base in an aqueous solution of a metal salt and drying and burning the solution within the pores of the porous carrier; and

depositing a carbon compound on the porous carrier to form a nanotube film aligned perpendicular to the porous carrier.

US Patent 7360461 - CNT layer for air transport tubing

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7360461.html

Some air sampling tubes suffer from the problems of absorption or desorption or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) leading to inaccurate senor results. This patent from Aircuity, Inc. teaches using carbon nanotubes to help prevent these problems. Claim 1 reads:

1. An air sampling system, comprising:

a sensor suite that measures at least one characteristic of an air sample;

air intake valves for switching air samples; and

tubing coupled to the air intake valves and a plurality of termination points from which air samples are obtained and transported via the tubing to the sensor suite,

wherein at least a portion of the tubing includes an electrically conductive inner layer having carbon nanotubes in a host material, wherein the combination of the host material and the carbon nanotubes minimizes absorption, desorption and off-gassing for the air samples.

US Patent 7294248 - Electron emission nanostructure formed using electrophoretic deposition

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7294248.html

For field emission displays and other devices that employ nanostructures for electron emission there are two methodologies of manufacture - 1) prefabrication of the nanostructure which is used as an emissive coating for electrodes on a substrate or 2) direct fabrication of the nanostructure on the substrate. The first method has several advantages in that the manufacturing process can be performed more cheaply using printing and deposition technologies at lower temperatures than direct fabrication. However, deposited nanostructures have a random orientation that are not optimal for directed field emission. This patent from Xintek, Inc. teaches a method of nanostructure deposition that can form directed field emission nanostructures. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of forming an electron emitter, the method comprising the steps of: (i) forming a nanostructure-containing material; (ii) forming a mixture comprising nanostructure-containing material and a matrix material; (iii) depositing a layer of the mixture onto at least a portion of at least one surface of a substrate by electrophoretic deposition; (iv) sintering or melting the layer thereby forming a composite; and (v) electrochemically etching the composite to remove matrix material from a surface thereof, thereby exposing nanostructure-containing material.