US Patent 8088855 - Powder coating paint including carbon nanocapsules

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This patent from Industrial Technology Research Institute includes some broad claims for an electrically conductive powder coating spray including carbon nanocapsules which helps dissipate static electricity. Claim 1 reads:

1. A powder coating paint, comprising:

90 to 99.9 parts by weight of a resin matrix; and

0.1 to 10 parts by weight of a carbon nanocapsule dispersed in the resin matrix, wherein the powder coating paint is in a powder form.

US Patent 8030185 - Fabricating nanoheterostructures

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This patent is from the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan and teaches a metal/semiconductor nano-hetero structure for absorbing solar energy and converting light energy into chemical energy, hydrogen energy, or electrical energy. Claim 1 reads:

1. A fabricating method of a nano-hetero structure, comprising:

fabricating at least a nano-semiconductor base; and

adding a metal ion solution into an amine solvent containing the nano-semiconductor base such that a plurality of metal nanoparticles are grown on a surface of nano-semiconductor base to form the nano-hetero structure.

US Patent 7727414 - Heat transfer fluid using carbon nanocapsules

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The increasing popularity of mini-notebooks and other portable computing devices require more processing in a smaller space resulting in a need for higher efficiency cooling solutions. This patent from Industrial Technology Research Institute teaches a carbon nanocapsule fluidic cooling solution. Claim 1 reads:

1. A heat transfer fluid with carbon nanocapsules, comprising:

a fluid; and

a plurality of carbon nanocapsules uniformly dispersed in the fluid, wherein the carbon nanocapsules are modified to bond with at least one kind of functional group, improving dispersiblity in the fluid, and

wherein the carbon nanocapsule is a polyhedral carbon cluster constituting multiple graphite layers having a balls-within-a ball structure, wherein the carbon nanocapsules are present in an amount of 0.05 to 10 parts weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the heat transfer fluid.

US Patent 7700193 - Core/shell nanoparticle with optical, magnetic, and thermal properties

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This patent from Industrial Technology Research Institute teaches the fabrication of nanoparticles having a magnetic core and a metallic shell useful to enhance optical and magnetic medical imaging methods. Claim 1 reads:

1. A core-shell structure having magnetic, exothermic, and light absorption behaviors with a metal seed layer formed between the core and the shell.

US Patent 7671612 - Integrated compound nanoprobe card

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The electrical testing of semiconductor wafers often involves probe cards which are used to establish an electrical path between a test circuit and the semiconductor. In the past the test pins of the probe cards have been limited to a pitch > 50 microns when using conventional manufacturing techniques. This patent from Industrial Technology Research Institute teaches using arrays of nanotubes or nanorods to increase the resolution of the pins. Claim 1 reads:

1. A probe pin set comprising:

a substrate having a porous surface; and

a plurality of pins arranged in said porous surface of said substrate subject to a predetermined pattern and extended in direction substantially perpendicular to said porous surface of said substrate,

said pins each having a bundle of aligned parallel nanotubes/nanorods and a bonding material bonded to said bundle of aligned parallel nanotubes/nanorods and filled in gaps in said nanotubes/nanorods, wherein said bonding material consists essentially of a metal material.

US Patent 7598609 - Nanowire z-axis conductive film

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This patent from Industrial Technology Research Institute teaches a polymer electrical connection film providing high adhesive strength for a fine pitched chip by using parallel nanowires. Claim 1 reads:

1. A polymer-matrix conductive film, comprising:

a polymer-matrix conductive body with unidirectional conductivity, including a plurality of solid conductive nanowires arranged parallel and spaced apart from each other and a polymer material filled in spacings of said solid conductive nanowires,

wherein each end of each said solid conductive nanowire has a barrier layer and a solder layer both of which contained in said polymer-matrix conductive body.

US Patent 7598595 - Nanoporous antireflection film

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Antireflection films are important elements of LCDs to improve the efficiency of light transmission. This patent from Industrial Technology Research Institute teaches forming a nanoporous structure to achieve low reflectivity and high transmittance. Claim 1 reads:

1. A nanoporous antireflection film, which is fabricated by a method comprising the following steps:

providing a substrate;

preparing a precursor comprising organic template and a metallic/metalloid salt or alkoxide;

forming a coating of the precursor on the substrate;

curing the coating, thereby forming a film; and

removing the template from the film to leave a nanoporous antireflection film; wherein the antireflection film has a reflectivity of less than 10% and a transmittance of more than 90%.

US Patent 7589161 - Nanoparticle composition for quenching steel

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The hardening of steel requires a step of rapid cooling performed by a variety of liquid solutions such as water-based or oil-based compositions. Water solutions are easy to dispose of and inexpensive but can result in too rapid cooling which leads to strained microstructures in the steel. Oil-based solutions provide slower cooling but are more expensive and can be dangerous. This patent from the Industrial Technology Research Institute teaches an alternative based on inorganic nanoparticles providing for an optimization of the desired qualities for steel quenching. Claim 1 reads:

1. A polymeric quenchant, comprising:

an inorganic nanoparticle,

a water-soluble polymer, and

water,

wherein a weight ratio of the inorganic nanoparticle, water-soluble polymer and water is about 0.05-5:1-5:100, and the inorganic nanoparticle is talc, smectite clay, vermiculite, halloysite, sericite, saponite, montmorillonite, beidellite, nontronite, mica, hectorite, or a combination thereof.

US Patent 7573926 - Multi-wavelength quantum dot laser

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Quantum dot lasers offer improvements in laser efficiency but have been limited in multi-wavelength modes important to optical communications. this patent from Industrial Technology Research Institute teaches the manufacture of a quantum dot laser capable of overcoming this limitation. Claim 1 reads:

1. A multiwavelength quantum dot laser element, comprising:

a first semiconductor layer;

a second semiconductor layer; and

an active region, disposed between the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer, having a plurality of quantum dot active regions, each of the quantum dot active regions comprising a quantum dot layer and a covering layer that covers the quantum dot layer, wherein when an applied current is larger than a start-oscillation current, the quantum dot active regions simultaneously generate a plurality of laser lights with different wavelengths, wherein at least one different parameter condition exist between the quantum dot active regions, wherein the parameter condition comprises one of thickness, material composition, and quantum dot size of the quantum dot layers, and any combination thereof, and wherein the parameter condition further comprises one of thickness of the covering layers, material composition of the covering layers, and a combination thereof.

US Patent 7486442 - Nanoparticle composite polarizer protective film

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Polarizing plates are useful for displays such as LCDs. This patent from Industrial Technology Research Institute teaches using nanoparticles to form polarizing plates with enhanced resistance to moisture permeability. Claim 1 reads:

1. A polarizer protective film, comprising:

a transparent resin; and

about 5-50% by weight of nanoscale particles dispersed in the transparent resin,

wherein the nanoscale particles are formed of a single material and have an average diameter not exceeding 50 nanometers, wherein the combination of the transparent resin and the nanoscale particles exhibits an optical retardation value of less than 5 nm, and wherein the polarizer protective film is formed of a single layer and directly touches a polarizer.

US Patent 7427772 - Periodic nanocrystal LED

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Nanocrystalline based LEDs offer the advantage of higher extraction efficiencies than conventional LEDs but can also have fabrication defects leading to higher resistances and inferior electrical properties. This patent teaches the formation of a periodic nanocrystal structure with fewer defect and less material stress. Claim 1 reads:

1. A semiconductor light emitting device substrate comprised of a single crystal material and having a nanocrystal structure disposed thereon capable of diffracting an electromagnetic wave, wherein a material of the nanocrystal structure is the same as the single crystal material, the nanocrystal structure comprises an etched region and an unetched region, wherein the etched region has a depth of 10-200 nm, and the nanocrystal structure comprises a periodic structure comprising a plurality of crystals with a size of 100-900 nm.

US Patent 7400159 - Nanotube/Nanorod probe card

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In order to test integrated circuits probe cards are often used. However, the resolution of such probe cards is often limited to the pitch of pins making up the probe. This patent teaches using nanotubes or nanorods as the pins for higher resolution addressing of circuitry under testing. Claim 1 reads:

1. A complex nano probe pin comprising:

a bundle of aligned parallel nanotubes/nanorods grown from a patterned catalyst strip on a planar substrate, and

a bonding material bonded to said bundle of aligned parallel nanotubes/nanorods and filled in gaps between said nanotubes/nanorods;

wherein said planar substrate has a porous surface; and wherein said bonding material covers said bundle of aligned parallel nanotubes/nanorods and fills up gaps in between said nanotubes/nanorods.

US Patent 7381461 - Zeolite nanocrystal antireflective film

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In order to prevent glare for displays and other optical devices anti-reflective films are often used. These anti-reflective films usually employ either multilayer films having thicknesses selected for destructive interference of any reflection or films having a graded index of refraction to achieve the same effect. This patent teaches an alternative solution using graded porosity of a zeolite nanocrystal film. Claim 1 reads:

1. An antireflective transparent zeolite hardcoat, comprising a zeolite nanostructure made of zeolite nanocrystals vertically stacked into a porous structure on a substrate, wherein the porosity increases with structure height, thereby providing a smooth refractive index transition.

US Patent 7338812 - Nanoparticle biolabel material formed by imprinting

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In order to make nanoparticles sensitive to particular molecule a functionalization procedure is necessary to create a binding site for the molecule. This patent from Industrial Technology Research Institute teaches an interesting method for developing such binding sites by applying molecular imprinting to a plurality of semiconductor nanoparticles (quantum dots). Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for manufacturing a biochemical labeling material, comprising:

providing a plurality of nanoparticles;

bonding the nanoparticles to template molecules by molecular imprinting, wherein the nanoparticles are semiconductors;

polymerizing the nanoparticles to form a matrix with uniformly-distributed template molecules, wherein a functional monomer, a crosslinking agent, and an initiator are added during polymerization of the nanoparticles; and

removing the template molecules from the matrix to leave a cavity with specific area serving as a detection group of the matrix.

US Patent 7323218 - Composite nanofiber fabrication using nanoporous template

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This patent discloses an interesting technique for forming composite core/cladding nanofibers useful for lithium batteries using a nanoporous template such as AAO. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for fabricating composite nanofibers, comprising the steps of: forming a plurality of tubular first nanofibers in a plurality of nano-scale pores of a template; placing the template on a conductive current collector; forming a plurality of second nanofibers on inner surfaces of the first nanofibers; and removing the template and obtaining a plurality of composite nanofibers.

US Patent 7217748 - Polymer chain grafted carbon nanocapsule

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Carbon nanocapsules are basically onionlike arrangements of hollow carbon spheres with applications in light and heat absorption, electromagnetic shielding, organic light emission, solar energy reception, catalysts, sensors, carbon electrodes in lithium batteries, thermally conductive nanoscale composite materials with special electrical properties, and nanoscale carbon powder for printing. This patent from Industrial Technology Research Institute provides a basic claim to a polymer/nanocapsule composite structure. Claim 1 reads:

1. A polymer-chain-grafted carbon nanocapsule, comprising: a carbon nanocapsule; and at least one kind of polymer chain grafted thereon, forming a polymer-chain-grafted carbon nanocapsule in which the carbon nanocapsule is the core thereof, wherein the polymer-chain-grafted carbon nanocapsule is of the following formula: F(-P)m, in which F is the carbon nanocapsule, P is the polymer chain, and m is the number of the polymer chain.