This technology relates to fabricating tunable refractive index nanoporous thin films on flexible polymer substrates. The refractive index of the nanoporous thin film can be tuned during fabrication to a designed vale by adjusting the porosity of the thin optical film. Experiments show that thin-film SiO2 with tunable porosity fabricated by oblique angle electron beam deposition can be deposited on polymer substrates. Further, these SiO2 thin films show remarkably good adhesion to the polymer substrate.

This technology relates to nanofilled polymeric materials with a tunable refractive index without increased scattering or loss. The tunability allows the creation of hybrid nanocomposites that combine the advantages of organic polymers (low weight, flexibility, good impact resistance, and excellent processability) and inorganic materials (high refractive index, good chemical resistance and high thermal stability).

This technology relates to supports for catalytically active material, particularly for CO oxidation and lean burn deNOx control. There is a need for synthesis routes for supported catalyst that allow for formation of patterned and interconnected porous supports with catalyst nanoparticles of controllable size distributed throughout the support structure. The present technology includes a catalyst composite where both the support and the catalyst are synthesized using the same soft template, at room temperature.

This technology is directed to nanostructures in general and to metal nanoblades in particular. Oblique angle deposition has been demonstrated as an effective technique to produce three-dimensional nanostructures, such as nanosprings and nanorods. Because of the physical shadowing effect, the oblique incident vapor is preferentially deposited onto the highest surface features. This novel nanostructure is an array of thin crystalline magnesium nanoblades, which are coated with nanocatalyst palladium to act as high surface area structures for hydrogen storage.

Coating particulate material can often enhance the physical and chemical properties of the material including improved insulation properties, improved abrasion resistance, and improved strength. However, coated particulate materials are often porous and tend to absorb gases and liquids, which destroy the material, or at the very least, interfere with its insulating properties. This invention is directed to an improved device for coating particulate material.

Many envisioned carbon nanotube (CNT) applications, such as device interconnections in integrated circuits, require directed growth of aligned CNTs, and low-resistance high-strength CNT junctions with tunable chemistry, stability, and electronic properties. However, forming CNT-CNT junctions on the substrate plane in a scalabe fashion, to enable in-plane device circuitry and interconnections, remains to be realized. This invention is based on the discovery that high current densities can slice, weld, and chemically functionalize multiwalled CNTs and alter their electrical properties.

Oxide glasses with earth ions have a number of different applications including: lasers, optical switches, optical amplifiers and have anti-glare properties. These rare earth glasses, however, come with a number of problems including concentration quenching, low solubility, and inhomogenous distributions of the glass components. This invention tackles these issues by providing a process for preparing rare earth containing glasses. The glass is treated at a higher temeprature than the spinodal temperature, causing it to be homogeneous, clear, and reduced concentration quenching.

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have captured the attention of materials scientists and technologists due to their unique one-dimensional structure by virtue of which they acquire superior electrical, mechanical, and chemical properties. Current methods for CNT growth on substrates have their drawbacks. Vertically aligned CNT growth on metallic substrates requires catalyst islands on the substrate, which limits its ultimate application. Aligned CNT growth is a complicated, multi-step process and requires a brittle substrate, such as indium tin oxide.

Structural foams have a variety of applications, such as cushioning, packaging, and construction. Compressive strength and compressibility are important factors to determine the performance and application of foams. However, since these factors are of opposing nature there is a need for structural foam with high compressive strength, compressibility, and resilience. This invention is comprised of on open-cell carbon nanotube which exhibits super-compressible foamlike behavior. They have higher compressive strength, recovery rate, sag factor, and breathability.

The use and development of carbon nanotubes has expanded, as these materials have shown to be valuable innext generation industries including the fields of electronicsand chemistry. The further development of carbon nanotubetechnology allows organized structures or intertwined randomly oriented bundles of carbon nanotubes to be formed. Techniques have been developed to controllably build organized architectures of nanotubes having predetermined orientations, such as vertically aligned nanotubes.