Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been used for decades to make thin films, fibers, and bulk materials used in a range of applications. Modifications of CVD, for example, plasma enhanced CVD, have been used to create unique structures by varying process parameters. This technology results in particles with the structure of an inverted truncated right circular cone that could serve as interconnects or as mini energy storage units for solar cells. It could also be used as filler particles in polymer composites, where their unique structure could provide advantageous properties.

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.

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.

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.

Block copolymers are polymers whose molecular chains consist of incompatible segments that can self-assemble to form separated phases or microdomains. The versatile properties of block copolymers are determined by their phase-separated microdomains, generating a variety of applications in biomedical materials, engineering thermoplastics and elastomers, and optical and electrical materials. This invention is directed to a novel method of assembling and controlling the properties of block copolymers.

There is an increasing interest in using nanoparticles as building blocks for well-defined structures that have practical applications owing to the various novel properties of nanoparticles. However, their assembly is a challenging task. Methods based on surface functionalization, andor template patterning have been used for this purpose, but both of these processes can be rather complicated. Thus, there is a continuing need for a simple method for synthesizing high aspect ratio microstructures constituted of nanoparticle building blocks.

Several methods for the preparation of polymeric microbeads for chromatographic separations in the pharmaceutical industry have been developed over the past several decades. However, those methods often result in microbeads with a wide distribution of sizes. This invention results in more uniform particle size but also microbeads that are derived from multifunctional epoxy monomers and that have residual epoxy functionality on their surfaces.