Intellectual Property Office

Non-Confidential Disclosures

“Ordered Arrays of Long Titania Nanotubes”

PSU Inv. Disc. No 3220
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Keywords

Nanotechnology, Nanotubes, Titania, Mechanical, Biocompatible

Inventors:

Craig Grimes, Karthik Shankar, Maggie Paulose, Ooman Varghese, Sorachon Yorijya

Links:

Inventor Website

Background:

Highly ordered arrays of titania nanotubes are desired for many applications (e.g., dye-sensitized solar cells; the photolysis of water; gas sensing; biofiltration; and drug delivery). To date, no one has fabricated titania nanotubes longer than 7 µm.

Invention description:

The disclosed invention entails the fabrication of highly ordered arrays of titania nanotubes that are up to 100 µm long. The arrays exhibit 20% efficiency when converting optical energy to chemical energy. Additionally, they are biocompatible and mechanically robust - the thin films of titania nanotubes may be used much like thin films of nanoporous alumina, which are widely used in industries such as pharmaceuticals and petroleum extraction.

Advantages:

• Titania nanotubes up to 100 µm long
• Relatively high rate of conversion efficiency
• Biocompatible
• Mechanically robust (of strength like that of alumina)
  

Contact:

Matthew Smith
Sr. Technology Licensing Officer
Intellectual Property Office
113 Technology Center
The Pennsylvania State Univ.
University Park, PA 16802-7000
Phone: (814) 863-1122
Fax: (814) 865-3591
E-mail:mds126@psu.edu