Nano Nexus 2007 Team Profiles: Tuskegee University

Pictured l-r: Wanda Denise Jones, Ivy Krystal Jones, ORNL Director Jeff Wadsworth, Nano Nexus Managing Director Joy Fisher (not pictured: team member Merlin Theodore).

Team:NanoCatCoat
Team Members: Wanda Denise Jones, Merlin Theodore, Ivy Krystal Jones
School: Tuskegee University
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Yuanxin Zhou, Research Assistant Professor, Center for Advanced Materials
Product or Service: An innovative technique used to apply iron oxide to carbon nanotubes (CNT) to prepare magnetic carbon nanomaterials, which can be employed in electric devices, magnetic data storage, heterogeneous catalysts, as well as magnetocaloric refrigeration. Much research is being done in this arena, however current methods of making these unique nanomaterials can be costly and are not well-suited for mass production.

Since CNTs are chemically inert, modification can selectively increase interactions or crosslinking between CNTs and other nanoparticles anchoring around the CNT surface. Covalent modification of CNTs causes damage to the structure of the nanotubes, degrading its properties.

NanoCatCoat is unique because it offers a reliable, noncovalent modification of the sidewalls of CNTs, leaving the structure unaltered. While other manufacturing processes require longer processing time, and often include extensive chemical reactions that can be hazardous to people who use them, NanoCatCoat’s manufacturing process takes place in one single step. The team has created a method that is less hazardous, reduces cost, and lowers the possibility of accidents on the job.

CNTs have been used as extremely strong nanoreinforcements for composites, which possess extraordinary properties such as high strength, low weight, and moderate electrostatic discharge properties.

Due to these and other unique properties, CNTs have been used successfully in nanoscale electron devices such as field emission displays, atomic force microscope tips, and hydrogen storage cells. They also have many applications within the automotive, drug delivery, and medical diagnosis industries, as well as many others.

Nanotechnology has become a multi-billion dollar industry over the past several years, and NanoCatCoat’s developers see a place for their product both in the domestic and international markets.

The NanoCatCoat team recently participated in the Nano I2P® Competition at Nano Nexus 2007, a nanotechnology conference hosted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on April 3, 2007. The conference brought together universities, entrepreneurs, and leaders of the nanotechnology industry in an effort to move nanotechnology out of research organizations and into the marketplace.

”We’d like to put our school on the map again,” said Wanda Denise Jones of her team’s technology. Jones is a Ph.D. candidate at Tuskegee University. “Attending this conference is our chance to show everyone that Tuskegee still dominates in engineering and science.”