Available for licensing are patent rights in a wide-range infrared and ultraviolet reflective films and coatings based on magnetically responsive photonic crystals. (more...)

Many crystalline materials can be grown on foreign substrates; but for their intended applications, materials often need to be either free from the substrate or transferred to a different substrate. One such example is where there is a need to obtain a device structure where a direct bandgap semiconductor (e.g., GaAs) is combined on silicon, or to place an optically active material on an optically transparent or a highly thermally conductive substrate. (more...)

Heat reflective coatings represent an important tool in the energy management of any building. Unfortunately these coatings are usually expensive and sometimes even toxic, thus increasing their production and application costs. Researchers from UCI’s Chemical Engineering and Material Science Department have developed a new class of energy efficient coatings consisting of a material that is derived from a naturally occurring and inexpensive biomolecule. This invention represents a novel heat reflective coating, which can be readily produced in large quantities at a very low cost. Moreover, the coating is fully biocompatible, further reducing total life cycle costs at both the production and installation stages, as well as the removal/replacement stages. (more...)

Rapid, efficient, and low cost detection and identification of microorganisms including pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and fungi is a challenge facing plant and animal health. Current technologies such as Q-PCR rely on multiple assays and amplification methods to identify bacteria and viruses. Traditional optical detection methods also require fluorescent markers. These multiple independent steps and tests increase the processing time and cost for detection and identification. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have developed a technique that uses nanotechnology to electrically detect and identify bacterial and viral RNA sequences without the necessity of using enzymatic amplification methods or fluorescent markers. In cases where microbe densities are particularly low, the technique provides additional sensitivity that allows for the target molecules to be detected in small quantities. Furthermore, the technique may be scaled into large multiplexed arrays for high-throughput and rapid screening. The implementation is further able to differentiate closely related variants of a given bacterial or viral species or strain. This technique addresses the need for a quick, efficient, and inexpensive bacterial and viral detection and identification system. (more...)

Control of wetting properties has been intensely investigated for applications in diverse fields, from microfluidics to contamination prevention. Superhydrophobicity, normally achieved through structural or chemical alterations, allows for free movement of water across a surface due to its high contact angle and low sliding angle. Many of the fabrication techniques used to prepare superhydrophobic surfaces, which include photolithography, chemical vapor deposition, and self-assembled monolayers, are time consuming and costly. A simpler and more rapid method to create superhydrophobic surfaces will allow for its increased use in fields such as microfluidics and biomaterials. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a robust, tunable, rapid, reproducible, and inexpensive method for creating superhydrophobic surfaces with hierarchal nano- and microscale structures molded into various hard plastics. The method involves a purely structural modification that is free of chemical additives. In addition, the technique can also be used to create hydrophilic regions embedded within the superhydrophobic regions to easily fabricate open-channel microfluidic devices. (more...)

Immunoassays have a tremendous range of uses in the diagnosis of diseases, pharmaceutical drug development studies, and therapeutic drug monitoring.They are highly popular due to their high specificity and sensitivity for a variety of analytes in biological samples.However, immunoassays can be labor intensive, time consuming, and require expensive reagents.An immunoassay method that is rapid, inexpensive, and highly effective would be practical and may have widespread use.Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a fluoroimmunoassay chip that can be used for improving the detection of low concentration (approx. 1 nM) biological agents.The method is rapid, inexpensive, and provides a fluorescence enhancement that is approximately 30-fold greater than glass.In addition, this method does not use the principle of metal enhanced fluorescence to enhance the signal, so the fluorophore is not distance dependent in order to achieve enhancements. (more...)

Photolithography, an essential process in the fabrication of integrated circuits, has undergone continuous advancements that allow patterning of nanometer sized features. For example, features as small as 50 nm can be made by using excimer lasers with wavelengths of 248 nm and 193 nm (i.e., deep ultraviolet light). However, it is not always feasible for scientists to use the short wavelength lasers because they are expensive. A method that allows for high resolution photolithography without large capital expenses will be very useful. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a photolithography method that allows for high resolution patterning. By using this method, one can get a 20-fold improvement in the limit of resolution in comparison to the inherent resolution of “top-down” processing. In addition, the method is easy to use, inexpensive, and does not require sophisticated instrumentation. (more...)

A liquid interfaced directly with a solid creates frictional forces. For example, these frictional forces slow down a boat traveling through the water and require it to use more power and fuel. A gas film layer between the solid and liquid interfaces would act to reduce frictional forces because the frictional drag of a liquid flowing over a gas film is lower than that of a liquid flowing directly over a solid. Despite its usefulness, such a gas film layer is thermodynamically unstable. The gas film destabilizes from many different factors, including high liquid pressure, gas diffusion into the liquid, or physical defects on the surface - all of which are inevitable in most real life applications. Past research in the field focused on how to make the superhydrophobic surfaces more robust to prevent the gas film from destabilizing. None were directed at restoring and maintaining the gas film once it is disturbed. (more...)

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Currently, thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) cells are based on traditional semiconductor thin-film technology. For a radiation source with a temperature of 1500K, the efficiency of the cell is ~20% during operation at room temperature. However, efficiency decreases greatly with increasing cell temperature. With regards to power conversion in space, it is also difficult to obtain efficiency over 30% when the cell temperature is 400K. Still, TPVs are of great commercial interest. (more...)

Current endovascular procedures for the treatment of vascular diseases use a number of metallic devices including guidewires, stents and coils. A popular material for these metallic devices is NiTi and CoCr. Although this material is commonly used, it has several limitations. First, the device generates friction during the installation procedure as the device rubs against the plastic catheter used during installation. A second problem is that once a metal device is placed in an artery, the patient needs to be on blood thinning medications for a long time. This problem can be mitigated by covering the device with native tissues and cells. (more...)

An ultrathin silicon nitride membrane has been fabricated and tested to be useable in temperatures in excess of 1000 °C with mass flux rates several orders of magnitude greater than existing technlogies. Pore shape and size are also tunable. (more...)

  In the manufacture of very large scale integrated circuits, polycrystalline-silicon (poly-Si) films are typically formed directly by low- pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) at temperatures above 600C, using silane as the precursor gas. Use of such a high process temperature renders this approach unsuitable for formation of poly-Si films on low-cost glass and plastic substrates and on substrates with completed CMOS integrated circuits. Various other techniques have been attempted, with less than ideal results, toward crystallizing amorphous silicon films without subjecting the material to excessive temperatures for the given application. Accordingly, a need exists for a method of readily forming polycrystalline films without subjecting the substrate to high temperatures, or requiring the use of complex processing steps. Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a technology that enables the forming of polycrystalline semiconductor at low temperatures and without the use of complex processing steps. The technology allows for production of a continuous polycrystalline silicon film with excellent physical and electrical properties.  The result is a low-temperature, low-cost substrates such as glass and plastic, which is extremely important for the development and commercialization of solar cells, thin film transistors, and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS).   (more...)