Tech transfer in our backyard

High-powered idea may be model of university research to market opportunities

Editorial by Sean Fitzgerald

 When we think of technology transfer in the New North, we all too often think of it as a domain reserved for the Madison area.

It’s unfortunate that we don’t feel we have the research prowess to generate that innovative R&D into new products, new processes, new jobs, and ultimately greater wealth in the region.

But we do have some shining stars in northeast Wisconsin. After all, Kimberly-Clark Corp. in Neenah lead all entities in Wisconsin by registering the most patents during 2009. Oshkosh Corp. wasn’t too far behind.

Perhaps part of the reason northeast Wisconsin feels inferior on the tech transfer front is the perspective that our academic institutions aren’t research centers, at least in the same sense that we think about research conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Is this perspective about to change?

Quietly tucked away in a 4^th floor laboratory in UW-Oshkosh’s Halsey Science Center, inorganic chemistry professor Charles Gibson is driving the school’s first technology spin off by developing cutting edge nanophase phosphors which might revolutionize the ultra-capacitor market. What does this mean?

Small capacitors about the size of a battery that run a wristwatch can store energy a million times more concentrated than that standard wristwatch battery. That’s a lot of energy and a lot of power in a very small amount of space and with very little mass to weigh it down.

The applications are seemingly endless, but Gibson feels the applications of his developments would offer the most value in transportation, industrial applications and consumer electronics.

Storing energy into smaller and smaller particles has been a pursuit of Gibson’s since completing his post-graduate work at UW-Madison in 1988. His first job was with AT&T Laboratories, where he was active developing particles that were 100 nanometers or less in size. One nanometer – equal to one billionth of a meter – is said to equal the length of six bonded carbon atoms, or 1/40,0000 the width of a strand of human hair.

In 1994, a few years after having moved to a teaching role in academia, Gibson devised and secured the first patent for the process to develop flat metal particles. These flat metal particles – less than an atom in height in most cases – held different properties from the typical metals the average person encounters on a day-to-day basis. Gibson was particularly interested in the magnetic properties of those particles, believing that they could possibly lead to the creation of ultra-high density storage media. Contemporary flash drives with several gigabytes of storage available were developed based on the same principle.

Within a few more years, Gibson had devised similar processes for making equally compact and concentrated ceramic materials, which would ultimately lead him into a full pursuit of the capabilities of nanoceramics by late 2008.

Developed with the assistance of the high-powered electron microscopy instrumentation available in UW-Oshkosh’s science lab, Gibson has developed the first stage of ultra-capacitor technology that has improved power compared with other capacitors already brought to market. The existing product in development is less volatile than its existing counterparts, more environmentally benign, should be easier to handle and has the potential to be less expensive to manufacture.

Within the next four to five months, Gibson hopes to wrap up the next critical stage of development by linking together several of his nano-ceramic ultra-capacitors with the expected outcome of generating several times more power than the output of just one ultra-capacitor. Such an outcome would create a market opportunity that could create new possibilities in start-and-stop applications requiring sudden, but short duration, bursts of power.

Gibson has been working on a business plan for his firm, Oshkosh Nanotechnology LLC, and has submitted it for consideration in the 2010 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Competition. Look for it to fare well. Gibson submitted two entries for the 2009 competition, both of which advanced to the semifinal round and one, Direct-White Phospor for LEDs, which was among the 20 finalists. Gibson said he learned a lot about what judges were evaluating, and believes this year’s entry is a significant improvement upon what he submitted a year ago.

As he works to commercialize his idea further, Gibson said he’ll soon be searching for external investment, as well as other partners to help develop the commercial applications of his ultra-capacitors.

Look for B2B to be watching and reporting on his future successes as well.