Thinfilm partners with US developers on sensor device for healthcare

The US FlexTech Alliance is supporting a project to develop and manufacture an integrated printed sensor system for use in healthcare applications.

In the project a printed sensor platform developed by PARC and Thin Film Electronics (Thinfilm) is being integrated with temperature sensing, and an oxygen sensor under development at the University of California at Berkeley.

Potential products include a simple, unobtrusive biosensor that can be used as part of treatment for respiratory diseases – known as pulse oximetry – to monitor the percentage of haemoglobin that is oxygen-saturated.

Medical kit

Pulse oximeters are used routinely in critical care, anaesthesiology, accident and emergency departments, ambulances, and are an increasingly common part of a general practitioner’s (GP) kit. The device being developed in the FlexTech-funded project will pave the way for low-cost medical sensors that patients can wear at home.

Thinfilm is supplying its Addressable Memory for the project, which combines Thinfilm’s Passive Array Memory with printed CMOS-equivalent logic. The technology platform is used for printed electronic systems, such as temperature sensors and non-contact ID tags.

The project will demonstrate the first integrated printed sensor circuitry, and provide reference designs for sensor control and integration with other devices. The building blocks of these designs will be made by gravure printing.

Thinfilm CEO Davor Sutija says: ‘The applications enabled by this project will address the homecare and patient care market. Through our close work with PARC we have developed a platform technology. We are starting to see other institutes and organisations developing components that are compatible with our platform, for various different markets and applications.’

New technology to enable development of 4G solar cells

Professor Ravi Silva of the University of Surrey‘s Advanced Technology Institute has identified the range of combinations of organic and inorganic materials that will underpin new 4th generation solar cell technology – opening the door for more efficient, cost-effective and larger scale solar power generation.

 

Solar power – the greenest form of renewable energy – is in increasing demand across the world, with the global capacity for solar power generation now topping 100GW.

The new 4G solar cells defined by Professor Silva are a hybrid that combine the low cost and flexibility of conducting polymer films (organic materials) with the lifetime stability of novel nanostructures (inorganic materials). This ‘inorganics-in-organics’ technology improves the harvesting of solar energy and its conversion into electricity, offering better efficiency than the current 3G solar cells while maintaining their low cost base. In turn, these 3G cells offer significant cost improvements on first and second generation solar cells – based on crystalline and polycrystalline silicon – which are still responsible for over 90% of the solar power being generated today.

Along with a number of notable research institutions, the University of Surrey is part of the European Union FP7 SMARTONICS programme – a €11.6m project led by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. This project is currently developing the smart machines, tools and processes for large-scale production of 4G solar cells, using roll-to-roll printing technology for high throughput and cost-efficient fabrication.

Outlining the new 4G technology in his recent keynote address at the 10th International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (NN13) in July, Professor Silva said: “These new generation materials for solar cells have been truly engineered at the nanoscale. They are designed to maximise the harvesting of solar radiation, and thereby efficiently generate electricity.”

Speaking to a packed conference hall at NN13 – part of NANOTEXNOLOGY 2013 [www.nanotexnology.com]– he also outlined the significant progress being made by the solar industry in bringing down the cost of solar electricity. In many parts of the world, it now competes with grid electricity in terms of cost, and since it requires less infrastructure, solar power can also be used in areas where conventional electricity is not an option.

Conference Chair Professor Stergios Logothetidis thanked Professor Silva for “introducing the idea and concept of 4G solar cells to the world” and added: “We believe that 4G solar cells will be the technology for future photovoltaic energy sources.”

 
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-07-technology-enable-4g-solar-cells.html#jCp

Tetrapod Nanocrystals as Fluorescent Stress Probes of Electrospun Nanocomposites

 

A nanoscale, visible-light, self-sensing stress probe would be highly desirable in a variety of biological, imaging, and materials engineering applications, especially a device that does not alter the mechanical properties of the material it seeks to probe. Here we present the CdSe–CdS tetrapod quantum dot, incorporated into polymer matrices via electrospinning, as an in situ luminescent stress probe for the mechanical properties of polymer fibers. The mechanooptical sensing performance is enhanced with increasing nanocrystal concentration while causing minimal change in the mechanical properties even up to 20 wt % incorporation. The tetrapod nanoprobe is elastic and recoverable and undergoes no permanent change in sensing ability even upon many cycles of loading to failure. Direct comparisons to side-by-side traditional mechanical tests further validate the tetrapod as a luminescent stress probe. The tetrapod fluorescence stress–strain curve shape matches well with uniaxial stress–strain curves measured mechanically at all filler concentrations reported.

Plastic electronics made easy

(Nanowerk News)  Scientists have discovered a way to  better exploit a process that could revolutionise the way that electronic  products are made.

The scientists from Imperial College London say improving the  industrial process, which is called crystallisation, could revolutionise the way  we produce electronic products, leading to advances across a whole range of  fields; including reducing the cost and improving the design of plastic solar  cells.

The process of making many well-known products from plastics  involves controlling the way that microscopic crystals are formed within the  material. By controlling the way that these crystals are grown engineers can  determine the properties they want such as transparency and toughness.  Controlling the growth of these crystals involves engineers adding small amounts  of chemical additives to plastic formulations. This approach is used in making  food boxes and other transparent plastic containers, but up until now it has not  been used in the electronics industry.

The team from Imperial have now demonstrated that these  additives can also be used to improve how an advanced type of flexible circuitry  called plastic electronics is made.

The team found that when the additives were included in the  formulation of plastic electronic circuitry they could be printed more reliably  and over larger areas, which would reduce fabrication costs in the industry.

The team reported their findings this month in the journal  Nature Materials (“Microstructure formation in molecular and polymer  semiconductors assisted by nucleation agents”).

Dr Natalie Stingelin, the leader of the study from  the Department of Materials and Centre of Plastic Electronics at Imperial, says:

“Essentially, we have demonstrated a simple way to gain control  over how crystals grow in electrically conducting ‘plastic’ semiconductors. Not  only will this help industry fabricate plastic electronic devices like solar  cells and sensors more efficiently. I believe it will also help scientists  experimenting in other areas, such as protein crystallisation, an important part  of the drug development process.”

Dr Stingelin and research associate Neil Treat looked at two  additives, sold under the names IrgaclearÒ XT 386 and MilladÒ 3988, which are  commonly used in industry. These chemicals are, for example, some of the  ingredients used to improve the transparency of plastic drinking bottles. The  researchers experimented with adding tiny amounts of these chemicals to the  formulas of several different electrically conducting plastics, which are used  in technologies such as security key cards, solar cells and displays.

The researchers found the additives gave them precise control  over where crystals would form, meaning they could also control which parts of  the printed material would conduct electricity. In addition, the  crystallisations happened faster than normal. Usually plastic electronics are  exposed to high temperatures to speed up the crystallisation process, but this  can degrade the materials. This heat treatment treatment is no longer necessary  if the additives are used.

Another industrially important advantage of using small amounts  of the additives was that the crystallisation process happened more uniformly  throughout the plastics, giving a consistent distribution of crystals.  The team  say this could enable circuits in plastic electronics to be produced quickly and  easily with roll-to-roll printing procedures similar to those used in the  newspaper industry. This has been very challenging to achieve previously.

Dr Treat says: “Our work clearly shows that these additives are  really good at controlling how materials crystallise. We have shown that printed  electronics can be fabricated more reliably using this strategy. But what’s  particularly exciting about all this is that the additives showed fantastic  performance in many different types of conducting plastics. So I’m excited about  the possibilities that this strategy could have in a wide range of materials.”

Dr Stingelin and Dr Treat collaborated with scientists from the  University of California Santa Barbara, and the National Renewable Energy  Laboratory in Golden, US, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology on this  study. The team are planning to continue working together to see if subtle  chemical changes to the additives improve their effects – and design new  additives.

They will be working with the new Engineering and Physical  Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)-funded Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in  Large Area Electronics in order to drive the industrial exploitation of their  process. The £5.6 million of funding for this centre, to be led by researchers  from Cambridge University, was announced earlier this year. They are also  exploring collaborations with printing companies with a view to further  developing their circuit printing technique.

Controlling crystals

Here are some of the technologies that could benefit from Drs  Treat and Stingelin’s research:

Improving drugs

Most drugs work by blocking or activating proteins in our  bodies. To develop better drugs, scientists must understand what these proteins  look like. The work carried out by the Imperial team could enable researchers in  the future to develop more accurate models of proteins, by converting them into  a crystalline form.

More efficient solar technology

Solar cells are made from a solid mixture of electrically  conducting crystalline chemicals. Currently these cells only convert about 10%  of the Sun’s energy into electricity. Dr Treat and Stingelin’s additives may  provide a way of improving crystal growth in solar cells, which could improve  the amount of energy they convert.

New flexible electronics

Flexible semiconductor films can be made by methods such as  inkjet printing. Using additives that control how inkjet-printed droplets of  semiconductors crystallise will mean they crystallise in evenly distributed  patterns that conduct electricity efficiently. This means industry can produce  these printed electronics more easily and cheaply.

Source: By Joshua Howgego, Imperial College London

Read more: http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/newsid=31181.php#ixzz2YPLhjKF8

Tetrapod Quantum Dots Break Kasha’s Rule: Enhanced Performance Enables Commercialization

SAN MARCOS, Texas, June 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — By Quantum Materials Corporation (OTCQB:QTMM) – Since 1950,  Kasha’s  Rule ¹, a principle of photochemistry,  held true  that if a source of light excited a molecule enough, the molecule would  fluoresce in a single color.

 

In 2011, the Alivasatos group at DOE’s  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, using tetrapod quantum dots, broke  Kasha’s rule² by causing them to emit two separate colors instead of  just one. This dual emission is possible because the tetrapod’s core and arms  can separately emit at different wavelengths, and this discovery finds potential  in many new advances in optics and nano-bio applications.

Quantum Materials Corp. (QMC) is delivering tetrapod quantum dots to a client studying dual emission  effects in sensitive force sensing environments. Dual-emitting tetrapod QD  sensors can measure very minute stresses such as those of a heartbeat by reading  the changing variance of luminescence response emitted as the tetrapod quantum  dots arms bend. Nano-probes of this type are poised to be a platform technology  providing optical readout for many other biomechanical processes.  This  unique ability of the tetrapod quantum dot helps it to outshine the more common  spherically shaped quantum dot.

QMC’s patented synthesis allows precise control of tetrapod quantum dot  composition, size of QD core, length of arms, and arm thickness. This ability to  design the tetrapod characteristics allows optimization to control the  tetrapod’s reaction to stress and thereby tune the light emissions for different  applications. QMC VP of R&D David Doderer remarked, “We are proud  to  stand out as the singular company that can provide industrial-scale quantities  of tetrapod quantum dots, customized to our client’s needs, with the uniformity  and reliability necessary to feed the demands of large scale commercial  operations.”

Quantum Materials Corporation has established new offices at STAR Park in San Marcos.  QMC C.E.O. is enthusiastic  about the move, quote “The facilities are state-of-the-art and Texas State faculty and the STAR Park Leadership continue to offer us  opportunities to discuss collaborative projects from a well-connected home base.  Indeed, so soon after coming to STAR Park, we  are already determining scheduled visits from global companies that have  indicated strong interest in discussing business opportunities.”

While currently marketing our tetrapod quantum dot technology to end users in  the Printed Electronic, LED, and Solar markets, QMC is specifically focusing  efforts on capturing a significant market share of the 2013 forecast estimated  over $100MM by BCC Research for quantum dots in Bioscience applications. To  accomplish this, QMC will demonstrate our tetrapod quantum dots’ superiority  over standard spherical quantum dots to our diverse customer base.

MarketsandMarkets 2012 Quantum Dot Global Forecast predicts total QD  sales of $7.48 Billion by 2022 in a wide range of  QD applications.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasha’s_rule
2. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110701150459.htm

About Quantum Materials Corporation

QUANTUM MATERIALS CORPORATION, INC has a steadfast vision that  advanced technology is the solution to global issues related to cost, efficiency  and increasing energy usage. Quantum dot semiconductors enable a new level of  performance in a wide array of established consumer and industrial products,  including low power lighting and displays and biomedical diagnostic  applications. QMC’s volume manufacturing methods enables cost reductions moving  laboratory discovery to commercialization

 

Got Quantum Dots? Seeking to Impact Our Lives (for the better) through Nanotechnology

 Got Quantum Dots?

 

A Nanotechnology and Applied Materials company, Quantum Materials Corporation (QMC), explains that Quantum dots refer to one of several promising materials niche sectors that recently have emerged from tremendous nanotechnology advances in chemistry and materials processing in the past two decades, and fall into the category of nano-crystals, which also includes quantum rods and nanowires. QMC believes there are abundant opportunities  to commercialize the many applications emerging now in this arena … and QMC intends to capitalize on those opportunities! (See potential Applications Below)

As a materials subset, quantum dots are characterized by synthetic nano-materials particles fabricated to the smallest of dimensions from only a few atoms and upwards. At these tiny dimensions, they behave according to the rules of quantum physics, which describe the behavior of atoms and sub atomic particles, in contrast to classical physics that describes the behavior of bulk materials. In other words, objects consisting of many atoms.

Quantum Dots measure near one billionth of an inch and are a non-traditional type of semiconductor that can be used as an enabling material across many industries that is unparalleled in versatility and flexible in form.

Quantum Materials Corporation (QMC) is now commercializing a low cost quantum dot technology of a superior quality and characteristics. This revolutionary new quantum dot production technique, developed by Dr. Michael S. Wong and colleagues at Houston’s William Marsh Rice University, has been acquired under an exclusive, world-wide license. QMC’s new synthesis method is mass producible using continuous flow technology processes developed in conjunction with Access2Flow micro-reactor technology. QMC’s research and development group was instrumental in developing the new scaling-up process.

Rice University Quantum Dot Synthesis

Dr. Wong’s Rice University lab invented a simplified synthesis using greener fluids in a moderate temperature process producing same-sized QD particles, in which more than 95 percent are tetrapods; where previously even in the best recipe less than 50 percent of the prepared particles were all same size and tetrapods. These highly efficient tetrapod QD are available across the entire light wavelength from UV to IR spectra and very narrow bandwidth is common. Selectivity of arm width and length is very high allowing different characteristics to be emphasized. Capping with shells and dyes adds desired properties. A custom mixture of quantum dots tuned to optimal wavelengths is easy to create, and projects will have the advantage of unprecedented flexibility and quantities for determining the optimal quantum dot without the time, expense and poor quality of batch synthesis methods.

Moreover, the Rice process uses much cheaper raw materials and fewer purification steps. A positively charged molecule called cetyltrimethylammonium bromide provides this dramatic improvement in tetrapod manufacture. This compound, found in some shampoos, also is 100 times cheaper than alkylphosphonic acids currently used and is far safer, further simplifying the manufacturing process.

With the underlying theme of designing and engineering novel materials for catalytic and encapsulation applications, Dr. Wong’s research interests lie in the areas of nanostructured materials (e.g. nanoporous materials, nanoparticle-based hollow spheres, and quantum dots), heterogeneous catalysis, and bioengineering applications. He is particularly interested in developing new chemical approaches to assembling nanoparticles into functional macrostructures.

QD Nanotech Applications

Current and future applications of quantum dots impact a broad range of industrial markets. These include, for example, biology and biomedicine; computing and memory; electronics and displays; optoelectronic devices such as LEDs, lighting, and lasers; optical components used in telecommunications; and security applications such as covert identification tagging or biowarfare detection sensors. All of these markets can move from laboratory discovery to commercialization as QMC scales production of quantum dots to robust levels. They include:

IN VITRO analysis for cells and biological systems:

Quantum dots make improvements in the quality of marking in both brightness and time to study (hours instead of minutes).

IN VIVO selective tissue marking:

Quantum dots have been used for lymph node mapping and vascular and deep tissue imaging. This use has the potential to be much more significant for disease control and cure than any other current pharmacological technology.

QD Printing Applications

Quantum Materials Corporation has the exclusive worldwide license to proprietary quantum dot printing technologies developed by Dr. Ghassan Jabbour. This pioneering technology makes significant improvements over prior art.

Displays:

Quantum Dot LED as well as nanoparticle LED/OLED based displays now have the potential to be manufactured using very high volume, low cost roll-to-roll print processing on inexpensive substrates, with potential to deliver a significantly lower price point combined with higher definition, increased viewing angles, lower power consumption, and reduced response time for enhanced display imaging in a very thin, light weight, format.

Lighting:

Tetrapod quantum dots and printing technologies can be printed and applied to certain lighting applications delivering high brightness, true color balance, long life and low energy consumption for highest efficiency. As global consumption of electricity in the world increases dramatically, energy efficiency through better electronics and lighting is a key to reducing the overall burden on power production and the expected increases in greenhouse gas emissions.

Thermoelectrics:

Thermoelectric devices are notoriously inefficient, and many researchers are working diligently on nanocomposite materials, such as quantum dots that artificially induce phonon scattering, thereby inhibiting heat transfer due to lattice vibrations while facilitating electron and hole conduction.

Photonics & Telecommunications:

Quantum dots open potential to develop optical switches, modulators, and other devices that rely upon nonlinear optics, with the aim of creating faster, cheaper, and more powerful optical telecommunication components.

Security Inks:

Inks and paints incorporating quantum dots, nanoscale semiconductor particles, can be tuned to emit light at specific wavelengths in the visible and infrared portion of the spectra.

While currently marketing its tetrapod quantum dot technology to end users in the Printed Electronic, LED, and Solar markets, QMC is specifically focusing efforts on capturing a significant market share of the 2013 forecast estimated over $100MM by BCC Research for quantum dots in Bioscience applications. To accomplish this, QMC says it will demonstrate its tetrapod quantum dots’ superiority over standard spherical quantum dots to its diverse customer base.

MarketsandMarkets 2012 Quantum Dot Global Forecast predicts total QD sales of $7.48 Billion by 2022 in a wide range of QD applications. Quantum Materials believes that its provision of an accessible supply of quantum dots enables potential partners to now strategically develop commercially viable quantum dot products.

A company, Quantum Materials Corporation, is delivering tetrapod quantum dots to a client studying dual emission effects in sensitive force sensing environments. Dual-emitting tetrapod QD sensors can measure very minute stresses such as those of a heartbeat by reading the changing variance of luminescence response emitted as the tetrapod quantum dots arms bend. Nano-probes of this type are poised to be a platform technology providing optical readout for many other biomechanical processes.

This unique ability of the tetrapod quantum dot helps it to outshine the more common spherically shaped quantum dot.

QMC says in a release that its patented synthesis allows precise control of tetrapod quantum dot composition, size of QD core, length of arms, and arm thickness, and this ability to design the tetrapod characteristics allows optimization to control the tetrapod’s reaction to stress and thereby tune the light emissions for different applications.

QMC with its Patented Technologies receiving the prestigious Frost and Sullivan Award “Best Practices Award” for Advanced Quantum Dot Manufacturing Enabling Technology”, is the singular company that can provide industrial-scale quantities of tetrapod quantum dots, customized client’s needs, with the uniformity and reliability necessary to feed the demands of large scale commercial operations.

Collaboration with Texas State’s Material Science, Engineering and Commercialization Doctoral Program exemplifies that institution’s powerful commitment to advancing nanotechnology “Research with Relevance” and parallels Quantum Materials’ own strategy to convert advanced quantum dot research into successful products. Texas State is creating a team environment for innovation by attracting internationally renowned faculty, encouraging cross-pollination across different scientific disciplines, and supporting STAR Park’s growth environment.

“Quantum Materials is a great example of the kind of collaborative effort Texas State University is interested in creating through STAR Park. The firm will have access to experienced faculty and specialized facilities that will support joint R&D efforts.

 

 

SouthWest NanoTechnologies to Showcase New Carbon Nanotube Products at MRS 2012

SouthWest NanoTechnologies Inc., a leading developer of high quality carbon nanotubes, will be exhibiting new Carbon Nanotube products at the 2012 Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting & Exhibit, November 27-29, in booth 1116 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

November 27, 2012

SWeNT will feature Single-Wall Carbon Nanotube (SWCNT) SG65i, developed for use in printed semiconductor devices. SG65i is produced using the patented CoMoCAT® process, widely recognized for its unique ability to control SWCNT chirality. SWeNT will also feature SMW210, a new grade in its SMW™ line of Specialty Multi-Wall CNT.

SG65i is an advancement on SG65, recognized for its high concentration of semiconducting species. For SG65i ≥ 95% of the CNT are semiconducting in nature. This enables a wide range of printed electronics applications, requiring little or no additional processing to fabricate printed TFTs, for example.

SMW210 and its highly purified sister product, SMW200, have demonstrated the greatest ease of dispersion and lowest percolation threshold of any MWCNT product in multiple customer thermoplastic compound evaluations. This enables ESD (electrostatic discharge) performance at lower filler loadings than either Carbon Black or other Multi-wall CNT, in a variety of polymers. This low percolation threshold minimizes the degradation of physical properties of the polymer, a common problem in heavily loaded compounds, and higher conductivity at comparable loading broadens the range of applications for conductive polymer compounds.

Because certain post-synthesis processes are not needed for SMW210, the pricing is much lower. SMW210 has a hybrid structure with metal-oxide particles attached to the CNT, improving dispersion still further, at a much lower cost than SMW200. In thermoplastic compounds, there is little performance difference between SMW200 and SMW210 with respect to ease of dispersion, conductivity and percolation, with most customers for conductive polymers choosing SMW210 due to economic benefits.

SMW200 has also been demonstrated as a Carbon Black replacement in Lithium Ion battery cathodes. Very low loadings (1 wt %) of SWM200 have resulted in doubled cycle life, higher capacity, lower heat build-up and better low temperature performance.

Inking Money: The Prospects for Materials in Printed Electronics

Note To Readers: The Full Report is available to subscription holders of “LuxReserch”: https://portal.luxresearchinc.com/public_reports

In an additional note: We have learned that Lux will be interviewing one of the presenters at the “International Printed Electronics Conference (December 5, 2012)  an Advanced Materials/ Emerging Nano-Technology company we have been following for the last 3 years. Please see LuxResearch’s remarks, quote “Lux Research analyzed every dollar by the technology into which it was invested to understand how investors’ views on these areas have evolved, and further analyzed $4.9 billion in exits to see where VCs are profiting” at the end of this article.  Cheers!  – BWH –

September 2012 | State of the Market Report

Printed electronics promises the ability to manufacture devices through low-cost, high-throughput manufacturing. However, to realize this potential, it requires the right materials and inks. We focus on three materials areas – opaque conductive inks and pastes, transparent conductors, and semiconductors, presenting a total opportunity of $2.6 billion in 2017. Opaque conductive inks will grow to $2.4 billion in 2017, with medical and RFID among the fastest-growing segments. However, silver paste will still dominate, and other materials will only find traction in solar applications. ITO replacement transparent conductive films will grow to $705 million, with $112 million coming from the inks, but the majority of this market will come from a single application, smartphone touch screens, leading to a wide range of potential growth scenarios. Printed semiconductors will grow to $68 million in 2017 with display applications leading the way.

• LANDSCAPE
  Emerging conductive ink and paste technologies face entrenched material platforms and must use technical limitations of the incumbents to grow in early markets
• ANALYSIS
  Conductive inks and pastes will grow to $2.5 billion, but silver alternatives will stumble outside of solar; ITO replacements will hit $705 million and semiconductors lag at $68 million.
• OUTLOOK
• ENDNOTES

Lead Analyst

Jonathan Melnick, Ph.D.

Analyst

+1 (617) 502-5324

jonathan.melnick@luxresearchinc.com

Contributors

Michael Holman, Ph.D.

Venture capitalists have invested $7.4 billion in printed, flexible, and organic electronics technologies. However, the investment landscape and guiding principles by which VCs direct their investments are shifting as some technologies become overfunded while others become gold mines. Lux Research analyzed every dollar by the technology into which it was invested to understand how investors’ views on these areas have evolved, and further analyzed $4.9 billion in exits to see where VCs are profiting. Based on this data, we identified three specific technologies which now offer the strongest opportunity for investors, and filtered out those which have been overfunded. Finally, we identified which investors are trendsetters, shaping the future of the industry, and which have mis-allocated their portfolios. This webinar will examine:

• Investment in printed, flexible, and organic electronics technologies including displays, transparent conductive films, smart packaging, thin film batteries, and organic photovoltaics
• Which technology families and specific technologies within those families have received the most investment, and how that investment has trended in recent years
• Which investment strategies have been the most successful, ranking investors to determine which have allocated their investments to technologies offering the greatest opportunity

Tetrapod Quantum Dots: The Future is Now

Mr Stephen Squires, CEO Quantum Materials Corporation United States This presentation will be given at Printed Electronics USA 2012 on Dec 05, 2012. Presentation Summary A software controlled flow chemistry process for mass synthesis of high quantum yield inorganic Group II-VI Tetrapod Quantum Dots (TQD) is being developed that will scale to produce Kilogram quantities per day. These TQD are notable for their 90+% conversion for full tetrapod shape, equally high uniformity and selectivity of arm length and width (vital for electron transport). Tetrapod Quantum Dots are recognized as having superior characteristics among quantum dot shapes. In addition, QMC has the exclusive worldwide license to quantum dot printing technologies developed by our CSO, Dr. Ghassan Jabbour, that have wide applications in R2R printed electronics and thin-film solar cell production. We will discuss how the timeline for Quantum Dot applications is moving from the future to the present. Speaker Biography (Stephen Squires) Mr. Squires is the Chief Executive Officer for both Quantum Materials Corporation and it’s subsidiary, Solterra Renewable Technologies, Inc. He has over 25 years’ experience in advanced materials, nanotechnology and other emerging technologies. Prior to QMC/SRT, Stephen consulted on these fields with emphasis on applications engineering, strategic planning, commercialization and marketing. From 1983 to 2001, Mr. Squires was Founder and CEO of Aviation Composite Technologies Inc., which he grew to have over 200 employees. ACT was merged with USDR Aerospace in 2001. He subsequently founded what is now Quantum Materials Corporation because of his lifelong interest in advanced materials, nanoparticles and Quantum Dots, with a vision to realize the potential of their unique quantum features. Quantum Materials Corporations goal is to help Companies provide better technology at lower price points that are affordable in a mass marketplace. At the same time, he formed Solterra Renewable Technologies to create mass produced thin-film quantum dot solar cells using patented R2R printing technologies.