Recent Patents on Materials Science - Volume 6, Issue 2, 2013

For life science research the fluorescent probes are essential tools and their use is continually increasing due to their low cost and higher sensitivity comparing other methods, and the capability for quantitative determination of bioanalytes. In this article the recent patents related to fluorescent probes for detection of nucleic acids, protein detection, bio-imaging, covalent labeling of amino groups, thiol groups, fluorescent dyes for detection of cations in bio-objects and chemiluminescent dyes are reviewed. The dyes applied in new and promptly developing research fields as fluorescence image-guided surgery, fluorescence bio-sensors, fluorescnent nanoparticles are also described. The future trends in the fluorescence bio-labeling are also addressed.

The recent patents on the developments in textile dyes and pigments, the methods of their application, and the pollution abatement techniques are discussed in this paper. The dye/pigment manufacturing industry has evolved over a period of time and the new generation dyes are much superior in terms of buildup quality and fastness properties. There has been continuous innovation in the development of dye molecules as well as in the application techniques onto the textile materials. These innovations have made the dye molecules recalcitrant, posing a threat to the environment and so there is a need to treat the dye effluents.

The patent review is devoted to consideration and analysis of several methods of producing materials and articles based on carbon, silicon and silicon carbide. Common to these methods are: (i) the use of carbon as initial material for growth of Si or SiC, (ii) the use of single crystal Si as substrate for synthesis of nanocrystalline carbon, (iii) execution of the processes at low pressure of the reagents and their strong chemical interaction. The methods considered do not imply preliminary grinding of initial components, their sintering, hot pressing, etc. In fact, this group of methods and relevant materials hold a peculiar position between crystal growth and techniques of producing composite materials. The analysis made allows formulating the following debatable conclusions: (a) non-porous SiC-Si composites forming upon direct contact of molten silicon with fibrous carbons can be used as resistive material in diverse technical applications; (b) in spite of the wide variety of methods of growing solar grade silicon sheets, only self-supported methods can be regarded as viable; the optimal silicon sheet structure includes parallel twin boundaries, the average dislocation density should not exceed 105 cm-2; (c) deep purification of bulk graphite is possible under the conditions of cycling inlet/outlet of halogen agents; the process realized can be environmentally safe even when using Freon; (d) carbon nanoclusters produced by chemical vapor deposition can be considered as components for creation of drug delivery preparations.

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are usually applied in aviation and power generation industries, particularly in the gas-turbine engines for power generation. The most common methods for TBCs production include electron beamphysical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) and plasma spraying (PS). The PS TBCs usually show the laminar structure with abundant pores and cracks, whereas the EB-PVD TBCs possess excellent anti-corrosion and anti-oxidation capacities with higher thermal conductivity than PS TBCs. In this review, recent progress on microstructure optimization and failure problems based on the EB-PVD and PS methods was summarized. Several available approaches such as the PS-physical vapor deposition method, solution precursor PS, and suspension PS were reviewed. The ceramic materials selection of TBCs was further discussed. In addition to the YSZ system, the pyrochlore structure considered to be the most potential candidate in the next generation was shown in EP2407579 and EP0992603. Other alternatives, such as YAG-based materials, La-Monazite, and LaMgAl11O19, were shown in US2011236657, US6863999, and CN101928144, respectively. Finally, a number of US patents were discussed, including US5773141, US20120219808, and US20120034491 related to the modified TBCs resistant to environmental pollutants called calcium-alumina-silicate.

The increasing use of photonic effect cells raised cost, material leakage and environmental issues. During the last three decades, at least four generations of photonic effect cells have competed in order to satisfy growing demands. In this paper, we describe a photonic-effect cell, created from a single metal oxide inside the framework of some recent patents. The presented device is based on a 1μm-thick TCO (Transparent Conducting Oxides) layer deposited by a simple pyrolysis spray setup. This layer, subjected to two successive in situ treatments, is transformed into an n-p junction. The abundance of the used materials, compounds stability, as well as the fabrication low cost, make the realization of serial modules of this cell feasible.