New family of materials for sensing, catalysis and photocatalysis

Highlights

• Hybrid nanoparticles that combine two disparate materials on the same system demonstrate synergistic properties stemming from unusual material combinations
• Cage structures have high surface area and voids leading to their use as catalysts and catalyst supports, filtration media and gas storage materials
• Exciting new materials resulting from integration of the two powerful concepts of cages and hybrid nanoparticles

Our Innovation

New family of materials made up of hybrid nanoparticles in previously unknown nano-inorganic cage structures with variable cores and metal frames that manifest new chemical, optical and electronic properties

Figure: Features of NICs (nano-inorganic caged particles): a, TEM image of hybrid Ru-NICages (Ru-caged copper sulfide nanoparticles). b, TEM image of empty Ru NICs.

Key Features

• Ability to detect hydrogen peroxide boosted 200-fold.
• Potential use for sensing applications, based on electrochemical devices
• Cage materials may be of advantage in photocatalytic and catalytic applications

Development Milestones

• Seeking funding and cooperation to increase the number of products and investigation of different applications

The Opportunity

• Sensors for medical and environmental applications such as glucose sensing in diabetes diagnosis
• Photocatalysts for using sunlight to make “green fuel”, possible building blocks for solar cells

Published US-2012-0175585; CN102665968A; 2477767