Nanovip All things Nanotechnology – Nano Is The Futiure
A small, nearly-invisible Oshkosh
company is poised to make huge leaps in energy storage capacity thanks to the small, nearly invisible particles it creates.
and high-tech job creation in Northeast Wisconsin.“Energy technology is seemingly driving the next boom. It could reshape the economy in ways we don’t realize. The ideal would be to bring manufacturing of components for supercapacitors here,” Gibson said.
Gibson has worked with the particles, which are 16,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, since the 1980s. And the university has invested in the machinery and equipment needed to make, test and determine the uses for particles.
Begun in August 2008, Oshkosh Nanotechnology began to develop particles that increase the energy storage capacity of supercapacitors by four or five times. Supercapacitors are like large batteries that store and dispense electricity in products that range from cell phones to hybrid cars.
Gibson’s company may still be in its early stages of business development, but the creation and utilization of the miniscule particles has started to take hold in a variety of businesses. Gibson said the work the company has done in partnership with the university has generated interest from supercapacitor manufacturers, but companies want to see what the materials can do first.
Oshkosh Nanotechnology has received support from UWO, which has a cooperative research agreement with Gibson’s company, and the federal government, whcih provided the company with a $149,824 via the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Technology Transfer Program, according to a federal database of awards.