Y-Carbon, Inc., a nanotechnology
start-up company, announced today the award of research funding from the National
Science Foundation and the Department of Defense (Navy). This funding, which
comes from the Federal SBIR grant program, will support Y-Carbon's nanotechnology
research which seeks to develop advanced supercapacitors. Supercapacitors are
rechargeable devices that store electrical energy, and are capable of more powerful
and more rapid energy discharge than conventional batteries. Y-Carbon's research
will greatly improve their storage capabilities by incorporating novel carbon
materials with nano-sized pores, enabling widespread use of supercapacitors
in consumer and mobile devices, hybrid electric vehicles, and even energy grids.
Dr. Ranjan Dash, Chief Technology Officer of Y-Carbon said, "We are excited
that these two funding agencies have recognized the potential of our nanoporous
carbon materials. This work is expected to greatly enhance supercapacitor adoption
and could really revolutionize the energy sector."
Y-Carbon's award winning technology for manufacturing of high-precision nanoporous
carbons took more than 10 years of research to develop, and has resulted in
more than 30 articles published in international scientific journals including
Science and Nature. Y-Carbon is a portfolio company of the Pennsylvania Nanomaterials
Commercialization Center and The Nanotechnology Institute of Ben Franklin Technology
Partners - South Eastern Pennsylvania. The technology recently received the
R&D 100 Award and the TR35 Award.
"This funding will allow us to continue to build our capabilities in developing
carbon materials for energy-related applications with global significance and
strong commercial potential," said Dr. Yury Gogotsi, Professor of Materials
Science and Engineering at Drexel University, and founder of Y-Carbon.
Proposal writing assistance for these SBIR grants was provided by the University
City Science Center, with support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Innovation
Partnership Program.
Posted September 2ndt, 2009