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