SBIR Phase II: Durable Super-Hydrophobic Nano-Composites

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目寻求进一步开发和商业化第一阶段项目中确定和探索的新型耐用、防水纳米复合涂层。用于制造这些纳米复合涂层的独特工艺条件可产生一种几乎看不见的、共形的纳米级薄膜，该薄膜由表面结合的纳米颗粒组成，具有优异的防水性能，同时仍允许通过薄膜进行电连接。新开发的涂层具有巨大的商业影响潜力，可以被认为是某些消费电子市场的“游戏规则改变者”。第二阶段的创新和研究计划集中在商业整合的两个关键问题上：1)材料的整体处理效率和2)长期可靠性和与现有平台的化学相互作用。这个项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将在许多消费、军事和医疗产品中感受到。据估计，每年大约生产12亿部手机，8%的手机损坏是由液体进入造成的。如果完全被行业采用，这种涂料可以将液体进入的损害减少到几乎为零，从而为消费者节省大量资金。此外，医用助听器将受益于这种材料提供的憎油保护，它的使用将导致每年因腐蚀、水损坏和耳垢污染而退回的设备数量减少(目前这一数字为1100万)。最后，将我们的防护涂层集成到其他现有的电子产品中将为这些产品增加显著的价值，并将使它们更耐用，对全球消费者更具吸引力。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to further develop and commercialize a new class of durable, water-resistant nanocomposite coatings identified and explored during the Phase I project. The unique processing conditions used to make these nanocomposite coatings produce a virtually invisible, conformal, nanometer-scale film that is comprised of surface bound nanoparticles and offers superior water barrier properties while still permitting through-film electrical connections. The newly developed coating has the potential for great commercial impact and can be thought of as a "game changer" for certain consumer electronic markets. The innovation and research plan for Phase II centers on two critical issues for commercial integration: 1) the overall processing efficiency of the material and 2) issues of long-term reliability and chemical interaction with existing platforms. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be felt in a number of consumer, military, and medical products. It is estimated that about 1.2 billion mobile handsets are produced annually and that 8% of all the damages that occur to handsets are from liquid ingress. If fully adopted by the industry, this coating could reduce the liquid ingress damage to nearly zero, resulting in significant savings to consumers. Additionally, medical hearing aids would benefit from the oleophobic protection provided by this material, and its use would result in a decrease in the number of units returned annually for corrosion, water damage and ear wax contamination (this number currently stands at 11 million). Finally, the integration of our protective coating into other existing electronics products will add significant value to these products and will make them more durable and attractive to consumers globally.