Recent Patents on Materials Science - Volume 4, Issue 2, 2011

The past few decades have witnessed an increasing demand for renewable energy technology, including that of direct thermal to electrical energy conversion via thermoelectricity. Central to high efficient thermoelectric (TE) energy conversion is a high figure of merit, ZT, of the TE material, which requires high electrical conductivity, high thermopower and low thermal conductivity. For simple bulk materials it is hard to simult Read More

Magnesium alloys are metallic materials that are finding increasing use in automobile and other industries. In particular, due to their intrinsic lightweight characteristics, their use as structural components can significantly improve energy consumption efficiency. However, their overall properties need to be improved in order to be able to use their unique advantages and to replace components made of conventional alu Read More

The objective of this literature review is to meticulously cover an extensive portion of the patented work in the field of industrial spray-drying. During the past two decades, significant progress has been made in the fabrication of powdery products through spray-drying. Important improvements in the design of existent spray-drying setups were reported along with enhancements in the energy efficiency of resultan Read More

This review paper provides an overview of the use of ceria-based catalytic materials towards the industrial hydrogen production via the hydrocarbon steam reforming and the water-gas shift reaction routes with a focus on representative patenting activities mainly in the last 10 years. We first introduce the basic mechanisms of catalytic hydrocarbon steam reforming and conversion of carbon monoxide by steam towar Read More

The development of high performance solid state chemical sensors is nowadays of outmost importance in many advanced technological fields. In the near future, nano-technology can give an impressive help in manufacturing chemical sensors with the required enhanced characteristics. In this regard, nanostructured metal oxides are attracting much interest in gas-sensing applications due to their unique chemical, physical and Read More

The patents annotated in this section have been selected from various patent databases. These recent patents are relevant to the articles published in this journal issue, categorized by materials, biomaterials, biological materials, magnetic materials, medical implant materials, nanomaterials, ceramics, plastics, polymers, semi-conductors, coatings, composites, paper, wood, textile, methods, design and techniques.