PROGRESS: Completed Project	PROJECT REF: PA145
PROJECT TITLE: Synthesis of Hyperbranched Organometallic Polymers and Their Use as Precursors to Advanced Ceramic Material Science
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: At present time techniques in preparing advanced ceramic materials with high electrical conductivity and magnetic susceptibility are rare. This new invention relates to hyperbranched organometallic polymers, which are useful as precursors to certain ceramic materials, processes for the preparation of such polymers and the preparation of ceramic materials from such polymers, ceramic materials and their use as ferromagnetic materials and electrically conductive materials. This Hyperbranched organometallic polymers are synthesized through the polymerization of dilithioferrocene and trichloroalkylsilanes. Pyrolysis of the hyperbranched polymers yields mesoporous, conductive, and magnetic ceramics. The three-dimensional structure of the hyperbranched polymers serves as shielding nets to keep the atom inside thereby enabling the high-yield production of the ceramic materials. Most of the hyperbranched polymer presursors of the invention are soluable in common solvents, melt at relatively low temperatures and can be processed into robust engineering forms such as thin films, which is different from the crosslinking polymer presursors as they are inherent intractable. The high iron content and the nanodimension of the iron clusters endow the ceramics with high electrical conductivity and superparamagnetic susceptibility. The saturation magnetizability of the ceramics is much higher than that from the linear polymers and the hysteresis loss is virtually zero, which means the ceramics are excellent soft ferromagnetic materials. Potential Applications: - Smart magnetic cards - Information recording and storage media - Magnetic refrigeration - Color imaging - Ferrofluids - Cell sorting - Medical diagnosis - Controlled site and target-specific drug delivery - Nanodimensional motors and switches - Reusable supported catalysts - Mesoporous filters Advantages over Present Technologies: 1. Simple preparation by a one-pot procedure 2. High-yield production 3. Excellent processibility 4. High conductivity and magnetizability 5. Low hysteresis loss 6. All the starting materials are commercially available and inexpensive. 7. The whole process involves no use of complex equipments and operations.
FOCUS AREA(S): Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials
KEYWORDS: smart card, magnetic card, information recording, storage media, magnetic refrigeration, color imagi
MODE OF COLLABORATION: Technology Licensing, Further R&D Collaboration
STATUS PATENT: Granted	PATENT NO: US6759502
ORGANIZATION: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology R and D Corporation Limited
CONTACT PERSON: Shirley Woo	EMAIL: cawoosw@ust.hk
TEL: (852)-23587918	FAX: (852)-23582751
WEBSITE: http://rdc.ust.hk/	DATE: 03/01/2005