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Spinoff company has big dreams for tiny material

Angstron Material developing nano-graphene platelets for commercial use

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By Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer 12:47 AM Sunday, January 31, 2010

DAYTON — The science behind Angstron Materials’ chief product — nano-graphene platelets (NGPs) — might seem obscure, at least at first.

But the company hopes the material’s potential should ring loud and clear to anyone pursuing profits: A product with wide applications, inexpensively made.

That’s the contention of Aruna Zhamu, the company’s president and chief technology officer, and fellow leaders at Angstron.

By late February, Angstron hopes to be producing samples of its NGP material that will work with hybrid electric vehicle battery anodes. Those samples will be shown to battery producers.

“We’re talking to several battery companies,” said Ron Beech, an Angstron spokesman. “In the process, we’ve hired a investment banker and we’re looking at potentially partnering with battery companies.”

Angstron hopes to raise capital to expand its McCook Avenue production facilities.

“By the end of next month, we will have established a small-scale battery manufacturing line and also an anode production line,” Zhamu said.

The company holds that its material will contribute to quicker battery charges and more enduring performance. With a hybrid electric vehicle such as the Chevrolet Volt, Angstron believes its anode material could boost drive ranges from 40 to 100 miles while cutting charge times from two to four hours to 20 to 40 minutes.

Angstron isn’t naming potential partners at this point, but it says it is the only “major” anode material maker in the United States. “We’re talking to companies all around the world, not just here,” Beech said.

Vehicle batteries are just one application, the company says. The material may be of use in supercapacitors — prized for storing energy without the weight or chemicals of batteries, among other advantages — fuel cells, laptop and cell phone batteries, composites, plastics and more.

NGPs and carbon nanotubes are made of some of the same raw material, graphene, a thin form of graphite — very thin. The company can make NGP layers one atom thick.

Compared to carbon nanotubes — which are shaped like tubes, as their name suggests — NGPs are flatter, more pure and less expensive to produce, Zhamu said.

“We’re the only company in the world that makes pure graphene material,” Beech said. “It has nothing else attached to it.”

Angstron stresses that its focus is commercialization — not simply racking up patents.

“I’d personally just like to see it in laptop battery,” Beech quipped, “so I don’t have to charge it up so much. You know what I mean?”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.