METAL RUBBERT Inorganic/Organic Hybrid Conductive Transparent Elastomers

NanoSonic, Inc. specializes in electrostatic self-assembly (ESA) processing of well-defined inorganic nanoclusters and high performance organic polymers which has led to a family of METAL RUBBERT transparent, electrically conductive, free standing elastomeric films. This novel approach yields inorganic/organic hybrid nanocomposites with multiple controlled constitutive properties: bulk resistivity (10-5 ?∙cm to 105 ?∙cm), mechanical properties (modulus 0.1 MPa to 100 MPa), chemical and abrasion resistance, and transparency. NanoSonic's ESA process builds films of controlled thickness ranging from conformal coatings (nm thin) on polymer, metal and semiconductor substrates to free standing (mm thick) flexible films. Excellent molecular homogeneity (+/- 5 nm) is achieved by the alternate layer-by-layer adsorption of the target materials. NanoSonic's durable METAL RUBBERT films are prepared at a fraction of the cost of vacuum sputtered films and with greater versatility in reagents. During Phase I, transparent films with steady bulk resistivity upon flexing will be designed and synthesized by self-assembly of high performance compliant polymers with nanostructured inorganic conductors. Optimized films will be demonstrated on Army's next generation flexible information displays and adaptable electronic devices and on external multi-layered flexible sensor array coatings for (Phase II partner) Lockheed Martin vehicles for combined sensing and solar power generation.