Patents by Inventor Marc A. Anderson

Marc A. Anderson has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20080213632
    Abstract: Devices and methods for generating electricity utilizing a light-powered microbial fuel cell that includes a light-admitting reaction chamber containing a biological catalyst, such as a photosynthetic bacteria, in a growth medium, an anode and cathode disposed upon or within the reaction chamber, and a conductive material in electrical communication between the anode and cathode. The anode includes an oxidation catalyst, while the cathode includes a reduction catalyst that is accessible to oxygen gas. Preferably, the devices and methods utilize a single light-admitting chamber within which both cathodic and anodic reactions take place.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2008
    Publication date: September 4, 2008
    Inventors: Daniel R. Noguera, Timothy J. Donohue, Marc A. Anderson, Katherine D. McMahon, Isabel Tejedor, Yun Kyung Cho, Rodolfo E. Perez
  • Publication number: 20080121531
    Abstract: A nanoporous insulating oxide deionization device, method of manufacture and method of use thereof for deionizing a water supply (such as a hard water supply), for desalinating a salt water supply, and for treating a bacteria-containing water supply. The device contains two composite electrodes each constructed from a conductive backing electrode and a composite oxide layer being an insulating oxide or a non-insulating oxide and an intermediate porous layer. The composite layer being substantially free of mixed oxidation states and nanoporous and having a median pore diameter of 0.5-500 nanometers and average surface area of 300-600 m2/g. The composite layer made from a stable sol-gel suspension containing particles of the insulating oxide, the median primary particle diameter being 1-50 nanometers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2007
    Publication date: May 29, 2008
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Kevin C. Leonard
  • Publication number: 20040191633
    Abstract: A positive electrode for an electrochemical cell including a lithium transition-metal-oxide or lithium-transition metal-oxyfluoride having deposited thereon at least one oxide, oxyhydroxide or hydroxide of zirconium, aluminum, titanium, yttrium, silicon or mixtures thereof, the particles being less than 25 nm in longest dimension, but preferably less than 4 nm. A complete cell as well as a battery incorporating the positive electrode is disclosed as is a method of making the positive electrode, cell and battery.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2003
    Publication date: September 30, 2004
    Applicant: The University of Chicago
    Inventors: Christopher S. Johnson, Michael M. Thackeray, Jeom-Soo Kim, Marc A. Anderson, Walter A. Zeltner
  • Patent number: 6285816
    Abstract: A waveguide comprising a transparent substrate and a metal oxide coating having the disclosed properties on the substrate can propagate light in an attenuated total reflection mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2001
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Lawrence W. Miller, Maria Isabel Tejedor-Anderson
  • Patent number: 5963417
    Abstract: An inexpensive porous metal oxide material having high surface area, good conductivity and high specific capacitance is advantageously used in an electrochemical capacitor. The materials are formed in a sol-gel process which affords control over the properties of the resultant metal oxide materials.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 5, 1999
    Assignees: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Kuo-Chuan Liu, Charles M. Mohr
  • Patent number: 5712037
    Abstract: A method for producing high surface area, thermally stable, microporous porous ceramic materials involves replacing a portion of the silicon in a sol or gel comprising silica (silicon dioxide) with cations of another metal. The metal-substituted silica sols are dried and fired to yield porous ceramic materials. Similarly, metal-substituted gels are fired to yield porous ceramic materials. When compared with unsubstituted silica materials, the materials thus produced offer advantageous benefits including improved stability in a basic environment, enhanced thermal stability, and advantageous surface properties such as intrinsic negative charge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 27, 1998
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Lixin Chu
  • Patent number: 5639412
    Abstract: A method for producing high surface area, thermally stable, microporous porous ceramic materials involves replacing a portion of the silicon in a sol or gel comprising silica (silicon dioxide) with cations of another metal. The metal-substituted silica sols are dried and fired to yield porous ceramic materials. Similarly, metal-substituted gels are fired to yield porous ceramic materials. When compared with unsubstituted silica materials, the materials thus produced offer advantageous benefits including improved stability in a basic environment, enhanced thermal stability, and advantageous surface properties such as intrinsic negative charge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 17, 1997
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Lixin Chu
  • Patent number: 5610109
    Abstract: A method for producing high surface area, thermally stable, microporous porous ceramic materials involves replacing a portion of the silicon in a sol or gel comprising silica (silicon dioxide) with cations of another metal. The metal-substituted silica sols are dried and fired to yield porous ceramic materials. Similarly, metal-substituted gels are fired to yield porous ceramic materials. When compared with unsubstituted silica materials, the materials thus produced offer advantageous benefits including improved stability in a basic environment, enhanced thermal stability, and advantageous surface properties such as intrinsic negative charge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 11, 1997
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Lixin Chu
  • Patent number: 5552351
    Abstract: Methods have been developed to make porous ceramic membranes having macroscopic channels therethrough. The novel membranes are formed by temporarily supporting the sol-gel membrane precursor on an organic support which is ultimately removed from the interior of the membrane, preferably by pyrolysis or by chemical destruction. The organic support may also include an inorganic metal portion that remains on destruction of the organic portion, providing structural support and/or chemical reactivity to the membrane. The channels formed when the organic support is destroyed provide the ability to withdraw small catalytic products or size-separated molecules from the metal oxide membrane. In addition, the channel-containing membranes retain all of the advantages of existing porous ceramic membranes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 1995
    Date of Patent: September 3, 1996
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Reid A. Peterson
  • Patent number: 5487774
    Abstract: Flaw-free porous ceramic membranes fabricated from metal sols and coated onto a porous support are advantageously used in gas phase fractionation methods. Mean pore diameters of less than 40 .ANG., preferably 5-20 .ANG. and most preferably about 15 .ANG., are permeable at lower pressures than existing membranes. Condensation of gases in small pores and non-Knudsen membrane transport mechanisms are employed to facilitate and increase membrane permeability and permselectivity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 1993
    Date of Patent: January 30, 1996
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Reid A. Peterson, Charles G. Hill, Jr., Marc A. Anderson
  • Patent number: 5439624
    Abstract: A method for producing high surface area, thermally stable, microporous porous ceramic materials involves replacing a portion of the silicon in a sol or gel comprising silica (silicon dioxide) with cations of another metal. The metal-substituted silica sols are dried and fired to yield porous ceramic materials. Similarly, metal-substituted gels are fired to yield porous ceramic materials. When compared with unsubstituted silica materials, the materials thus produced offer advantageous benefits including improved stability in a basic environment, enhanced thermal stability, and advantageous surface properties such as intrinsic negative charge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 1994
    Date of Patent: August 8, 1995
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Lixin Chu
  • Patent number: 5342709
    Abstract: A thin film battery is disclosed based on the use of ceramic membrane technology. The battery includes a pair of conductive collectors on which the materials for the anode and the cathode may be spin coated. The separator is formed of a porous metal oxide ceramic membrane impregnated with electrolyte so that electrical separation is maintained while ion mobility is also maintained. The entire battery can be made less than 10 microns thick while generating a potential in the 1 volt range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 1993
    Date of Patent: August 30, 1994
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Mark S. Yahnke, Golan Shlomo, Marc A. Anderson
  • Patent number: 5342431
    Abstract: A method for permformation of a microporous ceramic membrane onto a porous support includes placing a colloidal suspension of metal oxide particles on one side of the porous support and exposing the other side of the porous support to a drying stream of gas or a reactive gas stream so that the particles are deposited on the drying side of the support as a gel. The gel so deposited can be sintered to form a supported ceramic membrane having mean pore sizes less than 30 Angstroms and useful for ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, or gas separation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 1992
    Date of Patent: August 30, 1994
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Elizabeth T. Webster, Qunyin Xu
  • Patent number: 5308454
    Abstract: A reaction vessel for use in photoelectrochemical reactions includes as its reactive surface a metal oxide porous ceramic membrane of a catalytic metal such as titanium. The reaction vessel includes a light source and a counter electrode. A provision for applying an electrical bias between the membrane and the counter electrode permits the Fermi levels of potential reaction to be favored so that certain reactions may be favored in the vessel. The electrical biasing is also useful for the cleaning of the catalytic membrane. Also disclosed is a method regenerating a porous metal oxide ceramic membrane used in a photoelectrochemical catalytic process by periodically removing the reactants and regenerating the membrane using a variety of chemical, thermal, and electrical techniques.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 1992
    Date of Patent: May 3, 1994
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventor: Marc A. Anderson
  • Patent number: 5268101
    Abstract: Methods have been developed to make mixed alumina-silicate and aluminosilicate particulate microporous ceramic membranes. One method involves the making of separate alumina and silica sols which are then mixed. Another method involves the creation of a combined sol with aluminosilicate particles. The resulting combined alumina and silica membranes have high surface area, a very small pore size, and a very good temperature stability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 1991
    Date of Patent: December 7, 1993
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Guangyao Sheng
  • Patent number: 5227342
    Abstract: A method of making metal oxide ceramic material is disclosed by which the porosity of the resulting material can be selectively controlled by manipulating the sol used to make the material. The method can be used to make a variety of metal oxide ceramic bodies, including membranes, but also pellets, plugs or other bodies. It has also been found that viscous sol materials can readily be shaped by extrusion into shapes typical of catalytic or adsorbent bodies used in industry, to facilitate the application of such materials for catalytic and adsorbent applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 1991
    Date of Patent: July 13, 1993
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Qunyin Ku
  • Patent number: 5215943
    Abstract: A method of creating a ceramic membrane with enhanced thermal stability is disclosed. The method involves combining quantities of a first metal alkoxide with a second metal, the quantities selected to give a preselected metal ratio in the resultant membrane. A limited amount of water and acid is added to the combination and stirred until a colloidal suspension is formed. The colloid is dried to a gel, and the gel is fired at a temperature greater than approximately 400.degree. C. The porosity and surface area of ceramic membranes formed by this method are not adversely affected by this high temperature firing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 1991
    Date of Patent: June 1, 1993
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumi Research Foundation
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Qunyin Xu, Brian L. Bischoff
  • Patent number: 5208190
    Abstract: Several methods are disclosed for the preparation microporous alumina ceramic membranes. For the first time, porous alumina membranes are made which have mean pore sizes less than 100 Angstroms and substantially no pores larger than that size. The methods are based on improved sol-gel techniques.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 1991
    Date of Patent: May 4, 1993
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Guangyao Sheng
  • Patent number: 5208121
    Abstract: A thin film battery is disclosed based on the use of ceramic membrane technology. The battery includes a pair of conductive collectors on which the materials for the anode and the cathode may be spin coated. The separator is formed of a porous metal oxide ceramic membrane impregnated with electrolyte so that electrical separation is maintained while ion mobility is also maintained. The entire battery can be made less than 10 microns thick while generating a potential in the 1 volt range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 1991
    Date of Patent: May 4, 1993
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Mark S. Yahnke, Golan Shlomo, Marc A. Anderson
  • Patent number: 5194200
    Abstract: A method of creating a silica ceramic membrane is disclosed. The method begins with the hydrolyzing of a silicon alkoxide with ammonia until the sol is formed. The sol is dialyzed to approximately pH 8 and then acidified to approximately pH 3. The sol is then formed into a membrane by controlled evaporation followed by sintering.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 1991
    Date of Patent: March 16, 1993
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Lixin Chu