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).
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Publication number: 20080213632Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: February 11, 2008Publication date: September 4, 2008Inventors: Daniel R. Noguera, Timothy J. Donohue, Marc A. Anderson, Katherine D. McMahon, Isabel Tejedor, Yun Kyung Cho, Rodolfo E. Perez
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Publication number: 20080121531Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: October 31, 2007Publication date: May 29, 2008Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Kevin C. Leonard
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Publication number: 20040191633Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: December 23, 2003Publication date: September 30, 2004Applicant: The University of ChicagoInventors: Christopher S. Johnson, Michael M. Thackeray, Jeom-Soo Kim, Marc A. Anderson, Walter A. Zeltner
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Patent number: 6285816Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: April 13, 1999Date of Patent: September 4, 2001Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Marc A. Anderson, Lawrence W. Miller, Maria Isabel Tejedor-Anderson
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Patent number: 5963417Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: November 8, 1996Date of Patent: October 5, 1999Assignees: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Lockheed Martin Idaho TechnologiesInventors: Marc A. Anderson, Kuo-Chuan Liu, Charles M. Mohr
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Patent number: 5712037Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: June 2, 1995Date of Patent: January 27, 1998Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Marc A. Anderson, Lixin Chu
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Patent number: 5639412Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: June 2, 1995Date of Patent: June 17, 1997Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Marc A. Anderson, Lixin Chu
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Patent number: 5610109Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: June 2, 1995Date of Patent: March 11, 1997Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Marc A. Anderson, Lixin Chu
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Patent number: 5552351Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: March 30, 1995Date of Patent: September 3, 1996Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Marc A. Anderson, Reid A. Peterson
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Patent number: 5487774Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: November 8, 1993Date of Patent: January 30, 1996Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Reid A. Peterson, Charles G. Hill, Jr., Marc A. Anderson
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Patent number: 5439624Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: February 14, 1994Date of Patent: August 8, 1995Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Marc A. Anderson, Lixin Chu
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Patent number: 5342709Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: May 3, 1993Date of Patent: August 30, 1994Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Mark S. Yahnke, Golan Shlomo, Marc A. Anderson
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Patent number: 5342431Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: December 7, 1992Date of Patent: August 30, 1994Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Marc A. Anderson, Elizabeth T. Webster, Qunyin Xu
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Patent number: 5308454Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: August 11, 1992Date of Patent: May 3, 1994Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventor: Marc A. Anderson
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Patent number: 5268101Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: October 8, 1991Date of Patent: December 7, 1993Inventors: Marc A. Anderson, Guangyao Sheng
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Patent number: 5227342Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: May 1, 1991Date of Patent: July 13, 1993Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Marc A. Anderson, Qunyin Ku
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Patent number: 5215943Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: July 2, 1991Date of Patent: June 1, 1993Assignee: Wisconsin Alumi Research FoundationInventors: Marc A. Anderson, Qunyin Xu, Brian L. Bischoff
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Patent number: 5208190Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: October 8, 1991Date of Patent: May 4, 1993Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Marc A. Anderson, Guangyao Sheng
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Patent number: 5208121Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: June 18, 1991Date of Patent: May 4, 1993Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Mark S. Yahnke, Golan Shlomo, Marc A. Anderson
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Patent number: 5194200Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: October 8, 1991Date of Patent: March 16, 1993Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Marc A. Anderson, Lixin Chu