Patents by Inventor YunWei Charles Cao

YunWei Charles Cao 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: 20080175779
    Abstract: A method of forming rare earth oxide nanocrystals include the steps of dissolving a rare earth including compound in a solution containing at least one organic solvent, heating the solution to a temperature of at least 160° C., wherein a concentration of the rare earth including compound provided upon decomposition is sufficient to provide critical supersaturation of at least one active intermediate in the solution to nucleate a plurality of rare earth oxide nanocrystals. The plurality of rare earth nanocrystals are then grown, wherein the growing step proceeds at least in part in the absence of critical supersaturation of the active intermediate. The rare earth nanocrystals can assemble into at least one close-packed, ordered nanocrystal superlattice.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2005
    Publication date: July 24, 2008
    Inventor: Yunwei Charles Cao
  • Publication number: 20080164239
    Abstract: The present invention provides nanoprisms etched to generate triangular framework structures. These triangular nanoframes possess no strong surface plasmon bands in the ultraviolet or visible regions of the optical spectrum. By adding a mild reducing agent, metal ions remaining in solution can be reduced, resulting in metal plating and reformation of nanoprisms. The extent of the backfilling process can be controlled, allowing the formation of novel nanoprisms with nanopores. This back-filling process is accompanied by a regeneration of the surface plasmon bands in the UV-visible spectrum.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2007
    Publication date: July 10, 2008
    Applicant: NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Chad A. Mirkin, Gabriella Metraux, YunWei Charles Cao, Rongchao Jin
  • Patent number: 7252698
    Abstract: The present invention provides nanoprisms etched to generate triangular framework structures. These triangular nanoframes possess no strong surface plasmon bands in the ultraviolet or visible regions of the optical spectrum. By adding a mild reducing agent, metal ions remaining in solution can be reduced, resulting in metal plating and reformation of nanoprisms. The extent of the backfilling process can be controlled, allowing the formation of novel nanoprisms with nanopores. This back-filling process is accompanied by a regeneration of the surface plasmon bands in the UV-visible spectrum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: Northwestern University
    Inventors: Chad A. Mirkin, Gabriella Métraux, YunWei Charles Cao, Rongchao Jin
  • Patent number: 7033415
    Abstract: The invention provides new types of plasmon-driven growth mechanism for silver nanostructures involving the fusion of triangular nanoprisms. This mechanism, which is plasmon excitation-driven and highly cooperative, produces bimodal particle size distributions. In these methods, the growth process can be selectively switched between bimodal and unimodal distributions using dual beam illumination of the nanoparticles. This type of cooperative photo-control over nanostructure growth enables synthesis of monodisperse nanoprisms with a preselected edge length in the 30–120 nm range simply by using one beam to turn off bimodal growth and the other (varied over the 450–700 nm range) for controlling particle size.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2006
    Assignee: Northwestern University
    Inventors: Chad A. Mirkin, Gabriella S. Métraux, Rongchao Jin, YunWei Charles Cao