UC brings discoveries into the marketplace
UC Riverside professor Yushan Yan is making fuel cells cheaper and more reliable.
When technology entrepreneur Andrew Behar met chemical engineer Yushan Yan, it was the start of something big - so big, in fact, that Behar believes he's now on the verge of revolutionizing the clean energy industry.
- Andrew Behar,
CEO, Full Cycle Energy
Yan, a professor of chemical and environmental engineering at UC Riverside, and his student, Zhongwei Chen, have invented a new class of fuel cell catalysts based on platinum nanotubes. Their development reduces the cost of manufacturing fuel cells by two-thirds and makes them 10 times more durable.
In short, they've overcome the two biggest drawbacks to mass marketing hydrogen fuel cells.
"The potential for this could spark a revolution," said Behar. "This is the missing link that could jump-start the hydrogen economy."
The role UC Riverside is playing in the start up of this new company is one that is duplicated over and over through UC technology transfer programs at the campuses and labs. As of June 30, 2008, the University of California had 3,546 active U.S. patents and has the distinction for the last 14 years of having more patents granted than any research university in the country. The systemwide portfolio of inventions, which includes discoveries not yet patented, now totals 8,953, an increase of 8.2 percent over the prior year.
More Recent UC Technology Transfers
- Battery breakthrough. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers developed a nanostructured material to use in rechargeable lithium batteries. Berkeley-based Seeo Inc. licensed the technology and is developing batteries that could be used in cell phones, laptops, medical devices and electric and hybrid vehicles. These batteries are less likely to short out or explode, and they last longer.
- Pond power. Alameda-based Aurora BioFuels Inc. is licensing technology that UC Berkeley microbial biologists developed for cost-efficient production of biofuels from genetically modified microalgae. Ecoprene and International Energy Corp. have options to commercialize additional biofuel technologies.
- Dialysis to go. Martin Roberts and David B.N. Lee of UCLA and the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System invented a portable dialysis device that promises freedom and independence to kidney disease sufferers. A Singapore company is licensing the technology to manufacture a unit contained in a 6-pound vest expected to be available by 2011.
Behar and partner Howdy Kabrins have founded a company called Full Cycle Energy Inc. After licensing Yan's technology from the university, the two are raising venture capital to fund the next phase of their startup, which is currently based in Ojai, Calif., where both men live. They plan to open a small plant where they will make the catalysts to sell to fuel cell manufacturers. Those fuel cells could potentially power automobiles, generators and other devices.
"We see this as being a major jump-start to the economy as well and something that could reinvigorate the American automobile industry," said Behar, who is CEO and president of Full Cycle Energy.
One of the main goals of UC's technology transfer programs is to get cutting-edge discoveries into the marketplace. UC researchers look to industry partners to commercialize their inventions, making the benefits available to the public. These industry partnerships enable the researchers to continue their work and to train the students who will become the inventors of the future, creating the industries of the future.
At UC Berkeley, for example, eight of the 14 startup companies that the campus licensed technology to in the 2008 fiscal year are considered green tech companies.
At the same time UC is inspiring these new industries, its researchers continue to offer innovations in health care, telecommunications, Internet technology, agriculture, construction and transportation.