Quantum Materials Corporation (San Marco, TX; OTCQB:QTMM) has bought five sets of patent families from Bayer Technology Services GmbH, part of Bayer AG (Leverkusen, Germany). The patent families were acquired through a cash purchase agreement and financial details will remain private.
The patents provide intellectual-property protection for technology that Quantum Materials has developed in low-cost, high-volume quantum-dot (QD) manufacturing. The patents also cover volume-production technology for heavy-metal-free (HMF) QDs and nanoparticles; increasing quantum yields for HMF QDs; hybrid organic QD solar-cell (QDSC) production; and a surface-modification process for increased efficiency of high-performance solar cells and printed electronics.
"Bayer is a research pioneer in the nanotech and QD fields and these early filings were awarded with broad claims," says Stephen Squires, Quantum Materials CEO and president. "It will be very difficult for competitors to produce materials in volume similar to ours without breaching our patents."
What the patents extend
The QD-related patents extend Quantum Materials' ability to synthesize numerous heavy-metal-free organic periodic-table groups, in addition to its own inorganic group II-VI composites. The company intends to incorporate each patent into its advanced production processes, including high-yield indium phosphide/zinc sulfide (InP/ZnS) nanocrystals, which the company says is a heavily researched QD in high demand in optoelectronics.
The solar-related patents describe the fundamental design of QD solar cells and processes for optimizing QDs for solar and other printed-electronics applications. The solar patents extend Quantum Material's licensed patent on printing organic LED (OLED) and QD solar cells and other printed electronic devices by gravure or high-speed roll-to-roll.
"Combining the solar patents with our automated volume QD production process opens the door for us to establish joint ventures for quantum-dot solar-cell (QDSC) pilot plants worldwide," says David Doderer, VP of research and development at Quantum Materials.