Tuesday, November 14, 2006

US Patent 7135057 - Nanowire Fuel Cartridge

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7135057.pdf

I'm a little skeptical of this patent especially since the specification includes carbon nanotubes as a candidate material for the nanowires. Carbon nanotubes have been proposed for hydrogen fuel cells for a while now (see for example http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5653951.pdf). Nevertheless claim 1 of this patent reads:

1. A fuel cartridge comprising a storage medium for gas molecules, including: a) a nanowire core having an exterior surface; and b) a plurality of organic molecules, each organic molecule having one or more functional groups attached thereto, the plurality of organic molecules being attached to the exterior surface of the nanowire core, and the one or more funcitonal groups being adapted to releasably hold the gas molecules.