Ohio Third Frontier | Ohio Companies Making a Material Difference in Advanced Energy

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In recent years, Ohio has made significant commitments to the support of advanced and alternative energy solutions, including the adoption of renewable portfolio standards and a State Job Stimulus program in advanced energy. Ohio Third Frontier has also made major investments, accelerating the success of advanced energy projects and industries in Ohio. Underlying many of the successes in advanced energy is Ohio's breadth and depth of worldclass competencies in the area of advanced materials, which has also been a major focus for investment by Ohio Third Frontier. Whether improving on more mature energy technologies such as wind turbines or leading the development of next generation solar, research and commercialization of advanced materials is making Ohio a recognized source for alternative and renewable energy solutions.

Located in Kent, AlphaMicron, Inc. has been capitalizing on the depth of liquid-crystalline materials expertise that has emerged at Kent State University over the past two decades and has given rise to the Liquid Crystal Display industry. A major product focus of the company has been the use of liquid crystal materials to create actively lightening and darkening lenses for motorcycle helmets, ski goggles, and designer sunglasses. The same switchable property of the liquid crystals that makes these applications possible is now being applied, with Ohio Third Frontier funding, to an energy conservation product.

AlphaMicron is developing the world's first auto-adjusting "Adaptive Window." The window is based on the company's VALiD™ liquid crystal-based technology to create an adaptive film that can be laminated to windows and has a self-regulating and photovoltaic-powered electronically controllable tint. The window will transmit more winter sunlight to assist with heating and less summer sunlight to minimize overheating, thus transforming windows from a source of energy loss to one of energy gain. Market applications targeted for AlphaMicron's window include greenhouses, automobiles, and office and residential buildings.

Several years ago, Miamisburg's WebCore Technologies, Inc. began working closely with leading research laboratories including the Air Force Research Lab, located at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton and the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, to develop an advanced polymer composite panel system. Initially, the product concepts focused on marine (e.g., bulkheads) and infrastructure (bridge decks) applications that could benefit from the new material which is lighter, stronger, and more durable than the steel and other metals it would replace. These very same properties may make WebCore's technology an ideal material solution for the wind power industry.

The company is now developing the TYCOR® polymer composite material to provide a new, readily available core material for wind turbine blades. With assistance from Ohio Third Frontier, WebCore has developed a reliable supply of TYCOR® to improve wind turbine blade performance while decreasing overall turbine manufacturing costs. WebCore has partnered with leading wind turbine blade manufacturers and other suppliers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Maine to build capabilities that are expanding Ohio's wind power supply chain and developing wind turbine blade composite core manufacturing in Ohio.

In 1985, at a time when the catalytic converter industry was in its infancy, Camet Co. in Hiram, Ohio was founded on a new catalytic technology invented by Dr. William Retallick. Camet Co. created, developed, and manufactured new emission control products made from metal foils with catalytic coatings. Between 1985 and 2000, three Camet Co. team members - Dr. William B. Retallick, Richard Cornelison, and William Whittenberger - achieved international recognition in the catalytic converter industry as experts in catalysis, metal foil substrate design, and the invention and commercialization of superior catalyzed metal substrate products for catalytic air pollution clean up. In 2001, the three created Catacel Corporation in Garretsville, Ohio, to use crossover technology from the exhaust treatment business, creating and commercializing new metal substrate products for heat exchange.

Still located in Garrettsville, Catacel Corporation, with funding from Ohio Third Frontier, has become the unsurpassed authority in catalytic heat exchange solutions utilizing their advanced metal foil material. A primary market for Catacel's technology is the fuel cell industry, in which the metal foils help manage the heat coming from the chemical reactions that reform natural gas and other hydrocarbons into the hydrogen on which a fuel cell operates. The technology allows reactors to be made smaller, lighter, more durable, and energy efficient than competing solutions, lowering the manufacturing and operating costs of the fuel cells. Fuel cells are expected to contribute to the technologies that will satisfy Ohio's requirement for alternative energy production by our electric utilities.

Applied Sciences, Inc. (ASI), located in Cedarville, was founded in 1984 by researchers from the defense scientific community to conduct pioneering work in the development of carbon nanofibers. Composites made from carbon nanofibers are lightweight, strong, and have unique electrical and thermal properties that make them ideal for high-performance aerospace applications. An early goal of the company was to be able to produce the carbon materials in a quantity and at a cost that would move them from specialty applications where expense is less important than performance, to their wider use in commercial aviation and automotive applications.

With funding from Ohio Third Frontier, ASI has more recently applied its carbon material expertise to pursue substantial improvements in lithium-ion battery technology. Anodes (i.e., the positive pole of the battery) made from ASI's silicon-coated carbon nanofibers would extend the mileage of hybrid- and all-electric vehicles to a range competitive with internal combustion engines. Partnering with General Motors and Michigan's A123 Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, ASI is further strengthening Ohio's electric vehicle supply chain and leveraging the transition to electric vehicles, providing a strong case for Ohio-based production of lithium-ion batteries and stimulating the development and manufacturing of electric automobiles in Ohio.

Ohio's dominance in iron and steel, polymers, and various chemicals has positioned our state to make scientific and  technological breakthroughs in new, advanced materials that are revolutionizing many industrial and consumer products. Advanced materials are platforms on which to build worldclass competencies in many rapidly growing industrial sectors. The impact of these new materials on the advanced energy industry is one such application that promises to write the next chapter in our materials expertise.