Celebrating visionary inventors who transform cutting‐edge concepts into commercial applications
Media often depicts discovery as a dramatic, lightning-bolt moment—but researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory know the real journey is one of persistence. New technology begins as a problem to be solved, then undergoes an iterative process of trial and error, before it’s finally ready to leave the workbench.
But the next steps in the process, taking technology from concept to commercial application, can be time consuming and challenging.
When successful, deployment of technology in the private sector yields significant benefits including new investments in ORNL facilities, equipment and staff, new collaborative partnerships and financial reward for the technology inventors. Most importantly, partnering between industry and ORNL ensures advanced technologies bolster national competitiveness.
The evolution of superhydrophobic coatings
Superhydrophobic coatings began as an LDRD-supported project before the first patent was filed in 2004. A version of these coatings is antireflective and water-repelling for glass, which can be used in a multitude of applications, from windshields to a tablet screen. But discovering a workable coating isn’t enough—the invention must be able to be fabricated through industry standard techniques, easy and inexpensive to scale up and applicable to a wide variety of glass platforms.
Today, over 20 U.S. patents and patent applications have been filed related to the technology, and several companies have licensed inventions in the superhydrophobic materials portfolio developed by ORNL researchers.
As the technology developed in conjunction with industry needs, various coating chemistries and application techniques have been developed and tested, for instance, as a preventative for ice and snow buildup on power lines or biofouling in marine applications. One licensee, Dry Surface Technologies, has developed coatings that are in use in the energy industry, where the coating is used on oil rigs to prevent corrosion in extreme offshore conditions to expand the maintenance cycle from 3-4 years to 12-15.
"Transforming our superhydrophobic coating from lab innovation to market application took years of iterative research, collaboration, and continuous refinement,” said ORNL’s Tolga Aytug, distinguished research staff member of the Chemical Sciences Division and Battelle Distinguished Inventor. “Scientific ingenuity must partner with industry expertise to evolve breakthrough ideas into robust, market-ready products."
A nearly three-decade partnership
Mass spectrometers trace their history at ORNL back to the Manhattan Project, when calutrons were used for isotope separation. In 1996, Gary J. Van Berkel at ORNL initiated a CRADA (Collaborative R&D Agreement) with AB SCIEX (then known as Perkin-Elmer Sciex Instruments). An LDRD project provided the first major support to develop the liquid microjunction surface sampling probe for mass spectrometry, leading to the first patent for this technology being granted to ORNL in 2004.
The liquid microjunction surface sampling probe enables continuous sampling across surfaces, allowing for the analysis of compounds in a new way and with greater speed, while opening up mass spectrometry to new applications in food safety, security, biotechnology and pharmaceutical research.
"Our partnership with SCIEX is empowering modern breakthroughs in chemical analysis by granting us access to SCIEX's technical expertise and instrumentation," said ORNL’s Vilmos Kertesz, a senior research staff member in the Biosciences Division and a Battelle Distinguished Inventor.
The single-cell analysis technology, led by ORNL’s John F. Cahill at the Biosciences Division, also utilizes another ORNL innovation—the Open Port Sampling Interface—which streamlines and simplifies laboratory workflows while providing ultra-fast sample analysis. This advancement impacts multiple industries, including pharmacokinetics, security and forensics, materials science and disease diagnosis.
Both technologies received maturation funding from ORNL to accelerate the path of commercial adoption and prepare the cutting-edge research for market.
These stories underscore how long-term partnerships and relentless refinement turn scientific breakthroughs into real-world solutions.
“Innovation is not limited to just an instant spark,” said Jennifer Caldwell, ORNL’s director of Technology Transfer. “It takes time and the willingness to collaborate to expand perspectives to develop market driven innovation.”
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
