UT Professor’s Invention Granted Patent by United States Trademark and Patent Office

Developed by Dr. Rafiee, Associate Professor at The UT Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies and Director of the Composites Research Laboratory, this coating can generate electromagnetic conductivity in composite antennas. The abstract of the invention’s patent reads:
The present invention discloses a nanocomposite coating composition and coating method for antenna reflector. The nanocomposite coating composition comprises a polymer matrix resin and a plurality of graphene nanoparticles. The plurality of graphene nanoparticles is added to acetone solvent and dispersed using an ultrasonic disperser. An appropriate amount of prepared epoxy resin is added to the mixture of graphene and acetone solvent and stirred using a mechanical stirrer for certain period. The sonication process is applied to the graphene incorporated resin mixture for a duration of about 30-120 minutes. The acetone in the mixture is removed using a magnetic stirrer and a vacuum oven. Further, same hardener is added to the mixture and degassed using vacuum oven to form the nanocomposite coating composition. The nanocomposite coating composition converts an electromagnetically insulated antenna into an electromagnetically conductive antenna for enhancing one or more electromagnetic characteristics of the antenna reflector.
It is noteworthy to mention that the Composites Research Laboratory was launched by Dr. Rafiee in Spring 2011. For more information about Dr. Rafiee’s  invention, please click here.