Search  
DOE Pulse
  • Number 343  |
  • August 8, 2011

Tiny pores give glass bubbles big prospects

Microsphere with top removed to display contents.

Microsphere with top removed to
display contents.

Hollow glass microspheres have been used for years in lightweight filler material, insulation, abrasives and other applications. The Porous Walled Hollow Glass Microspheres developed by DOE’s Savannah River National Laboratory, however, are unique because of a network of interconnected pores in the microsphere walls, which allow the tiny
microspheres to be filled with, hold and release gases and
other materials. Because the glass microspheres provide a protective environment, or cocoon, for their contents, they
can be used to hold reactive or flammable absorbents or
stored materials, including solids, liquids or gases. This has
the potential to provide a safe method of handling, storing or transporting a variety of materials.

SRNL is partnering with Toyota to explore applications for storage and handling of hydrogen gas in hydrogen-based vehicles. A joint program with the Georgia Health Sciences University has investigated drug-delivery systems and Magnetic Resonance Imaging contrast agents. Overall, the research has already led to five separate patent filings. Other uses are expected to be identified as additional research projects are completed. Mo-Sci Corporation, a Rolla, Missouri, specialty glass provider that has been licensed by SRNL to manufacture and market the microspheres.

Most recently, the unique glass microspheres were selected to win a prestigious 2011 R&D 100 award in an annual competition conducted by R&D Magazine. The award recognizes the SRNL-invented Porous Walled Hollow Glass Microspheres as one of the 100 most technologically significant products of the past year. The SRNL research and development team included Dr. George Wicks, Dr. Leung Heung, Dr. Ray Schumacher (retired), Dr. Steven Serkiz, and Dr. David Peeler. Other honorees included Dr. Rana Mohtadi of Toyota; Dr. Bill Dynan of GHSU; and, Ted Day of Mo-Sci Corporation.

Each porous walled hollow glass microsphere is about 50 microns in diameter, about half the width of a human hair. Its walls, which are about 10,000 angstroms thick (an angstrom is one-tenth of one-billionth of a meter) feature pores that range from 100 to 1,000 angstroms, which allow gases and other materials to enter the tiny spheres and be stored or cycled on absorbents inside..

Submitted by DOE's Savannah River National Laboratory