>> BIJELS ARE A NEW CLASS
OF SOFT MATERIALS
THAT CAN HELP US POTENTIALLY
REVOLUTIONIZE THE FIELDS
OF REGENERATIVE BIOMATERIALS
IN HEALTH CARE
AND BATTERY TECHNOLOGIES
FOR ELECTROCHEMICAL
ENERGY STORAGE AND CONVERSION.
IN OUR LAB WE HAVE DEVELOPED
MATERIAL PROCESSING PROTOCOLS
THAT HELP US TRANSFORM BIJELS
INTO STRUCTURES
THAT LOOK LIKE THIS
WITH APPLICATIONS RANGING
FROM BATTERY ELECTRODES
IN THE FIELD OF ENERGY
STORAGE AND CONVERSION
ALL THE WAY TO HEALTH CARE
AND REGENERATIVE BIOMATERIALS.
WE HAVE A PATENT ISSUED
ON TRANSFORMING BIJELS
INTO BATTERY ELECTRODES.
AND WE HAVE PATENTS PENDING
ON TRANSFORMING THEM
INTO BIOMATERIALS THAT HELP
THE LONGEVITY OF IMPLANTS
AND MEDICAL DEVICES.
IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE THAT
MEDICAL DEVICES AND IMPLANTS
ARE NOT REJECTED BY YOUR BODY,
YOU HAVE TO COAT THEM
WITH A MATERIAL THAT WILL HELP
YOUR BODY ACCEPT THAT IMPLANT.
BECAUSE OF THE SPECIAL SHAPE
THAT BIJEL DERIVED
MATERIALS HAVE,
THEY DO TWO IMPORTANT THINGS
IN THIS CONTEXT.
FIRST THEY ALLOW BLOOD VESSELS
TO COME IN.
AND SECOND, THEY HELP
THE MATERIAL TO BE ACCEPTED
BY THE BODY.
IN ELECTROCHEMICAL
ENERGY STORAGE
AND CONVERSION TECHNOLOGIES,
THERE ARE A NUMBER
OF APPLICATIONS
THAT REQUIRE YOU TO DELIVER
A HIGH POWER,
BUT DELIVER IT
FOR A LONG DURATION.
FOR THAT YOU NEED MATERIALS
THAT CAN DELIVER
SIMULTANEOUSLY HIGH POWER
AND HIGH ENERGY DENSITIES.
THE SPECIAL MORPHOLOGY OF BIJELS
ALLOWS US TO DO THAT
BY BRIDGING THE WORLD
OF SUPERCAPACITORS THAT
DELIVER HIGH POWER DENSITIES
WITH BATTERIES THAT TYPICALLY
DELIVER HIGH ENERGY DENSITIES.
SO THAT FOR EXAMPLE
YOU CAN CHARGE YOUR BATTERY
VERY, VERY QUICKLY
AND THEN USE IT
FOR A VERY LONG TIME.
BIJELS ALLOW US
TO GET TO THAT SPACE.
IN ORDER TO EXPAND WHAT
WE HAVE DONE IN THE LABORATORY
TO COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS,
ONE OF THE PROBLEMS
THAT WE HAVE TO SOLVE
IS HOW TO SCALE UP
THIS PROCESS OF CREATING A BIJEL
AND THEN TRANSFORMING IT
INTO A FUNCTIONAL MATERIAL
SUCH AS A BATTERY ELECTRODE
OR AN IMPLANT COATING.
GRAVITY ADDS ANOTHER FORCE
TO AN ALREADY COMPLICATED
PHYSICS PROBLEM
THAT MAKES UNDERSTANDING
THIS MATERIAL ON EARTH
VERY, VERY DIFFICULT.
THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
PROVIDES ACCESS TO
A MICROGRAVITY ENVIRONMENT
AND ALLOWS US TO RE-CREATE
A SIMPLIFIED VERSION
OF THIS PROBLEM
SO WE CAN UNDERSTAND
ITS PHYSICS BETTER
AND MOVE TOWARD
LARGE-SCALE PRODUCTION.
BECAUSE OF THIS SPECIAL SHAPE,
MATERIALS DERIVED FROM BIJELS
MAY ALSO FIND APPLICATIONS
AS HEAT PIPES
IN THE AREAS OF HYPERSONICS
THAT COULD HELP
FUTURE SPACE EXPLORATION.
BECAUSE OF THE SYMMETRY
AND TUNABILITY OF BIJELS,
WITH WHAT WE WILL LEARN FROM
OUR MICROGRAVITY EXPERIMENTS,
WE WILL BE ABLE TO CREATE
A LIBRARY OF NEW MATERIALS
AND TOOLS THAT HELP US
ADDRESS PRESSING PROBLEMS
IN HUMAN HEALTH
AND ENERGY STORAGE.