Carnegie Mellon Spinoff Looks to Develop Conductiv
Pittsburgh, PA, May 26--From static-free flooring to more reliable cell phones, a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff sees green in the potential for conductive polymers--and so do some investors.
The state Department of Economic Development and Smithfield Trust Company, a private asset-management firm, on Monday announced a $3.4 million investment in Pittsburgh-based Plextronics to help the company manufacture and sell plastics that conduct electricity. The funding will go toward expanding a lab and hiring at least 85 jobs over the next three years.
Plastics known as inherently conductive polymers are currently limited, but scientists expect the field to explode in coming years with disposable radio tags that could replace bar codes.
"It's very exciting because all at once your credit card becomes a little computer. Things get pretty interesting when you start doing that and almost at no cost," said Timothy Swager, chemistry professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The science of Plextronics' plastics is based on the work of Richard McCullough, dean of CMU's College of Science. McCullough said while there are many types of inherently conductive polymers, his formula conducts more electricity, can be manufactured in large quantities at a lower cost and can be blended with other materials.
Such plastics have the potential to tap into the integrated materials and advanced materials market, which means the product can be used to make everything from static-free flooring to children's toys and plastic cards.
While McCullough's formula often needs to be blended with other materials, Swager says the science is state of the art.
"He's basically made the best stuff. It's been documented people have been using his method," Swager said.
The company has been focusing its efforts on Plexcore, a plastic floor coating used for dissipating static, but officials believe there are more uses. The coating can help reduce an estimated $40 billion worth of electronic devices lost to static electricity, the company said.
"Plexcore can be adapted and used in many applications, from antistatic all the way to things as fundamental as RFID tags, or plastic chips that can be used in transistors in creating radio frequency identification tags," McCullough said during a news conference.
Wal-Mart and other retailers believe RFID, or radio frequency identification, tags may help them track products for theft and volume sales. The prospect of putting radio tags on individual items, however, has raised alarms among privacy advocates worried they could be used to gather information about consumers who buy the items and take them home.
McCullough and Plextronics' president and CEO Andrew Hannah say conductive polymers remain in the "dark ages" despite being around for well over a decade.
"According to Business Communications Co., the North American market for conductive polymers will increase eightfold to $1.6 billion over the next four years," said Mark E. McDonel, of Smithfield Trust Company. "Plextronics is at the leading edge of this revolution."
The company now holds two patents and three more are pending. It is already working with paint company Sherwin Williams and would like to go after leading material companies such as PPG and Nova Chemicals, Hannah said.
Investors say the company is an example of a Pennsylvania company helping to stem the state's brain drain, or the loss of educated people.
"This company and its story is a case study, in my opinion, for the kinds of things you might see replicated throughout the commonwealth," DCED Secretary Dennis Yablonsky said. "It's a story of university research that's been commercialized."
