The patents cover unique methods for producing Galvorn products — which can be used to replace carbon-intensive materials like steel, aluminum, and copper — to improve qualities like strength and thermal and electrical conductivity.
Houston, Texas — 1 June 2023 —DEXMAT, a climate tech startup which creates high-performance, low-carbon materials applicable to a wide range of industries, today announced it has secured exclusive worldwide licenses from Rice University for two patents. These new licenses will give the company an added competitive advantage in its work to make carbon- and energy-intensive materials like steel, aluminum, and copper obsolete.
"This company continues to hit exciting milestones in quick succession, and that's good news for climate mitigation efforts," said Bryan Guido Hassin, CEO of DEXMAT. "Galvorn products can eventually displace up to three gigatons of carbon emissions from hard-to-abate industrial sectors every year — and not with a product that's lacking in comparison to traditional materials, but with a product that is actually far superior on almost every front."
“By integrating this IP into DEXMAT’s state-of-the-art Galvorn production process, we’ve created an even more durable and useful product that will benefit both our customers and the planet.” —Dmitri Tsentalovich, DEXMAT CTO
Galvorn is an advanced carbon nanomaterial that can be formed into yarns, cables, tapes, woven fabrics, composites, and three-dimensional structures for use in industries including energy, automotive, aviation, and wearables. Galvorn is high-strength, ultra-lightweight, conductive, flexible, corrosion resistant, and biocompatible, making it a preferable alternative to many traditional materials used in these industries.
The two new patents licensed enable DEXMAT to produce Galvorn products using a proprietary solution-based fiber spinning method initially developed at Rice — the birthplace of the startup itself. This method for producing Galvorn is largely to thank for the material's high strength, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity. For example, when compared to a copper wire of the same diameter, a Galvorn fiber produced by this method has 12 times higher strength, more than 6 times lower density, at least 25 times higher flexure tolerance, and up to 50% higher thermal conductivity.
These high-performance properties enable the development of novel applications which can displace carbon-intensive incumbent materials used in electrical wiring, EMI shielding, batteries, antennae, composite panels, electrodes, and wearable electronic garments. Scaling these use cases can create multiple layers of positive climate impact which extend beyond avoiding emissions caused by producing dirtier materials. During the Galvorn production process, carbon is 'locked' into the material, offering a new form of long-term storage. In addition, production of Galvorn, which currently uses hydrocarbons such as renewable natural gas and biogas as feedstocks, prevents potent greenhouse gases such as methane from entering the atmosphere, and diverts hydrocarbon fuels from combustion, preventing more carbon from entering the atmosphere.
"We truly value our strong connections with Rice University, and we're thrilled to have the opportunity now to accelerate DEXMAT's growth by securing additional IP developed by some of the school's brilliant researchers," said Dmitri Tsentalovich, DEXMAT CTO. "By integrating this IP into DEXMAT's state-of-the-art Galvorn production process, we've created an even more durable and useful product that will benefit both our customers and the planet."
The startup already holds one Rice patent from the original collaboration between DEXMAT co-founder and Rice Professor Matteo Pasquali and the late Rice Professor and Nobel laureate Rick Smalley, and the company looks forward to further collaboration with the school.
DEXMAT's flagship material, Galvorn, is based on technology originally developed in the Rice laboratory of Professor Pasquali. The company was built on grants from The Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, U.S. Department of Energy, NASA, and others.
In March 2023, DEXMAT announced a seed funding round led by Shell Ventures totaling nearly $3 million, and the startup welcomed a new CEO in Hassin, whose expertise as a veteran climate tech entrepreneur will be tapped to help the company scale to the next level. DEXMAT has already welcomed five new team members since the announcement of the funding round and remains focused on rapid growth.
