Dr. Emily Hunt, Trent Kelly and Benton Allen worked in the Energetic Materials Laboratory using combustion synthesis to create different versions of the alloy for the project.

Emily Hunt, Director and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is the first of West Texas A&M University faculty member to have research accepted for commercialization. WT, the Texas A&M University System and Dr. Hunt signed a patent, giving permission for Aggie Venture Partners to license this invention for commercialization on Jan. 27.

Angela Spaulding, Vice President for Research and Compliance said Aggie Venture Partners selected to pursue the Antimicrobial Nano Alloy (ANA) license because it could be commercialized across a wide-ranging variety of industries and result in a greater return on investment.

Hunt describes Antimicrobial Nano Alloy as a mixture of nano-scale materials that act as a structural coating that prevents bacteria from reproducing. It can be applied on many different kinds of surfaces such as metal, plastic or ceramic. It kills bacteria using nanoparticles of silver.

I have been working for several years using combustion synthesis to make new materials, Hunt said. I wanted to be able to use my engineering research to help people. Nanosilver has been used forever to fight bacteria even when we didnt know that is what we were using. So, I developed a material that is both structural and antibacterial.

Hunt composed the initial proof of theoretical experiments to insure that the nanoparticles of silver were safe enough to use in application. Then Hunt recruited senior Mechanical Engineering majors, Trent Kelly and Benton Allen to construct antibacterial paint as well as investigate how to coat sand particles with ANA for use in clean water systems worldwide.

Original post:

Dr. Hunt signs patent rights for commercialization