ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 4 -- United States Patent no. 12,319,794, issued on June 3, was assigned to 3M Innovative Properties Co. (St. Paul, Minn.).
"Nanocomposites" was invented by Peter D. Condo (Lake Elmo, Minn.) and David Scott Thompson (Bayport, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A nanocomposite includes at least one polymer and metal oxide nanoparticles dispersed in the at least one polymer. Each polymer can have a number average molecular weight of at least 10000 grams/mole. The at least one polymer includes a first polymer including (meth)acrylic acid monomer units. The metal oxide nanoparticles are surface modified with a carboxylic acid silane surface modifying agent. An aqueous disp...