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COMBERRY FROM ULYANOVSK NANOCENTER FILES A PATENT APPLICATION TO PROTECT ITS TECHNOLOGY FOR NOVEL ELECTROCHROMIC MATERILS DEVELOPMENT

27 Jan 2020

In January 2020 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) confirmed the publication of the Comberry’s patent application for Electrochromic Material and Method of its Manufacturing. The invention allows tinting the glass with blue, gray, black and brown colors, and, the colors change several times faster than in existed similar materials.



Electrochromic glass, whose transparency is altered between the colored and bleached state in response to voltage allowing a user to control the amount of light and heat entering a building, appeared about ten years ago. Such glass has several layers of coatings sputtered directly on glass by large magnetrons. One of the essential layers is cathode. It provides darkening when intercalated with lithium ions and bleaching when these ions move to anode. Such glass is used in architecture, interior design, premium class automobiles, aircraft, yachts, etc.

According to Andrey Redkin, CEO of Comberry this invention is related to inorganic electrochromic materials with advanced characteristics. “Conventional electrochromic materials usually have a fixed tint color, mostly blue, and long switching time of around 10 minutes. Our materials possess extended color range — tints of blue, gray, black and brown, and higher electrical conductivity (due to the use of doping agents to modify electrical conductivity or material optical properties) that allows deposition of thicker electrochromic layers without a dramatic drop in their performance”, said Andrey Redkin.

“Electrochromic glass market is one of the most rapidly growing markets with a CAGR from 40% to 80% depending on the segment. According to the report of one of the prominent global consulting companies, the electrochromic glass market size reached $288 M in 2017, $450 M in 2018 and is expected to reach $9 B by 2022.

The main factor that delays the market growth is high cost of finished products. This is primarily associated with product complexity from engineering perspective and with difficulties to achieve competitive technical characteristics — difference in light transmittance between uncolored and colored states (usually max. 60%), switching time between clear and opaque states and variety of colors and tints.

Our electrochromic materials have wide transparency range: difference between colored and bleached state achieves 80%. The switching speed of the Comberry’s electrochromic device is several times higher than that of the existed similar devices. We also can choose the darkening color of the glass. For now, we have samples of neutral to eye colors of blue, grey, black and brown. And the Comberry’s equipment capacity gives us the opportunity to rapidly select the best possible materials and their deposition process,” — noted Andrey Redkin.

Igor Lukin, Project Manager of ULNANOTECH, added that after patenting, the next stage of the Project would be the development of the electrochromic glass production process to make it available for glass manufacturers.

Reference Information:

Comberry, LLC (Ulyanovsk, Russia) is a Tech company, established in October 2013 by the nanocenters of Dubna, Ulyanovsk and Saransk in cooperation with Intermolecular, Inc. (San Jose, USA). Comberry performs applied scientific research in the field of multi-functional thin-film materials, solid-state electrolytes and energy storage micro-devices. The nanocenters of Ulyanovsk, Saransk and Dubna are established by RUSNANO’s Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs.

World Intellectual Property Organization, (WIPO) is an international organization to administrate key international treaties in the field of intellectual property protection. By filing one international patent application, applicants can simultaneously seek protection for an invention in all countries specified by an applicant. The procedure for patent application includes two key phases: international and national. Within the first phase, an international patent search is performed and a patent application is published. At this stage, an international preliminary examination (optional) can be carried out at an applicant’s request. The second phase is national. Obtaining of a patent to protect an invention is possible only as a result of positive completion of patenting in the selected national patent offices.

The international phase provides only temporary protection of an invention, which expires in case an applicant does not enter the national phase.


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