Eastern Michigan University’s Coating Research Institute has been awarded a United States patent to improve the metal finishing industry. EMU was awarded this patent because the faculty-student research team invented Organic-Inorganic Hybrid materials.

“Organic-Inorganic Hybrid [OIH] materials, as the name implies are materials that are composed of both organic and inorganic structures. When fabricated correctly, they can combine the benefits of both worlds,” Vijay Mannari, director of Coatings Research Institute at EMU, said. “Another important benefit of OIH materials is that we can control their structures at micro or nano-scale during their fabrication and hence can customize their properties.”

This research project started in 2006 because of a funding award that EMU received from U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.

“OIH materials are increasingly important and find use in advanced products such as biomedical instruments, optical devices, and anti-corrosive coatings, super water-repelling films, to name a few,” Mannari said.

This research is of great importance as it looks at similar characteristics of hex chrome, a carcinogenic compound.

“The research program at the Coating Research Institute of EMU provides opportunities for our graduate students to gain hands-on experience in developing and testing such materials. Such advanced knowledge and skills are very useful for our students for careers in advanced manufacturing industries,” Mannari said.

For the last ten years, Prof. Vijay Mannari's research group has been active in OIH research. EMU alumni Himanshu Manchanda and Hamid Asemani also played a major role in the organic-inorganic hybrid material research.

It took a combined discovery between Mannari, Manchanda, and Asemani, which will open opportunities for more discoveries of OIH materials.

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