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ZEN Graphene Solutions and Guelph University Researchers File Patent on Graphene Oxide Production Method - A Key Ingredient in its Virucidal Ink
Guelph, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 28, 2020) - ZEN Graphene Solutions Ltd. (TSXV: ...
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[{"type":"text","content":"ZEN Graphene Solutions and Guelph University Researchers File Patent on Graphene Oxide Production Method - A Key Ingredient in its Virucidal InkGuelph, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 28, 2020) - ZEN Graphene Solutions Ltd. (TSXV: ZEN) and (OTC: ZENYF) (\"ZEN\" or the \"Company\") is pleased to announce that the University of Guelph (Guelph) has filed a provisional patent regarding an electrochemical exfoliation (ECE) process to produce graphene oxide (GO) from Albany PureTM Graphite. Highlights:ZEN and Guelph file patent on novel GO production methodExfoliation method is designed to be scalable, low cost, low energy and environmentally friendlyGO is a key ingredient in ZEN's proprietary virucidal inkZEN's virucidal ink still 99% effective a minimum of 35 days after application As reported in the November 14, 2019 news release, ZEN signed an 18-month exclusive initial option agreement with Guelph for intellectual property regarding the ECE process that was being developed by Prof. Aicheng Chen and his group. The current exclusive global license agreement with Guelph formalizes and extends this initial option agreement which now has no expiry providing that all agreed payments continue to be made on an annual basis. Also, through the recently awarded NGen grant, ZEN will now work closely with Prof. Chen and his team to optimize and scale-up the ECE process to produce GO from its unique precursor Albany PureTM Graphite. This process was designed to be scalable, low cost, low energy, and environmentally friendly to produce high-quality, few-layer graphene oxide at ZEN's Guelph facility.ZEN can also produce GO through a proprietary chemical method which was recently filed as part of the virucidal ink provisional ink. This novel method, which has been tested at bench scale, takes advantage of ZEN's unique Albany PureTM Graphite and has several advantages over the improved Hummers' method as it uses significantly less chemical reagents and no phosphoric acid. ZEN will be moving rapidly towards optimization, production scale-up and commercialization of its graphene-based ink which has attracted significant interest since its 99% virucidal activity against COVID-19 was announced on September 22nd 2020. ZEN's CEO, Dr. Francis Dube commented, \"This second provisional patent application in a week creates a solid commercial foundation...