Kingwood native developing platinum replacement

University of Alabama senior and Kingwood High School graduate Natalie Anderson and her entrepreneur team, Conductive Chemistry, has developed a new electrode material called NanoCOT that has many of the same electrical properties as platinum, but is less than half of the cost.

The team will submit a business model to produce and commercialize NanoCOT in the 2015 Alabama Launchpad Start-Up Competition, which will award $250,000 to winning companies for further business development.

NanoCOT outperforms platinum in conductive properties and could be used in medical devices, hydrolysis, and in medical engineering, Anderson said. I am the lab technician for the team. I deal with more of the scientific aspects. My partners handle the business side of it.

Platinum, which was listed at $1,516 per ounce in 2013, is one of the earths rarest precious metals substantially more rare than gold or silver and is used extensively as a microconductor in internal medical devices such as pacemakers due to its exceptional conductibility and resiliency to corrosion.

NanoCOT, according to Conductive Chemistry, could potentially replace the need for platinum as a medical conductor if it could be commercialized efficiently.

We think it could be used more towards hydrolysis splitting water into separate oxygen and hydrogen ions but there are so many uses for it, Anderson said. (A large hospital chain) told us they want to use it in their catheters, so its looking like the medical route is the way to go.

According to other Conductive Chemistry members, NanoCOT costs less than half the cost of platinum to produce and is cleaner to produce as well.

Its really exciting, Anderson said. Im a chemical engineering undergrad so I never thought Id be involved with the medical side of things, but its really cool to know that if (NanoCOT) can be commercialized, it could really help in the long run. Its incredible.

Conductive Chemistrys business model will be submitted against 21 other start-up businesses in the competition.

If Anderson and Conductive Chemistry win, Anderson said the money will be used to further the business endeavors.

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Kingwood native developing platinum replacement