TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY: Acid-tuned Terphenyl Membranes (ATM)

The Acid-tuned Terphenyl Membranes (ATM) technology from Los Alamos National Laboratory offers a fundamentally smarter approach to hydrocarbon proton exchange membrane design. This technology replaces the traditional method of adding more sulfonic acid groups with a precise molecular tweak that strengthens each acid site individually. The result is a hydrocarbon platform that can rival perfluorinated incumbents on performance while providing a path to lower-cost, more sustainable clean energy hardware. The key advantages of this technology include higher proton conductivity, reduced water uptake, and improved dimensional stability. The potential market applications for this technology include hydrogen, transportation, power generation, energy storage, off-road equipment, and electrochemical devices. • Higher proton conductivity than the unmodified hydrocarbon analog • Water uptake reduced by more than 60% relative to the baseline polymer • Built on a rigid aromatic terphenyl backbone associated with good mechanical integrity • Provides a hydrocarbon-based, potentially lower-cost alternative to perfluorosulfonic acid membranes • Design principle is transferable, offering a platform strategy across multiple membrane chemistries