43: Bob Hamers - Do you want to start a company?

Bob Hamers is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin—Madison and co-founder of Silatronix, a company that is commercializing a new electrolyte for Li ion batteries. On this episode of the Nanovation podcast, Bob shares the story of Silatronix's founding and the scientific twists and turns that lead them to their current electrolyte design. Bob also talks about the NSF-funded Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology (CSN), which is a multi-institutional partnership devoted to investigating the fundamental molecular mechanisms by which nanoparticles interact with biological systems. The show ends with a fascinating look at the esoteric field of solvated electrons and the potential of these tiny reactive species to perform chemistry in new ways. (Recorded on August 30, 2018. Edited by Andrew Cannon)