Optics technology provider LightPath Technologies Inc. has won a $200,000 subaward from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for its Small Business Innovation Research project, “Carbide bonded graphene coating for enhanced glass molding.” LightPath is part of the research team led by the primary grantee of Nanomaterial Innovation Limited (NIL), a spinoff from Ohio State University. During Phase I, NIL showed that the graphene coating provided potential advantages for molding both visible and infrared glasses when used for mold release. Now in Phase II, LightPath joins NIL as an industrial partner and will use its experience in molding optics to apply the coating to a production environment. Anticipated benefits of the coating include enhanced mold lifetimes, improved molding yields, and, therefore, reduced costs for both visible and infrared optics. The work will focus on molding both singlet lenses as well as multicavity optics. The optical components may be critical as an enabling factor for driving enhanced functionality and lower cost for end products used in military, public safety, medical, industrial and automotive markets. The NSF Small Business Innovation Research Small Business Technology Transfer program seeks to transform scientific discovery into societal and economic benefit by catalyzing private sector commercialization of technological innovations. LightPath designs, manufactures and distributes optical and infrared components including molded glass aspheric lenses and assemblies, IR lenses and thermal imaging assemblies, fused fiber collimators and gradient index lenses.