Richard Yeo (scientist)

Richard Yeo,(楊瑞才), a Chinese American scientist with 17 U.S. patents, is best known for his research on disposable diapers.[1]

Research

Disposable diapers

Yeo co-invented US patent 5,356,626: "Synthetic fecal fluid compound."[2] At the time, Yeo was a senior research scientist working in Roswell, Georgia[3] for Kimberly-Clark,[1] makers of Huggies. He, along with Debra Welchel, developed the material to help the company produce better disposable diapers.[4][5]

Yeo described his research as:[1]

The technicians have some objection to handling the real thing, a form of biologically hazardous material. Also, it's a bit difficult to obtain, even from infants. We had some fundamental studies of real feces, so we knew what properties we needed. So we developed a synthetic one as close to the real thing as possible. There's no odor -- the technicians wouldn't consent to work on a project like that -- and it can be any color we want.

Yeo conducted extensive research & developed various disposable diapers & personal care products having new features: breathable back sheets, colorful/embossed backsheets, improved BM flaps and better BM containment, better body liners, flushable materials for constructing diapers, odor control, and better tampons.

Nafion & fuel cells

From 1970-75, Yeo conducted doctorate thesis research on Nafion[6] under the supervision of Adi Eisenberg (Otto Maass Professor of McGill University). In 1977, Yeo and Eisenberg published the earliest peer-reviewed journal article on Nafion.[7]

Yeo continued to publish on Nafion,[8][9][10][11] conducting several comprehensive theoretical studies of the swelling properties of Nafion membrane in various organic and methanol-containing solvents. Yeo found that these perfluorinated ionomer membranes exhibit dual cohesive energy densities. This was referred to by McCain and Covitch as the Yeo Envelope.[12] The commercial importance of Yeo's earliest studies of the unique swelling behavior of Nafion membrane was cited and described by Doyle and Rajendran in the Handbook of Fuel Cells as:[13]

These early swelling studies are the benchmark for a number of more recent studies of the behavior of Nafion membranes when exposed to organic solvents as this topic has become of greater commercial importance with the development of processes for creating Nafion solutions through dissolution in organic solvent mixtures.

Publications

Book chapters and editing

Articles

Patents

References

  1. 1 2 3 Chartrand, Sabra (24 October 1994). "Patents; An Odorless Way Of Testing Diapers". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  2. ↑ US patent 5356626, Yeo, Richard & Welchel, Debra, "Synthetic fecal fluid compound", issued 1994-10-18, assigned to Kimberly-Clark
  3. ↑ "Goo-goo: Baby, Scope Out This Diaper Discovery". Chicago Tribune. 15 November 1994. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "Here's the poop, and it won't smell/Substance devised to test diapers". Houston Chronicle. 30 October 1994. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  5. ↑ "An Odorless Way of Testing Diapers". Pediatrics. 95 (2): 224. 1995.
  6. ↑ "Structure-property studies of ion-containing polymers". McGill Library and Collections.
  7. ↑ "Physical properties and supermolecular structure of perfluorinated ion-containing (nafion) polymers". J. Applied Polym. Sci. 21: 875. 1977. doi:10.1002/app.1977.070210401.
  8. ↑ "Ion Clustering and Proton Transport in Nafion Membranes and Its Applications as Solid Polymer Electrolyte". J. Electrochem. Soc. 130 (3): 533–538. 1983. doi:10.1149/1.2119746.
  9. ↑ "Dual cohesive energy densities of perfluorosulphonic acid (Nafion) membrane". POLYMER. 21: 432. 1980. doi:10.1016/0032-3861(80)90015-4.
  10. ↑ "Swelling studies of perfluorinated ionomer membranes". J Applied Polym. Sci. 32: 5733. 1986. doi:10.1002/app.1986.070320706.
  11. ↑ "du Pont Nafion® membranes and dispersions".
  12. ↑ McCain, G. H.; Covitch, M. J. (Jun 1984). "Solubility Characteristics of Perfluorinated Polymers with Sulfonyl Fluoride Functionality". J. Electrochem. Soc.: 1350–1352.
  13. ↑ "Perfluorinated Membranes". Handbook of Fuel Cells. 3. John Wiley & Sons. 2003. p. 368.
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