Low-cost, high volume production and ease of integration is crucial for the development of widespread application of nanotech-enabled products. This month we look at recent developments and breakthroughs.
Birla Carbon and GranBio Technologies have developed a patent-pending NDC™ rubber masterbatch for qualification by tire and rubber companies. The NDC™ masterbatch is the result of a three-year Joint Development Program between the two companies designed to address growing sustainability demands from the tire industry both in terms of improving tire rolling resistance and vehicle fuel economy through enabling the incorporation of sustainable, bio-derived nanocellulose into commercial rubber compounds.
The utilization of nanocellulose in rubber goods and tires has been an active area of research and development throughout industry and academia over the past several years. However, effective dispersion of hydrophilic nanocellulose into hydrophobic rubber formulations has been a persistent problem that has previously hindered widespread uptake by the rubber industry.
Dale Clark, Chief Technology Officer, Birla Carbon said, “At Birla Carbon, we focus on the market trends and work closely with our customers to understand where they need help delivering value. A key product innovation goal of our tire customers is to increase the amount of renewable raw materials in their tires through product innovation.”
Empa researchers are currently working with a Canadian team to develop flexible, biocompatible nanocellulose sensors that can be attached to the skin. The 3D-printed analytic chips made of renewable raw materials will even be biodegradable in future.
With the aim of producing biocompatible sensors that can measure important metabolic values, the researchers used nanocellulose as an “ink” in 3D printing processes. To make the sensors electrically conductive, the ink was mixed with silver nanowires. The researchers determined the exact ratio of nanocellulose and silver threads so that a three-dimensional network could form.
immutably store the scanned data, according to the company, allowing tracking and visibility along the supply chain as well as product identity verification.
The researchers succeeded in developing sensors that measure medically relevant metabolic parameters such as the concentration of calcium, potassium and ammonium ions. The electrochemical skin sensor sends its results wirelessly to a computer for further data processing.
Nano Retina Ltd., developer of the NR600, an artificial retina device that mimics the natural physiological processes of the human eye and restores functional vision to persons blinded by retinal degenerative diseases, including age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, has reported preliminary results for First-in-Human implantations of its artificial retina device in March 2020. The first two patients, blinded by retinitis pigmentosa, have undergone the minimally invasive procedure to implant the device. Following activation of the device, both patients reported visual effects, which Nano Retina expects to optimize over the coming months. The advanced device is implanted in a minimally invasive technique under local anesthesia and is expected to provide superior visual resolution due to its large array of proprietary nano-scale electrodes.
Antimicrobial spray MVX Protex can protect homes and hospitals against the growing coronavirus threat. The spray, developed in Japan by Nanotera Group, has just been licensed in the UK. According to Saba Yussouf, Director of NanoTera Group, : “This technology is a spray that coats any hard or soft surface except human skin, and it can kill bacteria fungus and viruses. After you spray our solution on a surface and wait an hour to wait for it to dry, any pathogen – any bacteria, virus or fungus – when it touches the surface cannot spread any further and dies. “We don’t go into the cell of the bacteria or the virus and kill it, which is far more complicated.
“What we do is actually destroy their ability to attach to a host cell, which is how viruses, bacteria and fungus spread. “They need a host cell to get inside this membrane, but we don’t allow that to happen.”
The technology can be used on various surfaces including furniture, digital devices and textiles. Once the EPA-certified nanocoating has been sprayed, there is no need to disinfect it for another five years.
Polish company ML SYSTEM has already installed photovoltaic quantum dot (QD) smart window glass at the company’s HQ in the village of Zaczernie.The company is producing photovoltaic modules based on quantum dot coatings. The essence of this innovation is the tight closure of third generation cells (e.g. quantum dots) in the glass laminate and their isolation from external factors.
ML SYSTEM President Dawid Cycoń said: “We simply changed the traditional coating of the window, made until now from metal oxides and silver oxides, to an ultra-modern coating that lets in visible light, but changes infrared and ultraviolet light emitted by the sun into electrical energy.” The window pane generates electricity and at the same time protects the interior of the house or car from harmful ultraviolet rays and over-heating during summer heatwaves.
Strategic Elements has developed Nanocube Memory Ink that makes it possible to print memory directly on flexible plastics and other materials at low temperature, using coating and printing technologies and inks that contain memory technologies within them. When printed on a surface and assembled with electrodes they operate as computer memory or RAM. The Nanocube Memory Ink was invented at the University of New South Wales by a team led by Professor Sean Li from the School of Materials Science and Engineering. https://www.strategicelements.com.au/
Nanoco Group plc, a UK-based market leader in the research, development, licensing, and manufacturing of heavy-metal-free quantum dots called CFQD®, has filed a patent lawsuit against Samsung, claiming that the company infringed a number of their patents on the technology used in Quantum-dot Light Emitting Diode (QLED) TVs. The two companies had previously collaborated on developing enhanced quantum dots based on Nanoco’s CFQD® technology.
