PLUS: AUSSIE BATTLERS HIGHLIGHTS AND CHALLENGES FACING AUSTRALIAN NANOTECH COMPANIES

ISSUE TWELVE JUNE 2009ISSN 1757-2517

NaturalINspIratIoNNanoscientistsinspired by nature

Water filterNature’s pores in

industrial purification

Bright BirdsModern optics inspired by

feather spectacular

Scientists still wonderingIndustry already selling

Commercial Success with Nanomaterials

The added value route

Financing Nano VenturesMost likely to succeed?

Nanotechnology in EuropeDetermined to be a major player

Interview: Christos TokamanisKeeping Europe Ahead

What’s new in nanoKeep up with the latest news

THE MAGAZINE FOR SMALL SCIENCE

CONTENTS

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FEATURESWater filter ............................................017Nature’s pores in industrial purification

Bright birds...........................................020Modern optics inspired by featherspectacular

Nothing ventured.................................032Venture capital not an easy path to tread

Financing nano ventures....................034Most likely to succeed?

Aussie battlers .....................................036Highlights and challenges facing AustralianNanotech companies

COUNTRY PROFILENanotech in Europe ............................022Determined to be a major player

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ContributorsHans Enggrob, DHI Group. Claus Helix Nielsen, AquaporinA/S. Eric Dufresne, Yale University. Antonietta Gatti, Universityof Modena & Reggio Emilia, Modena. Victor Puntes, InstitutCatalà de Nanotecnologia, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.Arthur Piper, freelance journalist. Robert Bennett, TechnēsiumTC. Vanessa Heuser, Australian Nano Business Forum (ANBF).Philip J. Santangelo, Georgia Institute of Technology andEmory University. Richard Moore, Institute of Nanotechnology.

©2009 ION Publishing Ltd6 The Alpha Centre, Stirling University Innovation ParkStirling FK9 4NF Scotland

COMMENTCommercial Success with Nanomaterials .............................014The Added Value Route

Scientists still wondering ..................028Industry already selling

No pain, no gain...................................040Nanotechnology Regulation

INTERVIEWChristos Tokamanis ............................025Keeping Europe ahead

REGULARSEditorial.................................................004Events ....................................................006What’s new in nano .............................008Nanomedicine......................................038Nanoart..................................................042

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Issue 12, June 2009

Article contributions to NANO magazine come from a range of sources and while wealways strive to ensure accuracy in reporting, NANO accepts no responsibility forinaccuracies that may arise. The views of contributors do not necessarily reflect theviews of NANO magazine or IoN Publishing Ltd.

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“Global Market and Applications for Nanotechnology in the Life Sciences and Healthcare Industries”

This 200+ page report includes:

• The current global market status for nanomaterials in healthcare, trends andforecasts for growth over the next 5 years

• Profiles of major and minor companies developing commercial applications ofnanotechnologies for the Life Sciences and Healthcare industries including: Access Pharmaceuticals, Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals, MagforceNanotechnologies, AMG Pharmaceuticals, Nanosphere, Bionic Surfaces, GfEMedizintechnik GmbH, ConvaTec, Smith, Nephew and Elan.

• Product areas covered include: Drug Discovery, Drug Delivery, Medical Suppliesand Devices, Implants, Biomedical Coatings, Wound Care, Diagnostics, Non-Invasive Therapies, Imaging and Tissue Engineering.

Note: Full details, including table of contents, are available at www.nanoposts.comor contact Andy Garland, andy.garland@nanoposts.com, tel +44 (0) 1786 474768

New Report from nanoposts.com

COMMENT

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Commercial Success withNanomaterials

Professor Helmut Schmidt, nano materialsexpert and entrepreneur, describes howcommercial success can be achievedthrough enhancing existing products.

The intrinsic rule for commercialisingnanomaterials: follow the addedvalue route!Nanotechnology is already making a majorimpact on the development of newmaterials. Many market forecasts show adramatic increase in commercial pro-ductsbased on materials whose properties arederived from the nanoscale. Two majorareas of growth have been identified -medical technologies and functionalmaterials, plus also some structuralmaterials like nanoparticle reinforced poly-mers. However, looking at the industrial andcommercial reality, there still is a big gapbetween the advantages of nanomaterials,and their commercial applica-tion. In thecase of medical applications, there maybe a long, and in many cases anunpredictable time to market; in the caseof functional and structural materi-als,the payback mechanisms and times canbe very complex and require specificindustrial structures.

Materials, as a rule, represent the first (andlowest benefit) level in the value-addedchain that goes from chemical synthesis tothe end product. In general, the time tomarket can be 10 or more years,accompanied by high development costs.Return on investment, for example, in thechemical industry is obtained throughlarge volume sales into large volumemarkets. One example is titaniumdioxide nanoparticles used in sun creams.However, these kinds of applications arethe exception rather than the rule. For thisreason, the overall nanomaterial sales fromthe chemical industry are still marginal.Niche markets are covered by hundreds ofsmall companies, mainly spin-offs fromscientific institutions. Products for theseniche markets may bring in reasonableprofits, but despite many predictions, theyhave not led to any remarkable turnovers,and most companies stay at the level of afew tens of employees.

Considering the various stages of the value-added chain. Each processing step to thefinal product leads to an added value ofabout 10 to 100 times of the value gained bythe sale of the novel material alone. Toobtain sufficient market size and benefit inlow nanomaterial volume applications, thefabrication of compo-nents from these

materials is essential. This, however,immediately leads into an interdisciplinarysituation, where nano materials chemists,nano materials sci-entists, productdevelopment experts and high throughputfabrication techniques need to be combined.This approach, surprisingly, still seems tobe very high barrier for the averagenanomaterial small company to overcome.

Surface Technologies as a Vehiclefor Gaining Added Value in NanoMaterials ApplicationsFor surface technologies, the materialsmarket (except mass commodity paints, forexample, in automotive and architecturalapplications - domains occupiedtraditionally by chemical industry) areespecially low. Customized surface tech-nologies specifically tailored for endproducts, however, are generally not withinthe scope of chemical industry. But, theadded value possible through products thatincorporate tailor-made and customizedsurface technologies can be very highindeed, and the potential markets alsolarge. Industries in question include themetal and plastic processing industries,which are very often SMEs, and largecompanies needing niche products for theirsystems, such as the IT, camera andcomputer industries, the automotive andother transport–related industries, cookwareand other household product industries.The market sizes add up to several 100 ofmillions of US$. Only a small percentage ofthese industries are willing or able to buildup a nanomaterial based, wet chemicalsurface techno-logical process within theirown production lines. The vast majority areinter-ested in the final product, but notinterested in using unfamiliar technologieswithin their production processes. For thisreason, the complete, surface finishedproduct, customized to the customers needs,has to be manufactured for these companies.

Nano Material Based SurfaceTechnologies – the Commercial EndgameIt would take too much space to summarizeall the numerous important innova-tions inmaterials from nano science andtechnology. For example there are photocatalytic surfaces based on nano TiO2,transparent hard coatings for pro-tectingoptical systems made from plastic,refractive index-tailored coatings made by

wet chemical techniques, low surface-free-energy coatings for easy-to-clean surfaces,and anti-microbial coatings based on tailor-made silver colloids with controlled releasebehaviour. Particularly in the area of hardcoatings and easy to clean coatings, thereare many products are on the market thatcan be applied to plastic or textile surfaces.However, the real breakthrough in com-mercialisation is still in its infancy. Themost important reason for this is thelack of what might be called “verticalinterdisciplinarity”, (vertical in this casemeans “down to the market”) which linkstogether chemical synthesis, materialsscience and production engineering. Theinnovation potential of this is extremely high,but needs to be exploited by a new andappropriate business approach.

The Production OrientedDevelopment Approach of EPGEPG Inc., founded in June 2006, hasdeveloped its own value added businessmodel, based on nanomaterial products, intwo specific fields: nanomaterial-basedsurface technologies deposited by wetcoating techniques, and materials and servicesfor oil and gas production – the latterthrough applying a technology which makesuse of a very specific surface modificationfor loose sand fixation in oil and gas wellswithout affecting porosity and flux.

Figure 1. (see page 16) The value-addedbusiness approach of EPG; innovationthrough in-corporating new and customizednano materials in existing products

• The market introduction period can beneglected in the most cases, be-causethe customers are already there!

• The marketing effort can be reducedto visiting a few international exhibi-tions per year.

• The market risks can be neglected,because they already have been ad-dressed by the customers.

However, it is essential to always maintaina distinctive competitive advantage inmaterial surfaced tailoring with respect topossible competitors.

This is all achieved by the “verticalinterdisciplinarity” technique, and as a

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final important step in this process, EPGhas developed its own special coating tech-nology. It is a robot operated, ultra precise,thin-film deposition technique whichdelivers a high precision coating, even oncomplex parts. For example, for a 3 µmthick film, the precision is about + 0.2 µm.

Some Examples of CommercialProducts Flexible Nano Glass Coatings on metalsurfaces for pressing irons and electricdevices.A simple example of a high-tech, glasslikeand abrasion-resistant coating on stainlesssteel metal surfaces is the commercialnanotechnology developed by EPG acouple of years ago. A methyl groupcontaining a sodium silicate system wasdeveloped by using SiO2 nanoparticles as“fillers”, through a sol-gel technol-ogy. Thissystem allows spraying films up to 12 µm inthickness in a one-step process. Aftercuring at 600°C, the remaining thickness isabout 5 to 6 µm, a result which is quiteunusual compared to conventional SiO2

sol-gel coating, which achieves only about 1µm in one step. The unique feature of thisrelatively thick coating is the fact that it canbe 3-dimensionally deformed bymechanically processing. This technologyis used for mounting coated iron plates onthe heat-ing system of pressing irons. EPGis now producing several hundred thousandparts per year. Turnover and EBIT per-unitare a factor of 200 higher compared withsales of the basic material alone! Anotherexample of stainless steel finishes are thefingerprint and scratch-resistant coatingson electric switching devices and outlets.EPG is producing over half a million partsper year!

Interference Pigmented Coatings on High Performance CookwareDecoration of high-performancecookware having a sandwich structure(steel/aluminium/steel) and being suitablefor induction heating cannot be coatedby conventional enamels due to theirtemperature sensitivity: over 500°C, thesandwich structure gets delaminated, andover 600°C the melting point of alu-miniumis approached. This leads to a real lack ofdecoration possibilities. EPG was able todevelop a nano glass matrix withinterference pigments as fillers de-rivingtheir colours from layered platelets coated

with interference oxides (e.g. SiO2, TiO2,Fe2O3). These pigments are available inmany colours, and, due to their oxidicnature, are very resistance to heat; EPGmanaged, after an appropri-ate surfacetreatment and grinding process, to dispersethem homogeneously in the nano glassliquid matrix and to process them usinga robot spray technology to coat thecookware. The systems are FDA approvedand were introduced to the market at thebeginning of this year.

Automotive Tailpipes fromPolished Stainless SteelChrome plated tailpipes loose their shinysurface quickly through heat, and salt inwintertime. For this reason, a threemicrometer thick “invisible” coating hasbeen developed, protecting the polishedstainless steel surface reliably againsttarnishing by heat and corrosion by salt.The product has been developed forPorsche cars and introduced into the marketonly recently. EPG had to develop a highlysophisticated programme for the robotspray coating, because these tail-pipesconsist of two tubes lying very closely together.

ConclusionThe three above examples demonstratehow nano-based material technologies canbe applied to bring science-baseddevelopments to the market place. In or-derto receive sufficient revenue from a

nanomaterial, it is essential that a value-added step is incorporated. In this case, thevalue-added step is the production ofcoated parts by a highly sophisticatedtechnology leading to glasslike coatings thatcould not be produced otherwise - the so-called “low-tech by high-tech” strategy. Thismeans that nano materials are applied tothe surfaces of already existing products.This leads to the fast market penetration,with low market risk and requiring a verylimited marketing effort. The overall risk ofthis, compared with the “high-tech by high-tech” approach (a good product, butcustomers have to be looked for andmarkets have to be opened) are very low.The disadvan-tages are a heavy investmentin the production line, and the need to buildup high-level engineering capacities.

Helmut Schmidt, Engineered nanoProductsGermany Inc. (EPG), Zweibrücken,Germany.

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Figure 1. The value-added business approach of EPG; innovation through in-corporating new andcustomized nano materials in existing products

Figure 2: Coated Pressing Iron Plates

Figure 3: Cookware being coated withthe “Lava Red” system

Figure 4: Porsche tailpipes