Nanotech Product News.
October-November 2020
Low-cost, high volume production and ease of integration is crucial for the development of widespread application of nanotech-enabled products. Recent nanotech products on the market October-November 2020.
Stellenbosch Nanofibre Company (SNC) has developed mass-produced nanofiber materials for reusable masks. “By spinning nanofibers onto polyester fabric we found we could produce high quality, medical-grade reusable masks to counteract the single-use aspect of surgical masks, which creates waste management problems and can present health and environmental threats.” Dr said Eugene Smit, CEO. The filters produced by SNC for its medical-grade reusable masks have good breathability and can be sanitised up to 10 times by placing the filter in boiling water and leaving it to air dry. A reported 1.2-million masks have been supplied by SNC in four months.
Nano One has developed a breakthrough in longevity for a cobalt free high voltage battery that has been successfully demonstrated at automotive rates of charge and discharge for over 900 cycles. This demonstration battery uses a low cost, cobalt-free Lithium Nickel Manganese (LNM) cathode active material made with Nano One’s proprietary one-pot process. Nano One’s LNM cathode was tested at 25oC in a conventional electrolyte with a graphite anode in a 20-layer 126mAh (0.592 Wh) pouch cell. Ongoing tests are equally encouraging for elevated temperatures. LNM is also known as high voltage spinel (HVS) and is a strong candidate for next generation, solid state batteries where its dimensional stability provides a stable interface with solid electrolytes. Currently, several independent evaluations are underway on Nano One LNM material within the automotive supply chain where the Nano One technology may impart greater and much needed stability.
ApNano Materials Inc. has established a subsidiary to develop and manufacture the company’s new NanoArmor, line of nanotechnology-based bullet-proof products. The new subsidiary will start with products that enhance the performance of personal safety items such as bullet-proof vests and helmets, and will continue with protection products for vehicles and aircraft. “The company already has started negotiations with investors,” said Aharon Feuerstein, ApNano Materials’ chairman and CFO. “In addition, NanoArmor potential products have already attracted huge interest from military, law enforcement and homeland security organizations and agencies in various countries.” The Nano Armor products will be based on ApNano’s proprietary nanospheres and nanotubes, which function as shock-absorbing materials. The Nano Armor products will be made of tungsten disulfide (WS2) nanoparticles, currently manufactured by ApNano Materials, under the trade name NanoArmor. In addition, the subsidiary will develop multi-walled titanium-based nanoparticles that will enable it to produce over 50 percent lighter weight armor products.
University of New Mexico (UNM) and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) researchers are prolonging the life of solar modules by using carbon nanotubes. Sang M. Han of UNM and David Wilt of AFRL in New Mexico, have reated a composite material that meshes carbon nanotubes with silver and called the innovtion MetZilla. Osazda Energy LLC was founded in 2017 to take MetZilla to market and this year the company has received $1.5 million in funding from the Durable Module Materials Consortium. The company aims to have its first products ready for market in about 18 months.
Switzerland startup Artidis has developed a proprietary nanomechanical biomarker and clinical-data analytics to diagnose cancer in biopsied tissue. The biomarker also can gauge a cancer’s aggressiveness, allowing for customized treatment. Results are available in less than three hours. Since its founding three years ago, Artidis has raised $15.1 million in seed money from investors including Bernina Bioinvest and SMD MedicalTrade AG, both based in Switzerland. The company hopes to enter the U.S. market for cancer diagnosis by 2022.
Andromeda Metals Ltd and Minotaur Exploration Ltd’s Natural Nanotech Pty Ltd (NNT) research and commercialisation JV has made a technological breakthrough by producing halloysite-based nanocarbon (fullerene) materials from Great White Project halloysite-kaolin. NNT is working with the University of Newcastle’s Global Innovation Centre for Advanced Nanomaterials (GICAN) towards commercial solutions for high-tech applications, based on the halloysite nanotube material sourced from ADN’s and MEP’s high-grade JV halloysite-kaolin deposits in South Australia, including the Great White Kaolin Project.
ZwitterCo, a Boston-based startup that uses nanofiltration membrane solutions for organic-heavy waste streams. has raised $1.9M in equity in a $3.5M funding round. The investment will help to commercialise ZwitterCo’s technology for wastewater treatment. ZwitterCo’s zwitterionic membrane chemistry offers fouling resistance, even in streams with a significant amount of oil and organic content. The fouling-resistant membrane products are based on polymer chemistry invented at Tufts University.
Japan-based company Nano Frontier Technology Co. Ltd. has developed a solar heat absorber. When applied as a coat to the receiver unit of a solar power tower, the material can minimize film deterioration, helping to maintain power generation efficiency. Nano Frontier’s solar heat absorber has a three-layer configuration. When the substrate heats up, a composite base layer of alumina and black filler forms. The light-absorbing layer is then a coating of titanium precursor mixed with black filler. When the titanium precursor crystallizes into titanium oxide, it envelops metallic oxide and becomes a randomly porous structure that can absorb light across a wide range of wavelengths.
Kyoto University’s Professor Hiroyuki Yano, a leading expert in cellulose nanofiber (CNF) research, has teamed up with Hexa Chemical Co. Ltd. to accelerate the widespread adoption of CNF. The professor and Hexa have launched a new company, Nature Gift, that will manufacture compounds and masterbatches (MBs) of CNF mixed with resin using the Kyoto Process. Nature Gift will be headquartered in the city of Kyoto, while production will be carried out by a Hexa Chemical group company in Nishiwaki, Hyogo Prefecture. This setup will allow for the hydrophobic CNF to be mixed and blended with polypropylene, polyamide and more.
CEMEX has signed an agreement with Carbon Upcycling Technologies intending to improve the processing of residue or by-products of industrial processes, capturing low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to produce nanomaterials with greater reactivity and a lower carbon footprint. This would allow the production of concretes with a low CO2 footprint that meets the construction industry’s requirements. CEMEX signed the agreement with Carbon Upcycling, a company that develops nanomaterials derived from the use of CO2 for industrial use, through its corporate venture capital unit, CEMEX Ventures.
Nawa Technologies is establishing operations in the United States to develop its vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) manufacturing process for carbon fiber composites. Nawa has acquired the assets of N12 Technologies, a Massachusetts-based company that had used VACNT technologies to make carbon composite structures lighter, stronger and more conductive. N12 Technologies had developed a process called Nanostitch for application in composite layers. The has now been rebranded Nawastitch and reinforces epoxy layers with super-strong VACNT arrays, Shear strength is increased by a factor of 100, shock resistance is improved by a factor of 10, delamination simply doesn’t happen and high-speed impacts result in 50 percent less interior damage. Composite parts can be reinforced like this with no substantial change to the regular manufacturing process. Nawa is also developing a multi-function composite material called NawaShell.
Japan-based cosmetics company Shiseido Company has filed a patent for a new colour cosmetic formula incorporating cellulose nanofibers (CNF) that heats up before use. Hydrophobic-modified polymer urethane is a temperature-responsive copolymer that acts as a thickener while the CNFs act as a high temperature stable polymer that does not undergo structural change and maintains stability when separating after heating. By using together it is possible to adjust the temperature-responsive cosmetic for use while ensuring high temperature stability before and after heating.
Lithium Chile, Inc. and Summit Nanotech Corp, a mining tech start-up are to collaboarte on field trials of the Summit’s ‘green lithium’ extraction technology. The sites will trial Summit Nanotech’s DenaLi 1.0 Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) system, a process that the company says uses interconnected modules, nanoporous membranes and specific filtration functions. Carbon dioxide is used to initiate end-product precipitation. THe patent pending extraction process allows for the rapid production of lithium from natural brine sources. The collaboration will potentially lead to responsible lithium production, which is growing in importance due to the global rise in demand for lithium ion batteries for renewable energy and electric vehicles.
