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May 7, 2009: The president and CEO of Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. (Nasdaq: ALTI) said that while first quarter revenues are down from last year’s he expects the company to benefit from stimulus money around the third quarter.

“We are applying for battery manufacturing grants, and we believe the Smart Grid program will accelerate the adoption of advanced energy storage systems such as ours,” Terry Copeland, Altairnano’s president and CEO, said in a prepared statement.

“However, given the grant timelines, and the fact that not all of the program specifics have been announced yet for the Smart Grid grants, we expect it will be at least late third quarter before we see any orders or cash grants associated with these opportunities.”

For the quarter ended March 31, 2009, the company reported revenues of $0.9 million, down from $1.1 million for the same period in 2008. The net loss was $6.4 million, or seven cents per share, compared to a net loss of $8.3 million, or 10 cents per share, for the first quarter of 2008.

Operating expenses of $7.4 million for the first quarter of 2009 were $2.4 million less than the operating expenses of $9.8 million for the first quarter of 2008. The decrease in operating expenses was primarily a result of lower research and development costs associated with the smaller number of grants on which the company was working in 2009, compared to 2008.

The company also reported slower order placements from various customers “as a result of the substantially deteriorated economic environment during 2008 and thus far in 2009,” Altairnano said in a news release. “Orders that the company had expected from the commercial sector have been deferred until later than we initially projected and the Company’s military business, while all still on track, is similarly experiencing delays.

A recording of a conference call to discuss its first quarter 2009 results is available on Altairnano’s Web site.

May 6, 2009: Nano Pet Products LLC, a Wilton, Conn.-based company dedicated to bringing cleaner and healthier pet products to pet owners worldwide through nanotechnology, will debut an expanded line of dog beds and apparel, new feline beds, and a new line of equine apparel called Dog Gone Smart Horse Wear at the Zoomark International show at the BolognaFiere Exhibition Center in Bologna, Italy, May 7-10.

Nano Pet Products LLC is the worldwide exclusive licensee for pet products manufactured with NanoSphere, a proprietary fabric finish technology based on nanotechnology from Schoeller Technologies AG, Switzerland.

“Our partners and clients rely on Dog Gone Smart to provide revolutionary nanotechnology products that are not only cost-effective and environmentally friendly, but also durable and long-lasting,” said Chris Onthank, founder. Onthank is currently seeking co-branding partners to expand the use of Dog Gone Smart(TM) Technology using NanoSphere in the international pet industry.

The NanoSphere fabric finish uses nanotechnology, creating a non-visible structured textile surface so that coat oil, dirt, and liquids run off the surface. The fabric is highly abrasion resistant and stands up to frequent washing. NanoSphere was developed in Switzerland and carries the label “bluesign approved.” The bluesign standard is based on the world’s strictest EHS (environment, health and safety) stipulations for textiles and examines all the relevant components from the very beginning of the manufacturing process. Nano Pet products are also bacteriostatic, inhibiting the spread of bacteria that can cause odor.

May 5, 2009: Microarray developer Illumina Inc. said it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against another microarray developer, Affymetrix Inc., according to a report in the San Jose Business Journal.

Illumina said the lawsuit, filed in a Wisconsin district court, alleges that the Affymetrix GeneChip HT Array Plate and GeneChip HT Array Plate Scanner infringe upon an Illumina patent.

The patent, issued on March 31, is titled, “Methods of Making and Using Composite Arrays for the Detection of a Plurality of Target Analytes.” Illumina is asking the federal court to enjoin Affymetrix from continuing to make and sell its HT Array Plate and Scanner products, as well as for unspecified monetary damages.

May 5, 2009 — Konarka Technologies Inc., which develops nanotechnology-based Power Plastic that converts light to energy, has entered into an advanced product development agreement with Florida-based Arch Aluminum & Glass Co. Inc.

The companies plan to collaborate on building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), photovoltaic materials used to replace conventional building materials, according to a Konarka news release.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlines the integration of Konarka’s patent-protected thin-film solar material into glass for various commercial BIPV applications. BIPV is one of the fastest growing segments of the photovoltaic industry.

“Konarka is making great strides with our aggressive plans to expand into various markets, including building and construction,” commented Rick Hess, president and CEO at Konarka. “Because our solar material is flexible, lightweight and semi-transparent, it integrates easier and is more aesthetically appealing than other solar products, making it ideally suited for BIPV applications. We expect that our collaborative work with Arch Aluminum & Glass will advance the delivery of Konarka Power Plastic on a large scale basis into this market segment.”

In October 2008, Konarka opened what it calls the largest roll-to-roll flexible thin film solar manufacturing facility in the world, preparing for the commercialization and mass production of its solar material for various market segments including sensors, consumer products, tent and fabric structures, greenhouses, marine and boating, building construction, as well as fashion and accessories, among others.

May 4, 2009: European independent nanoelectronics research consortium IMEC says it has developed a method to integrate high-speed CMOS electronics and nanophotonic circuitry based on plasmonic effects.

Metal-based nanophotonics (plasmonics) can squeeze light into nanoscale structures that are much smaller than conventional optic components. Plasmonic technology, today still in an experimental stage, has the potential to be used in future applications such as nanoscale optical interconnects for high performance computer chips, extremely sensitive (bio)molecular sensors, and highly efficient thin-film solar cells. IMEC’s results are published in the May issue of Nature Photonics.

The optical properties of nanostructured (noble) metals show great promise for use in nanophotonic applications. When such nanostructures are illuminated with visible to near-infrared light, the excitation of collective oscillations of conduction electrons, called surface plasmons, generates strong optical resonances. Moreover, surface plasmons are capable of capturing, guiding, and focusing electromagnetic energy in deep-subwavelength length-scales — i.e. smaller than the diffraction limit of the light. This is unlike conventional dielectric optical waveguides, which are limited by the wavelength of the light, and which therefore cannot be scaled down to tens of nanometers, which is the dimension of the components on today’s nanoelectronic ICs.

Nanoscale plasmonic circuits would allow massive parallel routing of optical information on ICs. But eventually that high-bandwidth optical information has to be converted to electrical signals. To make such ICs that combine high-speed CMOS electronics and plasmonic circuitry, efficient and fast interfacing components are needed that couple the signals from plasmon waveguides to electrical devices.


Top: Schematic overview of the device, showing focused illumination of a slit in the waveguide using polarized light. This results in plasmon excitation of the waveguide for the red polarization and the generation of electron/hole pairs in the semiconductor. Bottom: SEM picture of a typical device. Photocurrent scans for the “red” (bottom) and “blue” (top) polarization indicate a strong polarization dependence of the photoresponse. (Source: IMEC)

As an important stepping-stone to such components, IMEC has now demonstrated integrated electrical detection of highly confined short-wavelength surface plasmon polaritons in metal-dielectric-metal plasmon waveguides. The detection was done by embedding a photodetector in a metal plasmon waveguide. Because the waveguide and the photodetector have the same nanoscale dimensions, there is an efficient coupling of the surface plasmons into the photodetector and an ultrafast response.

IMEC has set up a number of experiments that unambiguously demonstrate this electrical detection. The strong measured polarization dependence, the experimentally obtained influence of the waveguide length and the measured spectral response are all in line with theoretical expectations, obtained from finite element and finite-difference-time-domain calculations. These results pave the way for the integration of nanoscale plasmonic circuitry and high-speed electronics.

May 4, 2009: An umbrella group set up to give direction to Europe’s emerging photonics community has proposed a program of strategic research and is calling for action to address a looming skills shortage, according to a report in ICT Results.

The photonics industry is not new but the idea of it is rather novel. Many companies have been working on the applications of photons — the particles of light — for decades. They have brought us lasers, optical fibres, flat-panel TV screens and many other innovations. Yet only in the last few years has photonics as a distinct industrial sector, with shared aims and objectives, started to emerge in Europe. Photonics21, one of several European Technology Platforms (ETPs) has been set up with EU support to align research efforts in technologies of strategic importance.

“One of the main aims of the platform at the very beginning was to build up a European photonics community and prepare a comprehensive research strategy,” explains Markus Wilkens of the Photonics21 secretariat, based at VDI Technologiezentrum in Düsseldorf.

Agenda for research

Starting with 250 members in 2005, Photonics21 has now grown to encompass more than 1200 members in 49 countries. Almost half of the members are photonics companies, the majority of which are SMEs, and the rest are research centres and associations.

The project is organised into seven groups covering information and communication, industrial manufacturing, life sciences and health, lighting and displays, sensors and measurement, optical components and systems, and research, education and training.

One of its first acts was to publish, early in 2006, a 160-page strategic research agenda setting out the priorities for developing photonics in Europe. It listed the main technological challenges as the development of new, compact light sources, a more extensive coverage of wavelength range, integration of several optical functions into single components, and materials research in epitaxial films, quantum dots and meta-materials.

It called for better coordination and cooperation within the photonics community and warned of a shortfall in qualified workers if more was not invested in education and training. The report also said that Europe was not yet pulling its weight in the formulation of international standards.

One recommendation was quickly adopted. In 2007, the European Commission set up a Photonics Unit within the Information Society and Media Directorate General. “This way the EU recognized photonics as a strategic technology for Europe,” Wilkens notes. “And Photonics21 has now become the main advisory body for providing input to the photonics part of the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme.”

Cooperating to compete

Photonics21 also manages a database, inherited from the EU-funded OPERA2015 project, which lists details of more than 2100 companies and 700 research centres active in photonics. “We estimate that about 40% of all photonics companies in Europe are listed in the database,” says Wilkens.

In the three years that the platform has been running, the photonics community has been gradually getting its act together but, as Wilkens says, there is much more to be done.

“Above all, we need to improve trans-national cooperation between different players in Europe, especially universities and companies. We regard this as an ongoing, long-term goal of Photonics21. Joining forces will be the only way to tackle the increased competition we are facing from Asia and the USA.”

Photonics21 has set up links with other ETPs covering manufacturing, nanomedicine and e-mobility, and is supporting activities to strengthen national communities. For the first time, national technology platforms have been established in Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland and Switzerland, with more to come. “We believe that only with strong national photonics communities can a ‘European community’ be successfully established in the long run,” Wilkens says.

Indeed, national funding programmes for next-generation access networks in Germany and the UK owe their origin to Photonics21.

Skills shortage

Improved coordination at European level is already bearing fruit. Two-thirds of the participants in photonics projects funded in the second call of the Seventh Framework Programme are members of Photonics21 and national efforts will be coordinated under the ERA-NET Plus scheme.

Wilkens is especially keen to promote education and training in photonics. “The photonics industry in Europe faces a tremendous skills shortage. We are now trying to increase the number of photonics students or students […] relevant to the photonics industry.”

Early this year, Photonics21 launched a student innovation award and a scheme for companies to offer internships to students.

A priority for 2009 is a major revision of the three-year-old strategic research agenda. “One challenge will be to focus on the most promising areas in photonics where Europe should invest its money in a coordinated way,” says Wilkens. “We need to strengthen our strengths in order to stay competitive,” he says.

May 1, 2009: SpectraFluidics Inc., a company that specializes in developing trace level chemical detection technology, recently expanded its relationship with the US Army to develop the next generation of handheld explosive detectors.

The three-year contract between SpectraFluidics, UC Santa Barbara’s Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (ICB) and the US Army’s Edgewood Chemical Biological Center builds on the partnership begun in 2008, under which SpectraFluidics first developed and proved its advanced, chemical detection technology for explosives and biohazards. This new agreement allows for further development of the detector device.

“Detection of Improvised Explosive Devices is one of the Army’s most pressing issues,” Craig Cummings, SpectraFluidics CEO, said in a news release. “Our detector is highly sensitive, molecular specific, and will detect a wide range of explosive agents, including homemade, improvised explosives.”

The proposed lightweight, portable device combines free-surface microfluidics and nanoparticle techniques with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Other technologies on the market cannot be easily reduced in size without suffering significant performance degradation.

The SpectraFluidics patented technology allows for the direct detection of trace levels of airborne explosives with minimal user interaction. Ultimately, the device will provide unparalleled, real-time sampling and detection of trace amounts of explosives in either vapor phase or condensed media phase.

“Our novel microfluidic/SERS device allows us to overcome the limitations of previous Raman systems aimed at explosives detection, resulting in significant improvement in detection sensitivity, selectivity and specificity,” said Carl Meinhart, chief technology officer of SpectraFluidics. “It is designed to function in non-ideal environments, and has the unique ability to discriminate energetic molecules from background clutter.”

SpectraFluidics is a privately owned corporation focused on the development of advanced technologies for the field detection of trace levels of explosives, illicit drugs and other contraband. SpectraFluidics’ primary offices and laboratories are located in the Storke-Hollister Research Center in Santa Barbara, CA.

April 30, 2009: With more than $40 billion in government funds having been poured into nanotechnology research worldwide over the last five years, countries are now emphasizing the importance of application-driven research in this emerging field while a shakeup is occurring among the leading nations in nanotech spending, according to a new white paper from London-based Cientifica Ltd.

Cientifica, a consulting firm in emerging technologies, in its yearly analysis of government funding figures is reporting in a free white paper “Nanotechnology Takes a Deep breath, and Prepares to Save the World!” that governments will be spending nearly $10 billion on nanotechnology research in 2009, but despite this huge figure government spending has begun to slow down. Spending will only grow by 9.3 percent from 2008-2012 compared with the 130% increase witnessed from 2004-2008.

With this slowdown, governments are urging more emphasis on application-driven research that will help individual countries meet their particular grand challenges whether it is energy independence or clean drinking water.

Cientifica’s research has also reveals that the long-time leaders of nanotechnology funding, the US and Japan, have now fallen to third and fourth behind the EU and Russia, with the US being tied with China for third.

April 30, 2009: Xradia Inc., a developer and manufacturer of ultra-high-resolution 3D X-ray imaging systems, said its scanner was used by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin in the examination of fossil Lucy, the world’s most famous ancient human ancestor fossil, who lived 3.2 million years ago.

The company’s Xradia MicroXCT scanner, a 3D X-ray computed tomography system with sub-micron resolution, was used by the University of Texas at Austin team to scan selected pieces of the fossil, and the resulting data will assist in their studies to learn how Lucy’s skeleton supported her movement and posture, and how it compares to modern humans and apes.

Xradia’s MicroXCT design enables the highest resolution images and the best sample size and shape flexibility available commercially, according to the company, making it possible to understand structural features on an ever finer scale. Unlike traditional imaging methods, Xradia’s MicroXCT does not require sample preparation like cross-sectioning, making it a powerful tool for studying precious, one-of-a-kind specimens like fossil Lucy, the company said in a news release.

Lucy is currently on loan from the Ethiopian Government and on tour in the U.S. as part of a world premiere exhibit organized by the
Houston Museum of Natural Science.

Xradia designs and manufactures a family of high resolution 3D X-ray computed tomography (CT) systems for non-destructive imaging of complex internal structures. The company enables innovation and productivity through 3D insight for industrial and research applications in advanced materials, life sciences, microstructure modeling for oil and gas drilling, nanotechnology, and semiconductor package failure analysis.

April 30, 2009: ApNano Materials Inc., a cleantech company and provider of nanotechnology-based products, recently announced that new test conducted at the FZG Gear Research Centre of the Technical University of Munich, Germany, shows that ApNano Material’s nanotechnology-based lubricant NanoLub significantly decreases damaging wear pits on gear teeth. The test was done on oil that was formulated with a NanoLub additive.

“The test proves that NanoLub significantly enhances automotive and industrial gear oils, improving pitting resistance,” said Dr. Menachem Genut, ApNano Materials’ President and CEO. “Gear teeth are especially vulnerable to micro-pitting and reducing this damage can save high costs of replacement and repair, making the gears operational 24/7. For example, Anglo-American, one of the largest mining companies in the world has begun to use NanoLub in its heavy mining equipment in Chile.”

“The new test further enhances NanoLub’s position in the automotive and industrial markets, opening new horizons for our innovative lubricant as a necessary additive to gear oils,” said Aharon Feuerstein, ApNano Materials’ Chairman and CFO. “NanoLub is distributed worldwide in Europe, Asia and the Americas by local agents and distributors. Due to the large demand we have increased the capacity of our production plant.”

Oil blended with NanoLub was evaluated at the FZG Gear Research Centre according to a recognized international test procedure for investigating the influence of lubricating oil (especially the quality of additives in these oils) on the wear and damage of gears.

In such conditions, indications of damage appear as micro-pits or small holes on the surface of the gears. The test can differentiate between oils of varying quality and thus facilitates identifying a high quality lubricant additive that provides adequate resistance to pitting and wear.

The test at the FZG Gear Research Centre follows other tests done by Dr. Adrian Oila of Newcastle University, England, on gears with heavy duty gear oil that was blended with NanoLub powder. No wear damage to the steel lubricated with the NanoLub oil could be observed with an optical microscope, while significant wear was observed for the reference oil. The presence of a beneficial tribofilm was detected on the gears lubricated with the NanoLub formulation. The tribofilm continues to lubricate the moving parts also in cases where the oil supply is interrupted.

NanoLub, ApNano’s proprietary nanotechnology-based lubricant, is based on nanosized particles of tungsten disulfide (WS2) that have a structure of nested spheres, called inorganic fullerenes, whose lubrication mechanism includes the layers slipping off under loads to form an adherent film that reduces friction and wear .

These new nanospheres have first been synthesized by Dr. Menachem Genut during his post doctorate research. When these particles are used as an additive to liquid oil or grease, NanoLub significantly enhances the lubricating properties of the oil or grease with respect to wear and friction by an order of magnitude versus the same lubricant without this additive.

In addition, NanoLub “wraps” the moving parts with a lubricating thin film called tribofilm and continues to lubricate normally for a long time, as an “uninterruptable lubrication source” during severe oil leakages. In addition to the significant reduction in wear, NanoLub also contributes to a considerable reduction in the friction between moving parts resulting in a smoother ignition in case of “cold start”, increased power, and to an improved fuel economy with lower emission of greenhouse effect gases.