By Jim Dukart
NanoCon Show Daily

Sept. 21, 2006 — David Soane only has to look in the mirror to see how central nanotech has become in his life.

Soane, a self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur” who has founded companies such as Aclara, Nano-Tex, Innovative Construction and Building Materials and Cosmetica, addressed NanoCon 2006 in Las Vegas on Wednesday with a personal anecdote about his graying hair and the development of a new nano-based commercial hair coloring system he is working on.

The new coloring product, he said, could replace current processes that bleach and dry hair, and could be completely reversible. Those who want to change their hair color would have a wide array of pigments to choose from, he said, and a user could apply a nano-based remover that will restore his or her hair to its original color. No more waiting for “bad dye jobs” to grow out, he said, and no more baking the hair under high heat to dry a dye.

Soane’s tonsorial tale was part of a larger talk about the effect nanotech is already having and will continue to have in daily life. “Small steps can have a major impact,” he said, referring to strong opportunities for nanotech in the pulp and paper industry, building materials, and more. “Nanotech will soon impact all aspects of life,” Soane said, “from the top of your head to what you write on to what you live in.”

That point was echoed by financier Wilbur Ross, chairman and CEO of WL Ross & Co., as well as chairman of Nano-Tex and general partner of Masters Capital Nanotechnology, a firm with investments in six companies producing products based on nanotechnology.

Ross — videoconferenced in from London — predicted that the unique properties of nanotechnology will make significant inroads in the textile, contract interiors, automotive, military/defense and medical industries, to name just a few. Other areas primed for nanotech offerings, he said, include optical components for telecommunications and computer networks as well as the water, electronics and energy industries.

Nanotech, Ross noted, has not enjoyed the frenzied level of private investment that the Internet and information technology industry did a few years back, but he argued that that may turn out to be a good thing. “Perhaps this way nanotech can avoid the problems associated with a rush to invest,” Ross said, adding that nanotechnology is already making its way into the so-called “old economy” businesses he is most familiar with — cement, steel, textiles, coal and automotive supply — and will continue to do so. “Some of our large companies may become nano companies,” he said.

Thomas Sawitowski, manager of nanotechnology for Altana Chemie/BYK Chemie, spoke about the use of nanotechnology in the paint and coatings market, noting that customers are drawn to nano-scale additives that are scratch resistant, anti-microbial, water repellent, provide UV protection and can be conductive and/or antistatic. Other properties that manufacturers may want in their paint or coatings, he said, include fluorescence (particularly for security or to address counterfeiting concerns), flame retardation, possibly magnetic properties, or the ability to be a barrier to gas and/or even be self-cleaning. “There is a very broad demand for nanotechnology [in the paint and coatings market] for a broad array of applications, Sawitowski said.

“Every story I see in the paper today has a nanotechnology angle to it,” summed up Scott Livingston, managing director of investment firm The Livingston Group of Axiom Capital Management. One example he used was recent security precautions on airlines preventing the carrying of liquids aboard. “Nanotechnology will certainly be involved in detecting explosives or other hazardous materials,” Livingston said. “I see nanotechnology everywhere.”

By Jim Dukart
NanoCon Show Daily

Sept. 21, 2006 — The afternoon conference sessions at NanoCon 2006 in Las Vegas on Wednesday addressed current U.S. funding levels for nanotech, American and international nanotech policy considerations, the use of nanotech in the transportation industry and the development of nanomaterials.

In a policy and funding session, Richard Russell, associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, pointed out that U.S. government funding for nanotechnology has nearly tripled since the adoption of the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) in fiscal year 2001.

Included as one of eight priority research areas in President Bush’s American Competitiveness Initiative, Russell said nanotech research and development will receive more than $1.2 billion in federal funding in fiscal year 2007. In addition to government support, Russell lauded corporate funding for nanotech research and development as well as the efforts of U.S. state governments. “Twenty-six states passed some form of nanotech bills last year alone,” Russell stated. “They are particularly active in creating technology transfer mechanisms such as incubators where research can be done and products developed.”

A session called “Nano Transportation” discussed nanotechnology products and development as they relate to the automotive, aerospace and military sectors. Mark Verbrugge, director of the Materials & Processes Laboratory at General Motors Research and Development, noted that the surface area efficiencies of nano-materials and nano-structures opens the door for an as yet-unknown range of new applications and uses in the automotive industry.

“Nanotechnology is a disruptive, I would say revolutionary technology,” concurred Leonard Chen, director of CRAD Pursuits for Raytheon. Sharon Smith, director of advanced technology for Lockheed Martin, noted that her company has a current contract to install nanotech-based sensors in the New York City subway system, a bio-detection application that will surely be applied in other transportation and port systems.

The Nano Materials panel spoke at length about the need to continue fundamental research in physics and chemistry, and how nanotechnology is opening up new possibilities for applications that have not even been thought of yet. Peter Krueger, head of the Bayer Working Group Nanotechnology for Bayer MaterialScience AG, said in Germany collaboration between universities, government and the private sector has been key to nanotech development. Such consortiums, he said, are helpful not only from a technology and research expertise point of view, but also as a way to fund nanotech initiatives that might be out of reach of any one sector acting on its own.

Ralf Anselmann, head of Exploration & Validation Nanotronics for Creavis Technologies & Innovation of Degussa, AG, said German universities are particularly well equipped to do basic research that private companies can then attempt to turn into products.

“Nanomaterials can be created and delivered in volume,” added Joe Cross, President & CEO of Nanophase Technologies. “So it is no longer a question of whether that can be done. Right now, it’s all about finding applications for the materials.”

By Jim Dukart
NanoCon Show Daily

Concurrent with the educational sessions of NanoCon 2006 in Las Vegas, several companies and organizations are displaying their wares and demonstrating new products and technology.

Magforce Nanotechnologies AG, for instance, is providing information on using iron oxide nanoparticles to fight cancer. The system injects the nanoparticles directly into cancer tumors, then uses a magnetic field (created by a machine that looks like a standard MRI device) to heat, or effectively “cook”, the tumorous cells. The system is currently being tested in five open trials in Germany, and Magforce expects European approval in 2008.

Creavis Technologies, a subsidiary of Degussa AG of Germany, also has products on display that are not yet in the U.S. market. It produces and is displaying a “hydrophobic” (water repellent) coating for countertops, sinks and bathtubs that it says will simplify cleaning and maintenance. The product has been offered to consumers in Germany for the past four months, but has yet to gain EPA approval for sale in the U.S. Creavis is also demonstrating a product a spokesman called “ceramic wallpaper” that it says is stain and moisture resistant and flame retardant.

Numerous other examples abound at the show — preferring nanotech products, applications and solutions in fields ranging from medical to building materials and from military and security to paints, coatings, solvents and nanopowders and materials.