Small solutions with a big future.

Look carefully at the period at the end of this sentence.  Now imagine that it is covered by tiny particles – some 250 billion of them.  Your job is to handle those particles, arranging them across a surface or through a material.  Astounded?  Welcome to the world of nanotechnology!

A nanometer is one-millionth of a millimeter; a human hair would be about 50,000 nanometers thick.  “Nanotechnology” describes work with objects less than 100 nanometers in size – invisible, not just to the naked eye, but also to the most powerful light microscopes.

Promising applications

About fifteen years ago, two new types of microscopes (the scanning tunneling microscope and the atomic force microscope) were invented.  These two devices enabled researchers to observe things that could not be observed before.  When particles get small enough to be nanoparticles, their mechanical and optical properties change.  Adding nanoparticles to materials used to build, say, car bumpers or airplanes can increase strength and reduce weight.  The technology is starting to make solar-energy cells cheaper and more efficient.  There are highly promising applications for computer memory and storage as well as for the oil, textile and pharmaceutical industries.  In medicine, nano particles may in the future be used to destroy cancer cells.

“There are many hurdles to overcome but all these predictions are certainly fascinating”, says Andreas Mühlebach, research chemist and leader of the project “Nanoparticles” for the Coating Effects Segment.  “Here at Ciba we’re concentrating on areas where we can use our core expertise to transform raw materials into the valuable effects our customers are looking for.”

Valuable effects

These effects cross all the segments.  In coatings, nanoscale particles could allow useful effects like long‑lasting UV protection and scratch‑resistance to be added to clear coats without affecting transparency: the particles are simply too small to scatter visible light.  Nanoscale pigments have a wide range of high-tech applications, such as color filters for LCD displays or color‑changing coatings. On surfaces, new levels of durable water and stain repellence are possible, thanks in part to what’s called the “lotus effect”: the same nanoscale combination of chemical and physical features that allow the leaves of the lotus plant to shed dirt and water. Nanoparticles added as layers within packaging film could drastically slow the passage of oxygen and water vapor through the film, helping preserve perishable goods such as fresh food without affecting the transparency of the package.  Nanoparticles can also make plastics stronger and lighter, saving raw materials and energy.

Nanoparticles are so small that they do not settle out of water.  This is very interesting for water and paper treatment where nanoparticles can help keep paper fibers together as it dries. Finally, home and personal care products can use nanoparticles of organic and inorganic pigments to make transparent but long‑lasting sunscreens.

Different rules

“It’s all very exciting”, says Andreas Mühlebach, “but it’s also challenging.  At this scale, the usual rules of chemistry and physics don’t always apply: it’s a different state of matter with different properties.  You can’t see these particles; you can’t often filter them or isolate them by centrifuge.  Nevertheless, we can determine precisely their size and distribution, using sophisticated equipment. However, the smaller they are the more they tend to clump together. Fortunately, these challenges align well with some of our core competencies.

An exchange platform

This is exactly why a network “Effects based on Nanomaterials” was established.  Its objectives are to create a platform for the exchange of nano‑know‑how across the segments; to extend our existing core competences into the field of nanomaterials; and to identify new approaches, both inside and outside the company, to the special problems of nanotechnology.  The network links researchers in several continents, exchanging ideas by e‑mail, in telephone conferences and occasional face‑to‑face meetings.