Smallest Science Becoming Big Industry

By Dan Ray
Published 1/4/2009

To those in industry, nanotechnology means billions.

Last year nanotechnology accounted for about $88 billion in consumer goods. By 2014, this number is expected to reach more than 30 times that amount – $2.7 trillion. With high risks and potentially high rewards, those companies willing to wade into this new industry may soon reap the benefits.

Already, Colorado has emerged as one of the nation’s nanotechnology hubs, with 18 nanotechnology companies in the Denver area and 6 more companies scattered across the state, according to a 2007 survey. These companies produce products ranging from thin-film photoelectric solar cells, to cancer-fighting drug delivery systems, to cosmetics.

In 2003 President Bush signed the “21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act.” This act was created, largely to fund the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative, or NNI, which has thrust a total of $7.2 billion in public funds into nanotechnology research and product development since 2000. The 2009 federal budget includes a $1.5 billion commitment to the NNI.

The National Nanotechnology Initiative’s “Strategic Action Plan” includes strategies for increasing funding in nanoscience and the development of nanotechnologies, as well as strategies for transferring new nanotechnologies into products for commercial and public benefit.

Federal funding for nanotechnology research and development is on the rise. However, some experts are worried that federal regulations may not be in place to handle the human health or ecological risks of the hundreds of nanotechnology-based products hitting the market. As a result, some companies are wary of taking chances where the risks remain unknown.

Meanwhile, a number of products claiming to be nano-based that are already on the market include:

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G-SCENT Odor Eliminator
Marketed by Green Earth Technologies, Inc., based in Stamford, Conn. “G-SCENT Odor Eliminator is an odorless, non masking, non toxic, hypo-allergenic deodorizer made from American grown resources that puts the power of nanotechnology into the hands of the consumer to quickly clean and permanently destroy the source of odors caused by smoke, urine, feces, vomit or any other organic waste decomposition,” according to the company.

- Clear It! Complexion Mist
Marketed by Kara Vita, Inc., based in St. Petersburg, Fla. “Nanosphere time-released bioactives stimulate capillary activity for all day detoxifying results,” according to the company.

- Nanoceuticals Slim Shake Chocolate
Marketed by RBC Life Sciences, Inc., based in Irving, TX. “The natural health benefits of cocoa have been combined with RBC’s NanoCluster delivery system to give you CocoaClusters a technologically advanced form of cocoa that offers enhanced flavor without the need for excess sugar,” according to the company.

- Nano Silver Teeth Developer
Marketed by Seoul, Korea-based BabyDream Co., Ltd. This is a teething toy for infants claiming to contain nano silver. The product can be purchased online in the U.S.

Of course, despite their use of the term “nanotechnology” most of these products have very little to do with real nanotechnology – which is not just the production of tiny particles, but the controlling of materials molecule-by-molecule or atom-by-atom. Still, the public’s experience with such products will likely set the tone for how future nanotechnologies will be received.

At this stage, a large number of nanotechnologies are developments just waiting for an application, said Steven George, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and co-founder of ALD NanoSolutions, Inc. – a nanotechnology company based in Broomfield, Colo.

George and a colleague at CU, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Alan Weimer, developed and patented a process for coating particles or powders in layers as small as a single atom thick in 2004. The process, called Atomic Layer Deposition – or ALD – had already existed for a few decades for coating flat surfaces. George and Weimer’s process, on the other hand, represented a new approach with potentially hundreds of new applications: Their version of ALD could change the surface chemistry of very fine powders with atomic-level control.

This technology could have applications in fields that range anywhere from chemical explosives, to cosmetics, to pharmaceuticals, said Karen Buechler, one of the four co-founders of ALD NanoSolutions. Buechler and CEO Michael Masterson were brought onboard the project once George and Weimer realized that commercializing their process held a lot of potential, Buechler said.

“It was realized very early on that there would probably be a lot of different markets where surface level chemistry changes would be wanted,” she said. “Now we’re actively pursuing synergistic products in about eight different markets.”

Essentially, the new technique developed by Weimer and George opened up a myriad of new possibilities for chemical production.

Their patented ALD system allows for very fine powders – such as zinc oxide, aluminum oxide or even carbon nanotubes – to be coated in one-atom-thick layers of additional chemicals. This process changes the surface chemistry of various powders and results in chemicals that have never existed before on Earth.

And since the process can be done repeatedly, there is theoretically no limit to how many layers can be built onto a single particle, Weimer said.

“This means that these ultra-fine powders can be given almost any properties we can imagine,” he said.

Although the technology immediately lent itself to numerous theoretical possibilities, four years later ALD NanoSolutions is still looking to bring its first product to market, Buechler said.

“We’re very much a technology-driven company,” she said. “A lot of what we do is proving that this can be done on a large scale.”

ALD NanoSolutions has nine full-time employees, five of whom work at the Broomfield location, testing and standardizing the deposition process. Once the company’s first products start hitting the market, significant growth is anticipated, Buechler said.

One of ALD NanoSolutions products, which is nearing the final stages of its development, is a lithium-based sunscreen whose reflection and absorption rates could make it vastly more effective than sunscreens currently on the market and perhaps reduce the risk of skin cancer, Weimer said.

The reason these lithium-based sunscreens have not been used already is because there is the worry that such chemicals might react with the skin to cause adverse side effects, he said.

“ALD offers a way to change the surface chemistry of these particles, to make them safe for human use,” Weimer said.

Although no one has ever been able to coat these powders before with such a high level of control – the chemical coating is a zinc oxide compound – the company’s position is that they have not fundamentally created a new chemical.

“It’s our position that this is not a new drug,” Buechler said. “The FDA allows for certain types of coatings, and since we’re using zinc oxide, this is not a new material.”

This sunscreen will probably reach the market in late 2009 or 2010, she said. But the risks and regulatory hurdles associated with entering other markets – such as biomedical fields – have so far prevented ALD NanoSolutions from taking chances with their product development strategies.

“There’s a lot of market challenge there,” Buechler said. “We don’t have a lot of regulated materials here, in part due to challenges like that.

“I’m of the opinion that nanoparticles are things that are for the most part safe and really don’t need a lot of testing,” she said. “But with some things we don’t know.”

Carbon nanotubes are one development of nanotechnology that will probably need additional safety testing, she said.

The nanotube, because of its almost mind-boggling properties, has become emblematic of the nanotechnology movement in science – even though they may not strictly be a nanotechnology, since they can be produced in large quantities without the need for nanometer-precise control.

Physically, nanotubes exhibit strengths greater than that of steel or even diamond. Electrically, they could carry currents many times more efficiently than existing copper wires. With applications ranging from bulletproof clothing to nanometer sized computer processors, expectations have remained high for carbon nanotubes. However, economical processes for manufacturing them have remained elusive.

Still, carbon nanotubes have become almost synonymous with the expansive advancements nanotechnology promises.

High hopes are not the only thing surrounding carbon nanotubes, however. According to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, if inhaled, carbon nanotubes could prove fatal to human beings.

Because of their incredible strength and shape – a shape similar to asbestos – inhalation to carbon nanotubes could cause numerous cardio and respiratory problems, according to the study. Fortunately for the public, the technology is not yet mature or widespread.

Time may still exist to make informed decisions about what society may want out of carbon nanotubes.

“We know that carbon nanotubes are shaped like asbestos,” Buechler said. “So we know that they could be dangerous.”

“But if we stopped working on them, no one would ever know what the hazards might be,” she said.

A less exciting, though perhaps more problematic “nano product” that has already reached consumers is “nano silver.” Nano silver is currently in dozens of products, and is helping to form the public’s early opinions of nanotechnology – and this may not be a good thing, because nano silver is not a nanotechnology at all.

According to a report issued by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, silver nanoparticles – which are being used in many products for their reactivity with bacteria – may already be entering the environment. These particles could have an adverse effect on ecosystems and, in high concentrations, are known to cause health problems in humans.

The usefulness of nano silver stems from its natural reactivity with bacteria – which macro-scale silver does not exhibit. If run through the exhaust of vacuum cleaners, embedded in clothing fibers or used in washing machines, for example, it can eliminate unpleasant odors. Dozens of companies are now marketing products with silver nanoparticles – from cutting boards to teddy bears to socks.

The report points out that the government’s regulatory agencies have been slow in actively assessing the risks of this nanotechnology. As a result, the public is buying products that may ultimately prove to be dangerous.

Earlier this year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – or EPA – fined a California company $200,000 for marketing a computer mouse and keypad coated in nano silver with claims about its germ-killing properties. According to the EPA, these claims should have classified the product as a pesticide, which would have made it subject to its premarket analysis.

Other fines to nano silver companies – such as those marketing nano silver coated cutting boards also for their antibacterial properties – have not followed.

According to officials at the EPA, strategies have recently been implemented to prevent nano products with new properties from reaching consumers without a formal analysis of their risks.

Yet, the trouble with reports about the dangers of nano silver and – to a lesser degree – carbon nanotubes is that these technologies and their associated risks have very little to do with what scientists would consider true nanotechnologies. Minute silver particles, or silver colloids, have been around since the early twentieth century. So, although their health risks may be nothing new, what is new is the public’s association of these potential problems with nanotechnology.

Will there be public backlash against the budding nanotechnology industry because of these problems? Only time will tell.

Related Sites

• nanotechnology: Detailed HowStuffWorks article introducing nanotechnology
• National Nanotechnology Initiative: NNI Homepage
• ecological risks: EPA's strategy for assessing ecological risks
• nanotechnology-based products on the market: PEN's nanotechnology inventory
• G-SCENT Odor Eliminator: Product Web page
• Clear It: Product Web page
• Slim Shake Chocolate: Product Web page
• Teeth Developer: Product Web page
• Atomic Layer Deposition: NCF article about ALD
• Lithium: Internet encyclopedia article about the element
• Zinc Oxide: Internet encyclopedia article about the compound
• Biomedical Engineering: Internet encyclopedia article about the field
• Carbon Nanotubes: NCF article about the structures
• Nanotube inhalation: Study reporting on the health effects of carbon nanotubes
• Asbestos: Internet encyclopedia article
• Nano Silver: PEN press release about nano silver
• EPA: EPA blog about assessing the risks of nano silver
• Colloidal Silver : Internet encyclopedia article about the particles

Further Information for Students or Professionals

• Colorado: Homepage for the Colorado Nanotechnology Alliance
• Nanotechnology Hubs: Project on Emerging Nanotechnologys' map showing the industry's hotspots around the nation
• thin films: NREL's Thin Film Partnership Program homepage
• 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act: full text of the act
• Steven George: Department Profile
• Chemistry and Biochemistry: Department Homepage
• University of Colorado: University Homepage
• ALD Nanosolutions: Company Homepage
• Chemical and Biological Engineering: Department Homepage
• Alan Weimer: Press release about Weimer and ALD Nanosolutions
• Karen Buechler: Brief profile
• Michael Masterson: ALD Nanosolutions Directory

Selected Publications

1. Available at the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies

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