A strawberry being dipped in the agar-based solution. Credit: Clare Kiernan.
University of British Columbia researchers have developed an edible, seaweed-derived coating that can keep strawberries fresh for at least four days at room temperature, outperforming uncoated berries stored in the fridge.
The breakthrough could help address one of the food industry’s most persistent challenges: reducing food waste. Nearly half of all food produced in Canada is lost or wasted, costing the economy an estimated $58 billion annually. Fresh fruits and vegetables are particularly vulnerable to spoilage, losing moisture and becoming susceptible to mould and bacteria during storage and transport.
Published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the findings offer a simple approach for extending produce shelf life and reducing reliance on refrigeration across the supply chain. Maintaining cold temperatures from farm to warehouse to truck to grocery store requires significant energy and infrastructure, especially for fresh produce transported over long distances.
“We wanted to find a simple alternative to cold storage,” said senior author Dr. Tianxi Yang, an assistant professor in UBC’s faculty of land and food systems. “Once we added the coating, the fruit became far less sensitive to changes in temperature and moisture and stayed fresh longer.”
A familiar ingredient, reimagined
The coating is made from agar, a substance derived from red seaweed that is widely used as a vegan alternative to gelatin and as a thickener in foods like puddings and jellies. On its own, agar forms a thick gel. But when researchers combined it with zinc, an essential nutrient, and tannic acid, a naturally occurring plant compound found in grapes and tea, the material transformed — self-assembling into tiny microparticles that create a thin protective layer around the fruit.
When dipped in the solution, strawberries, grapes and apple slices emerged with a thin, edible coating that dried completely clear.
“It was exciting to watch the particles self-assemble in real time, from a cloudy, milky liquid into this incredibly uniform, protective layer,” said doctoral student Ivy Chiu, the study’s lead author. “To our knowledge, no one had made an agar-based microparticle coating like this before.”
Fresher, longer, with a lighter footprint
Over four days at room temperature, coated strawberries lost less than half as much water as uncoated fruit and remained noticeably firmer, with more vitamin C and antioxidants preserved. Grapes and apple slices showed similar benefits, with improvements lasting 14 days and 24 hours, respectively.
By comparison, untreated strawberries stored at room temperature began developing mould within two days, while refrigeration only extended their shelf life slightly — most untreated berries began to deteriorate by day four.
Coated strawberries stored without refrigeration remained mould-free for at least four days, while those stored in the fridge stayed fresh for at least six days.
The coating also showed antibacterial properties and no signs of toxicity in tests using human intestinal cells. For consumers who prefer to remove the coating before eating, most of it can be washed away with tap water within two minutes.
A life-cycle assessment found that the coating has a 14 per cent lower carbon footprint than conventional refrigeration and reduces freshwater ecotoxicity by about 85 per cent, largely by reducing reliance on the electricity and refrigerants required for cold storage.
From lab to grocery aisle
To assess its potential for real-world use, the team replaced laboratory-grade agar with commercially available food-grade agar. The results remained consistent, with coated strawberries showing reduced moisture loss and spoilage while maintaining quality.
“Our hope is to help keep produce fresh for longer throughout the food system,” said Dr. Yang. “If we can reduce spoilage during storage and transportation, we can reduce food waste while using less energy to preserve food.”
The research team is now testing the coating on additional fruits and vegetables and investigating how it could be scaled, tested and integrated into commercial food systems.
Not entirely a surprise that this research comes from Australia, given that country’s need for water. From a November 3, 2025 news item on Nanowerk. Note: A link has been removed,
Researchers at the University of Sydney and start-up Dewpoint Innovations have developed a nanoengineered polymer paint-like coating that can passively cool buildings and capture water directly from the air – all without energy input.
The invention could help tackle global water scarcity and help cool buildings, reducing the need for energy-intensive systems.
The research team led by Professor Chiara Neto created a porous polymer coating that reflects up to 97 percent of sunlight and radiates heat into the air, keeping surfaces up to six degrees cooler than the surrounding air even under direct sun. This process creates ideal conditions for atmospheric water vapour to condense into droplets on the cooler surface, the way steam condenses on your bathroom mirror.
Professor Neto from the University of Sydney Nano Institute and School of Chemistry said the findings could have far-reaching implications.
“This technology not only advances the science of cool roof coatings but also opens the door to sustainable, low-cost and decentralised sources of fresh water – a critical need in the face of climate change and growing water scarcity,” she said.
In the six-month long outdoor study conducted on the roof of the Sydney Nanoscience Hub, dew could be collected over 32 percent of the year and so could provide a sustainable and predictable supply of water even in periods with no rain. Under optimum conditions, the coatings can harvest up to 390 mL of water per square metre each day – enough for a 12-square-metre surface to supply the daily drinking needs of one person.
The study, published in Advanced Functional Materials, shows that passive cooling and atmospheric water capture can be integrated into a paint-like material for large-scale use.
Larger collection areas mean the paint could be versatile in industry: water for animals, for horticulture of high-value plants, for use in cooling by misting, or for use in hydrogen production. (About nine litres of water per kilogram of hydrogen is needed in electrolysis.)
Cooling the city, drop by drop
Unlike traditional white paints, the porous coatings, made of polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropene, or PVDF-HFP, do not rely on ultraviolet-reflective pigments such as titanium dioxide.
“Our design achieves high reflectivity through its internal porous structure, delivering durability without the environmental drawbacks of pigment-based coatings,” said Dr Ming Chiu, the study’s lead author and Chief Technology Officer of Dewpoint Innovations.
“By removing UV-absorbing materials, we overcome the traditional limit in solar reflectivity while avoiding glare through diffuse reflection. This balance between performance and visual comfort makes it easier to integrate and is more appealing for real-world applications.”
Over the six-month outdoor trial, the team recorded cooling and water collection data minute-by-minute, confirming robust performance with no degradation under harsh Australian sun. Similar technologies have been shown to quickly deteriorate.
Beyond water harvesting, these coatings could help reduce urban heat island effects, lower energy needs for air-conditioning and provide climate-resilient water sources in regions facing growing heat and water stress.
Professor Neto, also a member of the University of Sydney Net Zero Institute, said the research also challenges the assumption that dew collection only works in humid climates.
“While humid conditions are ideal, dew can form even in arid and semi-arid regions where night-time humidity rises. It’s not about replacing rainfall but supplementing it – providing water where and when other sources become limited.”
From lab to rooftop
To bring the discovery from the lab to rooftops, Dewpoint Innovations is now developing a water-based paint formulation that can be applied using ordinary rollers or sprayers.
“At Dewpoint, we’re proud to partner with the University of Sydney to bring this breakthrough in passive atmospheric water harvesting to life through advanced paint-based coatings,” said Perzaan Mehta, CEO of Dewpoint Innovations.
“It’s a scalable, energy-free solution that transforms rooftops and remote infrastructure into reliable sources of clean water, helping address an urgent challenge of our time.”
With more than two million Australian homes already collecting rainwater, Professor Neto said dew-collecting roofs could complement existing systems.
“Imagine roofs that not only stay cooler but also make their own fresh water – that’s the promise of this technology,” she said.
The Neto group’s innovation was licensed from the University of Sydney in 2022 to start-up company Dewpoint Innovations. Its commercial translation represents a significant step toward scalable, environmentally friendly solutions for water harvesting and passive cooling, with potential applications in the built environment, agriculture, remote communities, and urban infrastructure.
Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
Passively Cooled Paint-Like Coatings for Atmospheric Water Capture by Ming Chiu, Emile Theau, Angus Harrison, Johanna M. Terpstra, Riccardo Parin, C. Martijn de Sterke, Tristram J. Alexander, Chiara Neto. Advanced Functional Materials Online Version of Record before inclusion in an issue DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202519108 First published: 30 October 2025
The “Made by Waterloo:” series showcases innovative startups founded by University of Waterloo alumni and researchers that are driving Canada’s economy forward. These companies, nurtured within the region’s vibrant tech ecosystem, are making significant local and global impacts. Through this series, we highlight how Waterloo and these home-grown businesses are fostering prosperity by attracting, developing and retaining the talent essential for fueling Canada’s economic growth.
Nestled in the heart of Waterloo region’s innovation district, Alchemy exemplifies how a startup can expand into a global successful business with the support of local talent. What began as a fourth-year capstone project for a group of Faculty of Engineering students designed as a spray for preventing frost formation on windshields evolved into a camouflage coating used by the Canadian Armed Forces.
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Joe Pavla wrote a June 22, 2025 article for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) news online highlighting Alchemy and other companies that could benefit from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s push to increase government defence spending, Note: A link has been removed,
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s multi-billion dollar announcement to increase defence spending could be great news for Waterloo region tech companies who have developed solutions to protect soldiers and gather military intelligence.
At the Waterloo region nanotechnology company Alchemy, CEO Khanjan Desai says while working to develop technology for the automotive industry, they found a nanoparticle that can interact with thermal infrared electromagnetic radiation.
“[It’s a] thermal camouflage technology using state-of-the-art nanoparticles that can be integrated into any textile, any paint, any coding to help mask the thermal or the heat signature of a soldier, a vehicle, a military encampment, et cetera,” said Desai.
That means “a drone with a thermal camera in the sky can’t spot soldiers as easily as they are being spotted right now on the Russia-Ukrainian war front.”
Desai says Alchemy has been working with the Canadian Department of National Defence [DND] since about 2020. He welcomes the increase in funding.
“We are tremendously excited. We knew about the potential this technology has for protecting Canadian soldiers and Canadian lives and we’ve always wanted it to be something that we could bring to the finish line with the Canadian government before we brought it to the finish line with anyone else,” Desai said
“This announcement, in my opinion, is incredibly exciting because it can allow us to do that. And obviously it would be a huge moment of pride for us to be able to bring it to the finish line as well with the Canadian DND.”
Carney committed to spending an extra $9.3 billion on the armed forces by March of 2026, bumping the country’s military spending up to two per cent of Canada’s entire GDP.
Carney has also pledged to end this country’s reliance on the U.S. for equipment by diverting billions of dollars in spending to Canadian manufacturers.
“We focus on the practical applications of nanotechnology,” says Khanjan Desai (BASc ’13), co-founder and CEO of Alchemy. “With a full product line right now in the market, we are in the process of doing something no one else has done before: delivering high-quality, easy to install windshield protection films in the same package.”
Alchemy’s automotive solution for car owners, powered by their “Endurance Class” nanoceramic coating, offers windshield protection films that prevent stone chips and scratches. While working with nanoparticles for their ExoShield line, the team discovered that their products could interact with thermal infrared radiation, a technology used for thermal camouflage in military applications. This discovery opened a window for Alchemy into the defence industry.
A growing partnership with the Canadian Armed Forces
In 2019, the Canadian Department of Research and Development Canada (DRDC) sought technologies for thermal infrared signature management through its IDEaS program. Alchemy’s defense solution, powered by their “Crypsis Class” nanocomposite coating, was designed to conceal uniforms to avoid detection in various operational environments. The company was awarded a $1 million contract to further advance the technology, specifically for textile integration.
“Something we have seen in the last three years of the Ukraine war is that the battlefield has been rendered transparent by thermal cameras, which are very cheap and easy to buy,” Desai says. “Put a thermal camera on a drone, and now you have a level one unmanned aircraft system in the sky. Every soldier, vehicle and military encampment becomes visible in the thermal spectrum, rendering existing camouflage ineffective.”
Alchemy developed a multi-spectral camouflage platform using specialized nanoparticles that can be integrated into textiles to camouflage soldier’s heat signatures in the mid-wave and long-wave infrared spectrums. The team plans to explore converting the technology into an aerosolized version for broader application to military equipment and uniforms.
“We have been supported very deeply by the Canadian Armed Forces, specifically through DRDC,” Desai says. “Alchemy underwent various rounds of testing and received feedback from Canada’s foremost authority on signature management, Jean Dumas. We scored 95 out of 100 on our solution during the field trial and were recommended to submit a proposal for a follow-on contract to take the technology to full commercial readiness.”
In September 2025, Alchemy secured $6 million in funding to accelerate the development and commercialization of its defense and automotive technologies, which are already being tested by leading defense agencies. The expansion of Alchemy’s Canadian manufacturing footprint is supported by investors including NameSilo Technologies, Pathfinder Asset Management and Pembroke Management.
Delivering global solutions while keeping its roots in Waterloo region
In early 2025, Alchemy also received $1.8 million from the Government of Canada, through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), to develop the next generation of its windshield protection films, making the company’s products more accessible.
Michael Berger wrote an August 17, 2025 Nanowerk spotlight article on proposed research into the use of graphene as a protection against malaria carrying mosquitoes, Note: Links have been removed,
Malaria continues to resist elimination efforts, even as vaccines and treatments become easier to access. Despite substantial progress, the disease remains a serious global threat. According to the World Health Organization, in 2023 there were an estimated 597,000 malaria-related deaths and 263 million cases worldwide. Preventive measures such as insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor spraying remain key strategies, and diagnostic testing and treatments are essential for managing infections.
Yet each tool faces limits. Mosquitoes are developing resistance to insecticides. Parasites are evolving resistance to treatments. Diagnostics often require lab settings or fail to detect infections early or at low levels. Malaria must be managed at many points—from the mosquito bite to parasite growth to detection—but the current tools are not equally effective at every stage.
Materials science is now stepping into this space with a new class of engineered substances: two-dimensional (2D) materials, particularly graphene and its variants. Graphene is a single sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern, known for its exceptional strength, electrical conductivity, and chemical reactivity. These properties make it promising for applications that require both sensitivity and selectivity, such as detecting tiny amounts of biomolecules or blocking microscopic particles.
Figure 1: Graphene in the fight against malaria. I) Material based on a diversity of graphene (e.g., 0D, 1D, 2D, 3D, monolayer, multilayer, and nanosheet) with chemical properties of strong strength, high mobility, high transparency, good heat conductivity, biocompatibility, and chemical stability; II) advanced devices (e.g., nanofabrication of graphene quantum dots, surface plasmon resonance biosensing chip) demonstrating antimalarial characteristics can be used for III) malaria treatment (i.e., enhanced predation efficiency of natural enemies, prevented P. falciparum bites by acting as physical barrier, interference P. falciparum sense the human body, the superior loading capacity of graphene oxide nanosheets (GOns) for essential biomolecules required for the growth and development of malaria parasites resulted in the depletion of vital nutrients, diagnosis malaria by rapid detection of DNA, RBC, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and nanodrug delivery system with high toxicity against malaria mosquitoes) at IV) different stages of malaria development from injection of sporozoites by an infected mosquito to multiplication of merozoites in RBCs. This review contributes to a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with graphene-based materials in the fight against malaria, offering valuable guidance for future research and development in this important area. [downloaded from https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anbr.202300130]
A comprehensive review published in Advanced NanoBiomed Research (“The Comprehensive Roadmap Toward Malaria Elimination Using Graphene and its Promising 2D Analogs”) outlines how graphene and similar materials could be systematically applied across multiple stages of malaria control.
The authors present a structured roadmap covering synthesis methods, biological interactions, safety issues, and potential for use in both diagnosis and prevention. Their approach is not to suggest a single cure-all, but to identify specific material properties that could address long-standing weaknesses in current malaria tools.
The paper begins by describing how graphene and its common derivatives — including graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and graphene quantum dots (GQDs) — can be manufactured using physical, chemical, or biological methods. Physical methods include mechanical exfoliation and chemical vapor deposition, which yield high-purity graphene sheets. Chemical methods, such as Hummers’ method, oxidize graphite to produce GO, a more water-dispersible form that is easier to work with in biological environments. Biological or “green” methods use plant extracts or microbes as reducing agents to avoid toxic solvents, and these are seen as more scalable and biocompatible for medical applications. Each method has trade-offs in cost, quality, and environmental impact.
Once produced, graphene-based materials can interact with malaria parasites, mosquitoes, or infected blood cells in ways that potentially disrupt the disease process. The authors identify three primary intervention points: prevention, parasite inhibition, and diagnosis.
In terms of prevention, graphene’s impermeability makes it an effective barrier material. When applied as a coating on fabrics or films, it can block mosquito bites by physically resisting the insect’s proboscis and masking human scent cues such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that multilayer GO coatings on the skin prevent mosquitoes from locating and piercing the surface, reducing bite risk without using chemicals. These barrier films are flexible and can be integrated into clothing or wearable devices. Because the films are stable and resistant to wear, they offer longer-lasting protection than chemical repellents.
The review also discusses using GQDs as larvicides, since these nanoscale particles can penetrate mosquito larvae and disrupt their development. Their small size allows them to pass through biological membranes and interfere with cell function, though the exact mechanism remains under study.
The second application area is inhibition of parasite development. After a person is bitten, the malaria parasite enters the bloodstream and invades red blood cells. GO nanosheets have shown the ability to bind to the parasite’s outer membrane or to essential nutrients in the blood, physically blocking the parasite’s access to the cell. In vitro experiments suggest that GO can capture or neutralize the parasite before it completes its life cycle. Some graphene derivatives can interfere with protein transport or nutrient absorption, making the environment inside the host less favorable to the parasite. These materials could potentially be delivered through injectable suspensions or oral carriers, though this application remains in early experimental phases.
One of the most promising areas for using graphene in malaria control is early diagnosis. Accurate detection is critical for timely treatment and for preventing the spread of infection, especially in areas with limited medical infrastructure. Traditional diagnostic tools, such as rapid tests and blood smears, often miss low-level infections or require trained personnel and laboratory settings. Graphene offers a way to build more sensitive, portable, and reliable detection devices.
Graphene’s usefulness in sensing comes from its structure. Because it is only one atom thick, any molecule that lands on its surface can quickly alter its electrical or optical properties. This makes it especially good at detecting very small amounts of biological material — such as the proteins, DNA, or altered red blood cells that signal a malaria infection.
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If you are interested in the possibilities that graphene offers, Berger’s August 17, 2025 article is well worth reading in its entirety.
Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
The Comprehensive Roadmap Toward Malaria Elimination Using Graphene and its Promising 2D Analogs by Fangzhou He, George Junior, Rajashree Konar, Yuanding Huang, Ke Zhang, Lijing Ke, Meng Niu, Boon Tong Goh, Amine El Moutaouakil, Gilbert Daniel Nessim, Mohamed Belmoubarik, Weng Kung Peng. Advanced NanoBiomed Research Volume 5, Issue 8 August 2025 2300130 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/anbr.202300130 First published online: 15 March 2024
Caption: The bio-inspired metasurfaces act like a real cloud, enabling daytime cooling, heating and thermal camouflage in a single solution. Credit: Mady Elbahri / Aalto University
While I don’t have a military story for today (Remembrance Day, November 11, 2025), there is the ‘camouflage’ story. A June 30, 2025 news item on Nanowerk announces research into mimicking clouds,
How does a cloud stay cool under direct sunlight –– or seem to vanish in infrared? In nature, phenomena like white cumulus clouds, grey storm systems, and even the hollow hairs of polar bears offer remarkable lessons in balancing temperature, colour and invisibility. Inspired by these atmospheric marvels, researchers have now created a nanoscale ‘cloud’ metasurface capable of dynamically switching between white and grey states — cooling or heating on demand –– all while evading thermal detection.
There is a major global push for passive, energy-efficient thermal management in building materials, wearables, sensors and defence applications. This newly invented system fits perfectly into emerging fields like radiative cooling, adaptive coatings, and thermal heating and thermal camouflage under climate and security pressures.
Much like the transformation from bright cumulus to dark cumulonimbus clouds, this metasurface uses multiple scattering, absorption and polarizonic reflection principles to modulate light and heat. In its ‘white’ state, it strongly backscatters sunlight to enable radiative cooling, while the ‘grey’ state absorbs sunlight efficiently for high-performance heating. Crucially, both states remain ‘invisible’ to infrared sensors due to low mid-infrared emissivity — something no previous surface has achieved.
‘We’ve engineered a nanoscale cloud on every surface. It can tune its colour and temperature like a real cloud — between cooling white and heating grey — while staying hidden from thermal cameras,’ Professor Mady Elbahri from Aalto University explains.
Both white and grey metasurfaces overcome limitations of traditional coatings
Typical white paints cool surfaces by scattering sunlight in all directions, but they still glow in heat vision. This new material works more like a cloud — cooling by bouncing sunlight back and staying hidden from heat sensors.
Conventional white coatings (e.g., titanium dioxide, TiO₂ based) scatter sunlight diffusively, but are only effective in shaded conditions or at night. Their high emissivity in the 8–13 μm range makes them bright in thermal infrared imaging, limiting use in thermal stealth. ‘This new white plasmonic metasurface scatters sunlight through disordered metallic nanostructures while minimising thermal emission — cooling surfaces in full sunlight and remaining thermally camouflaged. This feature makes the innovation groundbreaking,’ says Adel Assad, a PhD student in the group.
Black materials get hot in the sun but also light up thermal cameras as they emit infrared strongly.
‘This grey surface gets hotter than black—but without sending out heat that can be seen by heat sensors. This could be a game-changer for smart textiles, building materials, and camouflage, says Moheb Abdelaziz, a postdoctoral researcher in the group.
Great potential grows from humble beginnings
The research opens new pathways in adaptive surface engineering. Potential applications span from zero-energy building facades that switch between heating and cooling to smart textiles that regulate body temperature without electronics. The discovery also presents opportunities in low-visibility sensors and devices for defence and surveillance.
The next step for the research is to explore dynamic coatings using electrochromic or phase-changing layers for real-time, user-controlled switching between states.
The researchers are proud that the remarkable findings came despite an initial project rejection.
‘With no dedicated funding after initial setbacks, we relied on shared vision and collaboration –– especially with our partners in Germany –– to turn doubt into discovery. It’s proof that science, like clouds, can rise against the odds,’ says Elbahri.
Spinal cord injuries are currently incurable with devastating effects on people’s lives, but now a trial at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland offers hope for an effective treatment.
Spinal cord injuries shatter the signal between the brain and body, often resulting in a loss of function.”Unlike a cut on the skin, which typically heals on its own, the spinal cord does not regenerate effectively, making these injuries devastating and currently incurable,” says lead researcher Dr Bruce Harland, a senior research fellow in the School of Pharmacy at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.
Before birth, and to a lesser extent afterwards, naturally occurring electric fields play a vital role in early nervous system development, encouraging and guiding the growth of nerve tissue along the spinal cord. Scientists are now harnessing this same electrical guidance system in the lab.An implantable electronic device has restored movement following spinal cord injury in an animal study, raising hopes for an effective treatment for humans and even their pets.
“We developed an ultra-thin implant designed to sit directly on the spinal cord, precisely positioned over the injury site in rats,” Dr Harland says.
The device delivers a carefully controlled electrical current across the injury site.
“The aim is to stimulate healing so people can recover functions lost through spinal-cord injury,” Professor Darren Svirskis, director of the CatWalk Cure Programme at the University’s School of Pharmacy says.
Unlike humans, rats have a greater capacity for spontaneous recovery after spinal cord injury, which allowed researchers to compare natural healing with healing supported by electrical stimulation.
After four weeks, animals that received daily electric field treatment showed improved movement compared with those who did not.
Throughout the 12-week study, they responded more quickly to gentle touch.
“This indicates that the treatment supported recovery of both movement and sensation,” Harland says.
“Just as importantly, our analysis confirmed that the treatment did not cause inflammation or other damage to the spinal cord, demonstrating that it was not only effective but also safe.”
This new study, published in a leading journal, has come out of a partnership between the University of Auckland and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. See Nature Communications.
“Long term, the goal is to transform this technology into a medical device that could benefit people living with these life-changing spinal-cord injuries,” says Professor Maria Asplund of Chalmers University of Technology.
“This study offers an exciting proof of concept showing that electric field treatment can support recovery after spinal cord injury,” says doctoral student Lukas Matter, also from Chalmers University.
The next step is to explore how different doses, including the strength, frequency, and duration of the treatment, affect recovery, to discover the most effective recipe for spinal-cord repair.
An international research team, including scientists from the Institut de Neurociències at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), has developed a new solution to reduce the immune response triggered by neural prosthetics used after limb amputations or severe nerve injuries. The approach consists of coating the electronic implants (which connect the prosthetic device to the patient’s nervous system) with a potent anti-inflammatory drug. This coating helps the body better tolerate the implant, improving its long-term performance and stability.
Neural electrode implants are commonly used in prosthetics to restore communication between the device and the nervous system. However, their long-term effectiveness can be compromised by the body’s natural immune reaction to foreign objects, which leads to the formation of scar tissue around the implant and can impair its function.
Now, a recent study published in Advanced Healthcare Materials by researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Università di Ferrara, the University of Freiburg, and Chalmers University of Technology, conducted as part of the European collaborative project BioFINE, reports a novel method to improve the biocompatibility and chronic stability of these electrodes.
The technique involves activating and modifying the surface of polyimide (a material commonly used for implanted electrodes) using a chemical strategy that enables the covalent binding of the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone. This innovation allows the drug to be released at the implant site slowly over at least two months, a critical period when the immune system typically mounts its strongest response.
Biological tests showed that this approach reduces inflammation-related signals in immune cells, while maintaining the material’s biocompatibility and mechanical integrity. Animal testing further confirmed that the dexamethasone-releasing implants significantly reduce immune reactions and scar tissue formation around the device.
These findings suggest that the slow and localized release of dexamethasone from the implant surface could extend the functional lifespan of neural prostheses, offering a promising step forward in addressing the long-term challenges of implantable neurotechnology.
“This is a main step that has to be complemented by the demonstration in vivo that this coating improves the functional performance of chronically implanted electrodes in the peripheral nerves, for stimulating and recording nerve signals”, says Dr. Xavier Navarro, principal investigator of the UAB team in the BioFINE project.
Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
Covalent Binding of Dexamethasone to Polyimide Improves Biocompatibility of Neural Implantable Devices by Giulia Turrin, Jose Crugeiras, Chiara Bisquoli, Davide Barboni, Martina Catani, Bruno Rodríguez-Meana, Rita Boaretto, Michele Albicini, Stefano Caramori, Claudio Trapella, Thomas Stieglitz, Yara Baslan, Hanna Karlsson-Fernberg, Fernanda L. Narvaez-Chicaiza, Edoardo Marchini, Alberto Cavazzini, Ruben López-Vales, Maria Asplund, Xavier Navarro, Stefano Carli. Advanced Healthcare Materials Volume 14, Issue 21 August 19, 2025 2405004 First published online: 17 June 2025 OI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202405004
External walls of buildings are normally lifeless and have no additional function. An international team of researchers and companies, in which Carole Planchette from the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer is involved, wants to change this by adding microbial life to building façades. In the project “Archibiome tattoo for resistant, responsive, and resilient cities” (REMEDY), the consortium is working on integrating specifically composed communities of beneficial microorganisms into living ink that adheres to exterior walls made of concrete, wood, metal and other building materials. These living tattoos on buildings are intended to protect the façades from weathering, store CO2 and filter pollutants from the air. The European Innovation Council is funding the four-year project with a total of almost three million euros as part of the Pathfinder funding programme.
Billions of square metres of potential wall space
Over the next 25 years, building façades and roofs with a total area of 9.4 billion square metres will be renovated or newly built in the European Union. “This is a huge potential that we should utilise. Microbiological communities on roofs and façades could fulfil numerous functions without taking up scarce, undeveloped space,” says Carole Planchette.
Useful microbiome for buildings
At the University of Ljubljana, a team led by microbiologist Nina Gunde-Cimerman is looking for suitable microorganisms. The researchers want to design interkingdom microbial consortia that form stable communities.
”The aim is to create a beneficial microbiome for buildings that is resistant to pathogenic microbes and repairs superficial cracks on its own,” says Carole Planchette. “Additional benefits will range from carbon sequestration and oxygen production to bioremediation, among others.”
At the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer, Carole Planchette is responsible for developing a suitable, printable ink in which the microorganisms can survive. “We opted for inkjet printing because it allows us to apply the living ink very precisely, in a controlled manner and quickly at the same time,” explains Carole Planchette. The dimensions of the microorganisms, which reach the size of several micrometres and are expected to aggregate in millimetric clusters, are a challenge: They are too bulky for conventional inkjet technology, in which usually particles in the nanometre range are sprayed. Together with the Slovak inkjet manufacturer Qres Technologies and the Austrian coating specialist Tiger Coatings, Carole Planchette is working on the necessary technological modifications.
Technology breakthrough
“The ambition of REMEDY is to achieve a breakthrough in fundamental research in microbiology and synthetic biology, transfer the know-how to materials science in the form of engineered living materials, and develop compatible biofabrication processes that allow personalised design in the architectural context,” says project coordinator Anna Sandak from the research institute InnoRenew CoE in Izola, Slovenia.
”I am confident that we will develop suitable inks and the customised inkjet technology within the project duration,” says Carole Planchette. “I also expect that we will find suitable microorganisms that survive in the ink and under the stress generated by printing. It will be interesting to see whether we succeed in making this process already fully reproducible over the next four years. Using living – thus evolving – inks for industrial processes such as inkjet printing, which tolerate little parameter variations, is a challenge, as we are entering uncharted territory with the REMEDY project.”
The consortium brings together six partners from four EU countries: Slovenia, Austria, the Netherlands, and Slovakia. The collaboration includes InnoRenew CoE acting as coordinator, University of Ljubljana, Graz University of Technology, TIGER Coatings, Xylotrade B.V., and Qres Technologies, with the in-kind support of the University of Primorska as a third party.
The work you see in the above is being displayed at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale or Biennale Architettura 2025; 19th International Architecture Exhibition being held in Venice, 10.05 – 23.11 2025 (May 10 – November 23, 2025). Note: Links have been removed.
ETH researchers present a living material consisting of a hydrogel and cyanobacteria embedded in it.
The photosynthetic bacteria extract CO2 from the atmosphere and convert it into biomass and carbonate-containing minerals.
The 3D-printable building material is intended to help reduce the carbon footprint of buildings and infrastructure in the future.
At the Venice Biennale and the Triennale in Milan, two exhibits explore how the living material could be used in architecture.
The idea seems futuristic: At ETH Zurich, various disciplines are working together to combine conventional materials with bacteria, algae and fungi. The common goal: to create living materials that acquire useful properties thanks to the metabolism of microorganisms – “such as the ability to bind CO2 from the air by means of photosynthesis,” says Mark Tibbitt, Professor of Macromolecular Engineering at ETH Zurich.
An interdisciplinary research team led by Tibbitt has now turned this vision into reality: it has stably incorporated photosynthetic bacteria – known as cyanobacteria – into a printable gel and developed a material that is alive, grows and actively removes carbon from the air. The researchers recently presented their “photosynthetic living material” in a study in the journal Nature Communications.
Key characteristic: Dual carbon sequestration
The material can be shaped using 3D printing and only requires sunlight and artificial seawater with readily available nutrients in addition to CO2 to grow. “As a building material, it could help to store CO2 directly in buildings in the future,” says Tibbitt, who co-initiated the research into living materials at ETH Zurich.
The special thing about it: the living material absorbs much more CO2 than it binds through organic growth. “This is because the material can store carbon not only in biomass, but also in the form of minerals – a special property of these cyanobacteria,” reveals Tibbitt.
Yifan Cui, one of the two lead authors of the study, explains: “Cyanobacteria are among the oldest life forms in the world. They are highly efficient at photosynthesis and can utilise even the weakest light to produce biomass from CO2 and water”.
At the same time, the bacteria change their chemical environment outside the cell as a result of photosynthesis, so that solid carbonates (such as lime) precipitate. These minerals represent an additional carbon sink and – in contrast to biomass – store CO2 in a more stable form.
Cyanobacteria as master builders
“We utilise this ability specifically in our material,” says Cui, who is a doctoral student in Tibbitt’s research group. A practical side effect: the minerals are deposited inside the material and reinforce it mechanically. In this way, the cyanobacteria slowly harden the initially soft structures.
Laboratory tests showed that the material continuously binds CO₂ over a period of 400 days, most of it in mineral form – around 26 milligrams of CO2 per gram of material. This is significantly more than many biological approaches and comparable to the chemical mineralisation of recycled concrete (around 7 mg CO2 per gram).
Hydrogel as a habitat
The carrier material that harbours the living cells is a hydrogel – a gel made of cross-linked polymers with a high water content. Tibbitt’s team selected the polymer network so that it can transport light, CO2, water and nutrients and allows the cells to spread evenly inside without leaving the material.
To ensure that the cyanobacteria live as long as possible and remain efficient, the researchers have also optimised the geometry of the structures using 3D printing processes to increase the surface area, increase light penetration and promote the flow of nutrients.
Co-first author Dalia Dranseike: “In this way, we created structures that enable light penetration and passively distribute nutrient fluid throughout the body by capillary forces.” Thanks to this design, the encapsulated cyanobacteria lived productively for more than a year, the materials researcher in Tibbitt’s team is pleased to report.
Infrastructure as a carbon sink
The researchers see their living material as a low-energy and environmentally friendly approach that can bind CO2 from the atmosphere and supplement existing chemical processes for carbon sequestration. “In the future, we want to investigate how the material can be used as a coating for building façades to bind CO2 throughout the entire life cycle of a building,” Tibbitt looks ahead.
There is still a long way to go – but colleagues from the field of architecture have already taken up the concept and realised initial interpretations in an experimental way.
Two installations in Venice and Milan
Thanks to ETH doctoral student Andrea Shin Ling, basic research from the ETH laboratories has made it onto the big stage at the Architecture Biennale in Venice. “It was particularly challenging to scale up the production process from laboratory format to room dimensions,” says the architect and bio-designer, who is also involved in this study.
Ling is doing her doctorate at ETH Professor Benjamin Dillenburger’s Chair of Digital Building Technologies [sic]. In her dissertation, she developed a platform for biofabrication that can print living structures containing functional cyanobacteria on an architectural scale.
For the Picoplanktonics installation in the Canada Pavilion, the project team used the printed structures as living building blocks to construct two tree-trunk-like objects, the largest around three metres high. Thanks to the cyanobacteria, these can each bind up to 18 kg of CO2 per year – about as much as a 20-year-old pine tree in the temperate zone.
“The installation is an experiment – we have adapted the Canada Pavilion so that it provides enough light, humidity and warmth for the cyanobacteria to thrive and then we watch how they behave,” says Ling. This is a commitment: The team monitors and maintains the installation on site – daily. Until 23 November [2025].
At the 24th Triennale di Milano, Dafne’s Skin is investigating the potential of living materials for future building envelopes. On a structure covered with wooden shingles, microorganisms form a deep green patina that changes the wood over time: A sign of decay becomes an active design element that binds CO2 and emphasises the aesthetics of microbial processes. Dafne’s Skin is a collaboration between MAEID Studio and Dalia Dranseike. It is part of the exhibition “We the Bacteria: Notes Toward Biotic Architecture” and runs until 9 November [2025].
The photosynthetic living material was created thanks to an interdisciplinary collaboration within the framework of ALIVE (Advanced Engineering with Living Materials). The ETH Zurich initiative promotes collaboration between researchers from different disciplines in order to develop new living materials for a wide range of applications.
Before exploring the Canadian connection a little further, here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
Dual carbon sequestration with photosynthetic living materials by Dalia Dranseike, Yifan Cui, Andrea S. Ling, Felix Donat, Stéphane Bernhard, Margherita Bernero, Akhil Areeckal, Marco Lazic, Xiao-Hua Qin, John S. Oakey, Benjamin Dillenburger, André R. Studart & Mark W. Tibbitt. Nature Communications volume 16, Article number: 3832 (2025) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58761-y Published: 23 April 2025
On the occasion of Canada’s participation in the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the Canada Council for the Arts present Picoplanktonics at the Canada Pavilion, from May 10 to November 23, 2025.
Amidst the ongoing global climate crisis, the Living Room Collective has developed a ground-breaking exhibition that showcases the potential for collaboration between humans and nature. Comprised of 3D printed structures that contain live cyanobacteria capable of carbon sequestration, Picoplanktonics is an exploration of our potential to co-operate with living systems by co-constructing spaces that remediate the planet rather than exploit it.
The Living Room Collective’s exhibition is the culmination of four years of collaborative research by Andrea Shin Ling and various interdisciplinary contributors. It is focused on harnessing the design principles of living systems to develop sustainable, intelligent and resilient materials and technologies for the future. By leveraging ancient biological processes alongside emergent technologies, it proposes designing environments under an ecology-first ethos.
“The Canada Council for the Arts is delighted to unveil Picoplanktonics by the Living Room Collective at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Through the lens of architecture, this year’s Canadian exhibition brings technological innovation and ecological stewardship together. It is a unique exhibition, sure to inspire global audiences and to ignite important conversations, about how our built environment might better house and use natural systems for a more sustainable future.”
– Michelle Chawla, Director and CEO, Canada Council for the Arts
When visitors enter the Canada Pavilion, they will encounter 3D printed structures that were originally fabricated in an ETH Zürich laboratory. These are the largest living material structures produced using a first-of-its-kind biofabrication platform capable of printing living structures at an architectural scale. The unique Picoplanktonics experience stems from adapting the Canada Pavilion to provide enough light, moisture, and warmth for the living cyanobacteria within the structures to grow, thrive and change. For the duration of the exhibition, caretakers will be onsite tending to the structures, emphasizing care and stewardship as essential elements of the design.
As global carbon emissions continue to rise to untenable levels, Picoplanktonics presents a vision of how a regenerative system of construction could operate. It is an ongoing experiment centered on leveraging the reciprocal relationship between living structures, the built environment, and humans. In this way, the Living Room Collective is rethinking building principles and prioritizing ecological resilience beyond human species survival.
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“Picoplanktonics marks four years of research at ETH Zürich with international collaborators in material science, biology, robotics, and computational design. As we move these living prototypes into the Canada Pavilion, we are thrilled to invite the public into this open experiment and reveal all phases of the material’s life, including growth, sickness, and death, while collectively imagining a regenerative design approach that seeks planetary remediation.”
–Andrea Shin Ling, The Living Room Collective
The Living Room Collective
The Living Room Collective is a group of architects, scientists, artists and educators who work at the intersection of architecture, biology and digital fabrication technologies—led by Canadian architect and biodesigner Andrea Shin Ling. Alongside core team members Nicholas Hoban, Vincent Hui and Clayton Lee, the collective seeks to move society away from exploitative systems of production to regenerative ones by inventing design methods and processes that center on natural systems.
They see the Biennale Architettura 2025 as a platform to generate national and international conversations that ask: How does one fabricate a biological architecture? What are the conditions of stewardship? What are the strategies to instigate this at scale, regionally and globally?
Andrea Shin Ling is an architect and biodesigner who works at the intersection of design, digital fabrication and biology. Her work focuses on how the critical application of biologically and computationally mediated design processes can move society away from exploitative systems of production to regenerative ones. She is the 2020 S+T+ARTS Grand Prize winner for her work as Ginkgo Bioworks’ creative resident designing the decay of artifacts in order to access material circularity. Andrea is a founder of designGUILD, a Toronto-based art collective, and was a researcher in the Mediated Matter group at the MIT Media Lab, where she worked on AguahojaI, a 3D-printed bio-material pavilion. She is currently a doctoral fellow at the Chair of Digital Building Technologies at ETH Zurich.
Nicholas Hoban is a computational designer, fabricator and educator. He works at the intersection of computational design, robotics, construction and simulation in pedagogy, research and practice. Nicholas is the director of applied technologies at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture [University of Toronto], Landscape, and Design and a lecturer within the Daniels technology specialist program, leading various research and teaching labs while developing curriculum for studios and seminars on advanced fabrication and robotics within architecture. His research focuses on the application of robotics within fabrication and construction and on how we can solve critical problems in geometry through integrated processes. Nicholas was a lead fabricator and computational designer for two previous Venice Biennales: for the 2014 Canadian Pavilion for Lateral Office’s Arctic Adaptations and for the 2016 Swiss Pavilion for Christian Kerez’s Incidental Space.
Vincent Hui is a distinguished professor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Department of Architectural Science, imparting knowledge across diverse domains from design studios to digital tools. His pedagogical excellence has earned him multiple teaching accolades, as he delves into the intersections of architecture, fabrication and allied disciplines. With over 25 years of experience, his extensive publication portfolio focuses on design pedagogy, simulation, prototyping and technological convergence, complemented by a rich body of creative work showcased globally. Collaborating with esteemed organizations such as the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) and the Canadian Architecture Students’ Association (CASA), Vincent endeavours to empower the next generation of designers, navigating emergent shifts in praxis. Committed to bridging academia and industry, he advocates for experiential learning initiatives and outreach endeavours for aspiring designers. His remarkable contributions have culminated in his induction into the esteemed RAIC College of Fellows.
Clayton Lee is a curator, producer and performance artist. He is currently the director (artistic) of the Fierce Festival, in Birmingham, UK. He was previously the director of the Rhubarb Festival, Canada’s longest-running festival of new and experimental performance, at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Clayton has also worked as creative producer on Jess Dobkin’s projects, including For What It’s Worth, her commission at the Wellcome Collection, in London, UK; as curatorial associate at the Luminato Festival; and as managing producer of the CanadaHub at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. His performance projects have been presented in venues across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. He was one of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s 2023 artists-in-residence.
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There are still a few months left if you want to attend. Bon Voyage!
It’s been a few months since I first flagged this item for publication and things have changed somewhat in the US. It’s hard to be certain since webpages disappear sometimes but given the current frenzy to cut down on US government costs and the utter indifference (hostility?) the current president (Mr. Donald Trump) and his cohorts have shown towards environmental issues, it’s hard not to infer a message when a webpage hosting a commentary about US Army researchers working on nanotechnology solutions to climate change goes missing.
Luckily, articles about the commentary from the researchers were published elsewhere. From a December 25, 2024 article on statnano.com, Note: Links have been removed,
As part of the Nano4EARTH initiative, a national challenge launched by the White House and the National Nanotechnology Initiative, researchers are exploring how innovations at the nanoscale can lead to groundbreaking solutions for a more sustainable future.
Climate change poses a significant threat to national security, according to the Army’s published Climate Strategy. The Army has committed to aggressive goals to mitigate its own impact, including a 50% reduction in net greenhouse gas pollution by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050. Nanotechnology is seen as a critical tool in achieving these ambitious targets.
In a recent paper in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, co-author Dr. Mark Griep, a researcher with the DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, said nano-enabled climate solutions are already transitioning to industrial scale-up, which will help reduce the “green premium” that can be limiting factor for widespread public adoption.
“The climate crisis demands bold, innovative solutions, and nanotechnology offers a unique opportunity to achieve the kind of step-changes needed to mitigate its effects,” Griep said. “By working collaboratively across sectors, we can harness the power of nanotechnology to create a more sustainable and resilient future for the Army and the nation.”
According to Griep, metal organic frameworks, known as MOFs [metal-organic frameworks], are being scaled up for greenhouse gases capture applications and should exceed the Department of Energy’s EarthShot carbon capture costs below $100 per ton and become a cost-effective technology.
Griep said he believes the Army can engineer MOFs with catalytic functions for CO2-to-fuel opportunities.
“This would allow for nano-enabled solutions that not only contribute to decarbonizing the Army fleet but simultaneously enabling operational advantage through new fuel sources,” he said.
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“The Army is in a unique position to be an innovation leader for climate change solutions as the advanced technologies for achieving climate goals go hand-in-hand with increasing combat effectiveness,” Griep said. “Nano-enabled advancements to energy storage, water purification, and advanced structural materials will be game changers in the civilian world but play an even more crucial role in ensuring the Army’s operational resilience and capabilities in future combat environments.”
Other US government agencies were involved in the work including the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Here’s an October 9, 2025 US NIST posting about the paper by Lawrence Goodman written in a Q&A (question and answer) format for the agency’s Taking Measure blog (also on EurekAlert but published as an October 15, 2024 article), Note: Links have been removed,
When we think about the climate crisis, we tend to think big — it’s a global problem that requires global solutions.
But NIST scientists James Warren and Craig Brown also want us to think small, very small. They’re thinking at the nano-level, which is anywhere between 1 and 100 nanometers. That’s about 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
In a just-published paper they co-authored with other federal government, industry and private foundation researchers, they call for a greater focus on nanotechnology’s potential role in combating climate change.
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You talk about using nanotechnology on windows to make buildings more energy efficient.
Warren: People are probably familiar with some of the coatings available now that selectively filter different types of sunlight. They work by allowing visible light to pass through while blocking certain wavelengths of infrared light that generate heat inside a house or building.
These are called chromic nanocoatings, and they contain nano-sized particles that can absorb, reflect or transmit different wavelengths of light in much more complicated ways. They can change color or transparency in response to temperature or the amount of sunlight — perhaps darkening to keep the sun out of a house at peak midday heat to keep the people inside cool without having to crank up the air conditioning. A recent research paper said chromic windows controlled by electricity, known as electrochromic windows, have the potential to save up to 40% of energy demand for building heating and cooling.
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Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
Nanotechnology solutions for the climate crisis by Maria Fernanda Campa, Craig M. Brown, Peter Byrley, Jason Delborne, Nicholas Glavin, Craig Green, Mark Griep, Tina Kaarsberg, Igor Linkov, Jeffrey B. Miller, Joshua E. Porterfield, Birgit Schwenzer, Quinn Spadola, Branden Brough & James A. Warren. Nature Nanotechnology volume 19, pages 1422–1426 (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-024-01772-5 Published online: 09 October 2024 Issue Date: October 2024
This October 28, 2024 article by Kiran Jacob for The Edge Malaysia is designed to boost businesses but, happily, it also provides some insight into how graphene is being commercialized in Malaysia,
This article first appeared in Digital Edge, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 28, 2024 – November 3, 2024
Ominent Sdn Bhd, through its flagship brand IGL Coatings, offers a seemingly straightforward product: cleaning, maintenance and protection solutions for automotive, marine and industrial coatings. But to founder Keong Chun Chieh, it is more than just the provider of a line of functional surface treatments; it’s a tech company. The secret? Nanotechnology and graphene.
What may appear as mere coatings are, in fact, intricate formulations engineered at the molecular level, designed to enhance durability, hydrophobicity and protection, says Keong. This makes the coatings more robust against physical wear and tear, and reduces their permeability to water, oxygen and other gases by filling microscopic voids and creating more impermeable surfaces.
“[Through nanotechnology], a surface that mimics a lotus leaf [is created], which is highly hydrophobic, results in a coating that repels water and dirt, and maintains a clean surface with minimal maintenance,” he says.
All these protect the coating — and the surface it is applied onto — from chemicals, corrosion, ultraviolet radiation and environmental degradation.
While its products can be applied to automotive, industrial and maritime coatings, Keong considers automotive coatings as a low-hanging fruit. This is why 70% of the company’s revenue comes from this sector.
Meanwhile, the main focus of the industrial sector — a market that is rapidly growing for IGL Coatings — is anti-corrosion coatings to prevent rust. The corrosion damages infrastructure and equipment that can lead to sudden failures such as building collapses.
Existing anti-corrosion coatings hinder any early detection of the deterioration. “[The products] that are in the market, are not supposed to rust, but you can’t see whether the rust is happening at the bottom [of the coating],” he says.
“When you visually can see it, it means that it is severely rusted and has cracked the coating and painting on the top.”
A transparent corrosion system enables early detection and repair, which then extends the lifespan of the asset and reduces the need for replacement, says Keong. Moreover, the utilisation of nanotechnology involving titanium dioxide, carbon nanotubes and diamond particles aids in achieving a structured surface at the nanoscale.
“The uniform dispersion optimises the surface energy and texture, which significantly enhances water repellency. The created nanostructure helps in forming a consistent and effective barrier against moisture,” he explains.
The incorporation of functionalised graphene improves the overall properties of the coating, adds Keong. “Graphene is an additive that supercharges some of the behaviour that I need.”
A sophisticated dispersion method is employed to ensure that graphene nanoplatelets and functionalised graphene, such as hydroxyl and carboxyl, are evenly distributed within the coating matrix.
“The hydroxyl and carboxyl groups facilitate better integration within the coating matrix, enhancing the coating’s strength, flexibility and resistance to environmental factors,” he says.
The incorporation of carbon dots into IGL Coatings’ formulations is also in the works. Carbon dots, a type of carbon-nano material composed of discrete and quasi-spherical nanoparticles, have several advantages. These include low cytotoxicity, good biocompatibility, stable chemical inertness, efficient light harvesting and outstanding photo-induced electron transfer.
IGL Coatings, which has over 40 automotive coating products, has an existing network of 5,000 installers in the automotive sector that it leverages to market its industrial solutions, says Keong. Installers who are familiar with the brand are then able to recommend the industrial coatings to their existing customers.
Its customers in this area include those in the mining, theme park and fishing industries. The application for the coatings include for buildings, material handling equipment, roofs, pillars and undercarriages of vehicles.
Keong aims to optimise existing technologies and reduce their environmental impact. For instance, the company has a high solids, zero volatile organic compounds solution to prevent battery corrosion in electric vehicles. It also has a coating for solar panels to reduce cleaning frequency and increase energy collection.
IGL Coatings has expanded to over 50 countries with a broad range of products in the automotive, marine and industrial sectors.
The company generated a total revenue of RM66.5 million from its inception in 2015 up to 2023. Last year, it generated a revenue of RM10.5 million. IGL Coatings recorded a 160% growth in revenue over the past three years. The Financial Times, in a joint study with Statista, ranked it as one of 500 top growth companies in Asia-Pacific in 2023.
Keong stumbled upon the idea for his company while working as an engineer. He was frustrated by the daunting prospect of having to clean the expensive lenses in his clients’ spectrometers every six months.
Due to its proximity to materials being burned, the lens in the spectrometer would quickly get dirty with carbon deposits and turn yellow. Cleaning it cost a couple of thousand ringgit.
Using his experience of working in his clients’ labs, Keong formulated a solution that he could apply onto the lens to clean it.
“I worked out a basic formulation and applied it onto the lens. It worked well and actually increased the performance of the lens and I didn’t need to change it anymore. I told my employers that the product could be sold as a solution to clean the instruments,” he recalls.
It had taken Keong about a year to develop the solution. He did this based on his knowledge about chemicals and by referencing scientific journals and reviewing safety data sheets for ingredient ideas.
But, his employers didn’t take to the idea as they wanted to sell more of the lenses, not less.
“I was a bit disappointed. [So] I took that [formulation] and [applied it on] my car windshield. It gave the same result [making the windshield] easier to clean [as it was hydrophobic and had long durability].”
That was his Eureka moment. When Keong researched such products on the market, he realised that the products available could only last for two to three weeks. His solution, on the other hand, could last up to nine months.
“I did a tweak [on the product] and started selling it as a solution to local users in Malaysia, and delved more into the industry. [In my mind], the market for this was, as long as there is a surface, it would require protection.”
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At the heart of it all, Keong wants to provide products that are safe, as there is a lack of transparency and safety in detailing chemicals. He noticed that many workers were using the chemicals on a daily basis without wearing personal protective equipment and proper education on how to use them safely.
“The thing is, with chemicals, it’s not about feeling the pain [immediately]. It’s about what you are breathing in and what is getting absorbed into your skin. Five to 10 years later, you will feel it. As I studied more about it, [I found] there are a lot of chemicals that are carcinogenic,” he says.
IGL Coatings’ products do not contain heavy metals and are free from isocyanate, which is a common harmful chemical found in anti-corrosion products, explains Keong.
Additionally, he hopes that with access to public funds eventually, the company will be able to produce the materials for its products, instead of sourcing for them elsewhere.
Currently, the company sources nano-materials from larger companies and experiments to find the right combination. “IGL Coatings is like the chef. We cook the food and we [create] the dish. The materials and ingredients are purchased from the farmer who grows it … we find the best materials that are suitable and compatible. [From there] we form the formulation to produce the product we want. It’s all about trial and error.”
Some of the challenges faced during production are ensuring the nanoparticles remain stable within the coating formulation and are compatible with the other components. Furthermore, the properties of graphene, such as mechanical strength and conductivity, need to be retained after dispersion and incorporation into the coating.
High-quality graphene production is expensive, adds Keong. IGL Coatings identifies graphene derived from the by-products of other industries and repurposes waste materials into high-value nano-materials.
Its formulations are a trade secret and proprietary to avoid competitors from replicating them.
“When I did the formulation, I actually studied other patents [emphasis mine]. They list down the whole thing. [Based on the] patents [I learnt what to and what not to do]. If I were to list my formulations down for a patent, well-funded [companies] and [their] research and development chemists can read the article and come up with something immediately,” he says.
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So, he used other companies’ patents and doesn’t want that to happen to his company. That’s certainly one approach to dealing with intellectual property.
In the end, I’m happy to have seen Jacob’s October 28, 2024 article and to have learned more about graphene commercialization in Malaysia.
