Bio-organic nanodots from Israel’s StoreDot to be used in smartphones and tablets

StoreDot is an Israeli start-up company that has developed a technology that could replace materials, metal- or arsenic-based, currently used in smartphones and tablets, with bio-organic materials based on peptides. A Nov. 29, 2013 news item on the Printed Electronics World website describes the company and its commercialization plans,

StoreDot Ltd., a nanotechnology startup company which has discovered the first bio-organic Nanodots, has announced that it has received $6 million from several strategic and private investors. StoreDot will use the funds to further advance its technology in mobile devices from the prototype stage to commercialization.

“Our innovative nanotechnology, inspired by nature, changes the rules of mobile device capabilities. This investment is important not only as a source of capital, but also as a vote of confidence in our novel approach of utilizing synthesized bio-nanomaterials to shape next-generation devices,” said Dr. Doron Myersdorf, CEO of StoreDot.

“Having built our Nanodot core technology, the company’s initial focus will be to introduce dramatic improvements in next-generation smartphones and tablets. This funding is a crucial step enabling us to take our product development efforts to the next level, and develop products that will be available for use in 2015.”

The StoreDot Aug. 5, 2013 news release, which appears to have originated the news item, tells the ‘origins’ story for the nanodots and further describes them,

In 2003 Prof. Ehud Gazit and his team at Tel Aviv University conducted research which revealed nano-structures associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Inspired by the presence of these biological structures, further nanoscale research by Prof. Gil Rosenman – one of StoreDot’s cofounders – and the StoreDot team, led to the development of StoreDot’s novel technology.

Remarkably uniform in size – only 2 nanometers in diameter, these nanoscale crystals consist of chemically synthesized bio-organic peptide molecules. [emphasis mine] Furthermore, the breakthrough technology in StoreDot Nanodots is that they demonstrate diverse physical and electrochemical properties at nanoscale, including visible luminescence, showing red, green and blue colors that enhance new generation display technology.

While other nanodot and quantum-dot technologies currently in use are metal or arsenic-based, and, therefore, toxic, StoreDot Nanodots are biocompatible and superior to all previous discoveries in this field.

Manufacturing Nanodots is relatively inexpensive as they originate naturally, and utilize a basic biological mechanism of self-assembly. They can be made from a vast range of bio-organic raw materials that are readily available and environmentally friendly.

StoreDot develops batteries and displays for smartphones and tablets, designed to replace current technology with more efficient power consumption and better color vividness. StoreDot batteries will be charged much faster than current batteries, and will withstand thousands of charge/discharge cycles, prolonging battery life expectancy considerably. Furthermore, StoreDot paper-thin displays can be designed to be flexible and transparent.

Other nanodot-based prototypes in StoreDot plan include flash memory storage that is substantially faster and camera image sensors that are much more sensitive to light.

StoreDot technology has the potential to disrupt such industries as mobile displays, energy storage, memory storage, semiconductors, imaging and bio-medical sensors, food bio-labeling and more.

I applaud anything which helps to cut down on the number of toxic ingredients in electronics.

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