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Polish researchers develop Superman’s kryptonite?

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It’s not precisely kryptonite but rather a krypton-oxygen compound according to a March 2, 2016 news item on ScienceDaily,

Theoretical chemists have found how to synthesize the first binary compound of krypton and oxygen: a krypton oxide. It turns out that this exotic substance can be produced under extremely high pressure, and its production is quite within the capabilities of today’s laboratories.

A March 2, 2016 Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) press release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, provides more information about Superman’s kryptonite, real krypton, and the new synthesized compound,

Crystals of kryptonite, a material deadly to Superman and his race, were supposed to have been created within the planet Krypton, and therefore most likely under very high pressure. The progenitor of the name, real krypton, is an element with an atomic number of 36, a noble gas considered to be incapable of forming stable chemical compounds. However, a publication in the journal Scientific Reports by a two-man team of theoretical chemists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) in Warsaw, Poland, presents the possibility of synthesizing a new crystalline material in which atoms of krypton would be chemically bonded to another element.

“The substance we are predicting is a compound of krypton with not nitrogen, but oxygen. In the convention of the comic book it should, therefore, be called not so much kryptonite as kryptoxide. So if Superman’s reading this, he can stay calm – at the moment there’s no cause for panic!” laughs Dr. Patrick Zaleski-Ejgierd (IPC PAS) and adds: “Our krypton monoxide, KrO, probably does not exist in nature. According to current knowledge, deep in the interiors of planets, that is, the only place where there is sufficient pressure for its synthesis, oxygen does not exist, nor even more so, does krypton.”

Compounds of krypton have been produced before, in the laboratory under cryogenic conditions. They were, however, only single, linear and small molecules of the hydrogen-carbon-krypton-carbon-hydrogen type. The Polish chemists wondered if there were conditions in which krypton would not only bond chemically with another element, but also in which it would be capable of forming an extensive and stable crystal lattice. Their search, funded by an OPUS grant from the Polish National Science Centre, involved the researchers using genetic algorithms and models built on the so-called density functional theory. In the field of solid state physics, this theory has for years been a basic tool for the description and study of the world of chemical molecules.

“Our computer simulations suggest that crystals of krypton monoxide will be formed at a pressure in the range of 3 to 5 million atmospheres. This is a huge pressure, but it can be achieved even in today’s laboratories, by skillfully squeezing samples in diamond anvils,” says PhD student Pawe? Lata (IPC PAS).

Crystal lattices are built from atoms or molecules arranged in space in an orderly manner. The smallest repetitive fragment of such structures – the basic ‘building block’ – is called a unit cell. In crystals of table salt the unit cell has the shape of a cube, the sodium and chlorine atoms, arranged alternately, are mounted on each corner, close enough to each other that they are bound by covalent (chemical) bonds.

The unit cell of krypton monoxide is cuboid with a diamond base, with krypton atoms at the corners. In addition, in the middle of the two opposite side walls, there is one atom of krypton.

“Where is the oxygen? On the side walls of the unit cell, where there are five atoms of krypton, they are arranged like the dots on a dice showing the number five. Single atoms of oxygen are located between the krypton atoms, but only along the diagonal – and only along one! Thus, on each wall with five krypton atoms there are only two atoms of oxygen. Not only that, the oxygen is not exactly on the diagonal: one of the atoms is slightly offset from it in one direction and the other atom in the other direction,” describes Lata.

In such an idiosyncratic unit cell, each atom of oxygen is chemically bound to the two nearest adjacent atoms of krypton. Zigzag chains of Kr/O\Kr\O/Kr will therefore pass through the crystal of krypton monoxide, forming long polymer structures. Calculations indicate that crystals of this type of krypton monoxide should have the characteristics of a semiconductor. One can assume that they will be dark, and their transparency will not be great.

Theorists from the IPC PAS have also found a second, slightly less stable compound of krypton: the tetroxide KrO4. This material, which probably has properties typical of a metal, has a simpler crystalline structure and could be formed at a pressure exceeding 3.4 million atmospheres.

After formation, the two kinds of krypton oxide crystals could probably exist at a somewhat lower pressure than that required for their formation. The pressure on earth, however, is so low that on our planet these crystals would undergo degradation immediately.

“Reactions occurring at extremely high pressure are almost unknown, very, very exotic chemistry. We call it ‘Chemistry on the Edge'”. Often the pressures needed to perform syntheses are so gigantic that at present there is no point in trying to produce them in laboratories. In those cases even methods of theoretic description fail! But what is most interesting here is the non-intuitiveness. From the very first to the last step of synthesis you never know what’s going to happen,” says Dr. Zaleski-Ejgierd – and he returns to his computer where simulations of subsequent syntheses are nearing their end.

I don’t usually include images of the researchers but these guys dressed up for the occasion,

Chemists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw have found a method of synthesizing a new crystalline material in which atoms of krypton would be chemically bonded to another element. (Source: IPC PAS, Grzegorz Krzy¿ewski) Metodê syntezy pierwszego trwa³ego zwi¹zku kryptonu znale¿li chemicy-teoretycy z Instytutu Chemii Fizycznej PAN w Warszawie. (ród³o: IChF PAN, Grzegorz Krzy¿ewski)

Chemists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw have found a method of synthesizing a new crystalline material in which atoms of krypton would be chemically bonded to another element. (Source: IPC PAS, Grzegorz Krzy¿ewski)
Metodê syntezy pierwszego trwa³ego zwi¹zku kryptonu znale¿li chemicy-teoretycy z Instytutu Chemii Fizycznej PAN w Warszawie. (ród³o: IChF PAN, Grzegorz Krzy¿ewski)

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Krypton oxides under pressure by  Patryk Zaleski-Ejgierd & Pawel M. Lata. Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 18938 (2016) doi:10.1038/srep18938 Published online: 02 February 2016

This paper is open access.

Martini with your salad? an update on Janus particles and emulsification

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Close to a year since I first posted about this research (my July 8, 2013 posting about oil, electricity, and emulsification), scientists have published their latest work on using electricity to control nanoparticles. A June 26, 2014 Polish Academy of Sciences press release (also on EurekAlert) provides this summary,

Everything depends on how you look at them. Looking from one side you will see one face; and when looking from the opposite side – you will see a different one. So appear Janus capsules, miniature, hollow structures, in different fragments composed of different micro- and nanoparticles. Theoreticians were able to design models of such capsules, but a real challenge was to produce them. Now, Janus capsules can be produced easily and at low cost.

Before describing the process for producing Janus capsules, an explanation of Janus (a Roman god) and the problem the scientists were trying to solve (from the press release),

Janus, the old Roman god of beginnings and transitions, attracted believers’ attention with his two faces, each looking to different direction of the world. Janus capsules – ‘bubbles’ made up of two shells stuck one another, each composed of micro- or nanoparticles of different properties – have been for some time attracting the researchers’ attention. They see in the capsules an excellent tool for transporting drugs and a vehicle leading to innovative materials. To have, however, Janus capsules generally accessible, efficient methods for their mass production must be developed. An important step in this direction is the achievement of researchers from the Norwegian and French research institutions and the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) in Warsaw, reported recently in one of the most reputable scientific journals: “Nature Communications”.

At present, it is not a problem to produce Janus spheres – round, entirely filled micro- and nanoobjects with one part having different properties than the other. Such spheres can be, for instance, produced by sticking together two drops of different substances. After merging, the new drop requires a sufficiently fast fixation only, e.g., by cooling it down or initiating polymerisation of its materials. For instance, Janus spheres are particles with white and black halves, used for image generation in electrophoretic displays incorporated in e-book reading devices.

“Janus capsules differ from Janus spheres: the former are hollow structures, and their partially permeable shell is made of colloidal particles. How to make such a ‘two-faced bubble’ using micro- and nanoparticles? Many researchers reflect on the problem. We proposed a really not complicated solution”, says Dr Zbigniew Rozynek (IPC PAS [Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences]), who experimentally studied Janus capsules during his postdoctoral training at Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.

Here’s an illustration the researchers have provided,

Caption: These are typical capsules (mainly Janus capsules) obtained with the method described in the press release of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Credit: adopted from Nat. Commun. 5, 3945 (2014)

Caption: These are typical capsules (mainly Janus capsules) obtained with the method described in the press release of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.
Credit: adopted from Nat. Commun. 5, 3945 (2014)

Here’s how the researchers solved their problem (from the press release),

In their experiments, an international team of researchers produced Janus capsules with drops of single millilitres in volume. The drops were coated, for instance, with polystyrene or glass nanoparticles with diameters of about 500 nm (billionth parts of a meter) or 1000 nm, respectively. Also differently coloured polyethylene particles were used.

The experiments were performed with oil drops suspended in another oil. To a so prepared environment micro- or nanoparticles of one type were placed and deposited on the surface of a selected drop. Then, particles of another type were brought to the surface of the second drop. Due to the action of capillary forces, the particles were durably kept on the surfaces of both drops, being approximately uniformly distributed.

When an external electric field was turned on, microflows were induced inside and outside the drops. The microflows transported the particles toward the electric ‘equator’. In this step, the packing of colloidal particles could be controlled by shaking the drops in a slowly alternating electric field. The way how the particles are packed is an important factor, as it determines the number and size of pores of the future capsule, and consequently the capsule permeability.

The microflows around the electric equators of the drops resulted in formation of a ring-shaped ribbon, composed of densely packed particles , whereas both electric ‘poles’ became particles-free regions. At the same time, the poles of each drop were acquiring opposite electric charges.

Opposite electric charges attract one another, so the drops with charged poles were heading to each other. In this step, the only thing to do was to convince both drops not only to adjoin with their poles, but actually to merge. For that purpose the long-known electrocoalescence was used: the drops were stimulated for faster merging by an electric field. Finally the drops electrocoalesced, resulting in the formation of a Janus capsule. Due to a dense packing of particles within the capsule the particles of different types virtually did not mix with each other.

“It’s like the famous James Bond’s martini: it was always to be shaken, not stirred“, laughs Dr Rozynek. [emphasis mine]

The ultimate capsule appearance was determined by the number of particles deposited on the surfaces of initial drops. If the particles covered both drops with a uniform film, extending almost to the poles, the coalescence resulted in a non-spherical structure. When empty areas around the poles were suitably larger, the Janus capsules acquired a spherical shape. Finally, if the ribbons around the equators of the initial drops were narrow, the coalescence resulted in formation of a structure, which could be called a Janus ring.

The rings with two parts composed of two different types of particles provide interesting opportunities. They can be further stuck each other and produce more complex striped structures. The capsules could be then composed of alternately placed strips of particles, with each strip having different properties than its neighbours.

Janus capsules enable encapsulation of microobjects, nanoparticles or molecules, which must be protected against the environment because of their sensitivity or reactivity. Different properties of both capsule parts make it easier to control the movement of the capsules and the release of their contents. In view of these factors, Janus capsules may find numerous applications. The proposed method for producing the Janus capsules is potentially of great importance for pharmaceutical, dye or food industries, as well as for the development of materials engineering and medicine.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Electroformation of Janus and patchy capsules by Zbigniew Rozynek, Alexander Mikkelsen, Paul Dommersnes, & Jon Otto Fossum. Nature Communications 5, Article number: 3945 doi:10.1038/ncomms4945 Published 23 May 2014

This is an open access paper,

Chiral breathing at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS)

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An April 17, 2014 news item on ScienceDaily highlights some research about a polymer that has some special properties,

Electrically controlled glasses with continuously adjustable transparency, new polarisation filters, and even chemosensors capable of detecting single molecules of specific chemicals could be fabricated thanks to a new polymer unprecedentedly combining optical and electrical properties.

An international team of chemists from Italy, Germany, and Poland developed a polymer with unique optical and electric properties. Components of this polymer change their spatial configuration depending on the electric potential applied. In turn, the polarisation of transmitted light is affected. The material can be used, for instance, in polarisation filters and window glasses with continuously adjustable transparency. Due to its mechanical properties, the polymer is also perfectly suitable for fabrication of chemical sensors for selective detection and determination of optically active (chiral) forms of an analyte.

The research findings of the international team headed by Prof. Francesco Sannicolo from the Universita degli Studi di Milano were recently published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

“Until now, to give polymers chiral properties, chiral pendants were attached to the polymer backbone. In such designs the polymer was used as a scaffold only. Our polymer is exceptional, with chirality inherent to it, and with no pending groups. The polymer is both a scaffold and an optically active chiral structure. Moreover, the polymer conducts electricity,” comments Prof. Włodzimierz Kutner from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) in Warsaw, one of the initiators of the research.

An April 17, 2014 IPC PAS news release (also on EurrekAlert), which originated the news item, describes chirality and the breathing metaphor with regard to this new polymer,

Chirality can be best explained by referring to mirror reflection. If two varieties of the same object look like their mutual mirror images, they differ in chirality. Human hands provide perhaps the most universal example of chirality, and the difference between the left and right hand becomes obvious if we try to place a left-handed glove on a right hand. The same difference as between the left and right hand is between two chiral molecules with identical chemical composition. Each of them shows different optical properties, and differently rotates plane-polarised light. In such a case, chemists refer to one chemical compound existing as two optical isomers called enantiomers.

The polymer presented by Prof. Sannicolo’s team was developed on the basis of thiophene, an organic compound composed of a five-member aromatic ring containing a sulphur atom. Thiophene polymerisation gives rise to a chemically stable polymer of high conductivity. The basic component of the new polymer – its monomer – is made of a dimer with two halves each made of two thiophene rings and one thianaphthene unit. The halves are connected at a single point and can partially be rotated with respect to each other by applying electric potential. Depending on the orientation of the halves, the new polymer either assumes or looses chirality. This behaviour is fully reversible and resembles a breathing system, whereas the “chiral breathing” is controlled by an external electric potential.

The development of a new polymer was initiated thanks to the research on molecular imprinting pursued at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the PAS. The research resulted, for instance, in the development of polymers used as recognising units (receptors) in chemosensors, capable of selective capturing of molecules of various analytes, for instance nicotine, and also melamine, an ill-reputed chemical detrimental to human health, used as an additive to falsify protein content in milk and dairy products produced in China.

Generally, molecular imprinting consists in creating template-shaped cavities in polymer matrices with molecules of interest used first as cavity templates. Subsequently these templates are washed out from the polymer. As a result, the polymer contains traps with a shape and size matching those of molecules of the removed template. To be used as a receptor in chemosensor to recognize analyte molecules similar to templates or templates themselves, the polymer imprinted with these cavities must show a sufficient mechanical strength.

“Three-dimensional networks we attempted to build at the IPC PAS using existing two-dimensional thiophene derivatives just collapsed after the template molecules were removed. That’s why we asked for assistance our Italian partners, specialising in the synthesis of thiophene derivatives. The problem was to design and synthesise a three-dimensional thiophene derivative that would allow us for cross-linking of our polymers in three dimensions. The thiophene derivative synthesised in Milan has a stable three-dimensional structure, and the controllable chiral properties of the new polymer obtained after the derivative was polymerised, turned out a nice surprise for all of us”, explains Prof. Kutner.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Potential-Driven Chirality Manifestations and Impressive Enantioselectivity by Inherently Chiral Electroactive Organic Films by  Prof. Francesco Sannicolò1, Serena Arnaboldi, Prof. Tiziana Benincori, Dr. Valentina Bonometti, Dr. Roberto Cirilli, Prof. Lothar Dunsch, Prof. Włodzimierz Kutner, Prof. Giovanna Longhi, Prof. Patrizia R. Mussini, Dr. Monica Panigati, Prof. Marco Pierini, and Dr. Simona Rizzo. Angewandte Chemie International Edition Volume 53, Issue 10, pages 2623–2627, March 3, 2014. Article first published online: 5 FEB 2014 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201309585

© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

This article is behind a paywall.

Carbon dioxide as a source for new nanomaterials

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Polish researchers have made a startling suggestion (from a Jan. 23, 2014 news item on Nanowerk),

In common perception, carbon dioxide is just a greenhouse gas, one of the major environmental problems of mankind. For Warsaw chemists CO2 became, however, something else: a key element of reactions allowing for creation of nanomaterials with unprecedented properties.

In reaction with carbon dioxide, appropriately designed chemicals allowed researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) in Warsaw and the Faculty of Chemistry, Warsaw University of Technology, (WUT) for production of unprecedented nanomaterials.

Here’s an image the researchers use to illustrate their work,

Yellow tennis balls, spatially integrated in an adamant-like structure, symbolise crystal lattice of the microporous material resulting from self-assembly of nanoclusters. Orange balls imitate gas molecules that can adsorb in this material. The presentation is performed by Katarzyna Sołtys, a doctoral student from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. (Source: IPC PAS, Grzegorz Krzyżewski).

Yellow tennis balls, spatially integrated in an adamant-like structure, symbolise crystal lattice of the microporous material resulting from self-assembly of nanoclusters. Orange balls imitate gas molecules that can adsorb in this material. The presentation is performed by Katarzyna Sołtys, a doctoral student from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. (Source: IPC PAS, Grzegorz Krzyżewski).

The Jan. 23, 2014 IPC news release, which originated the news item, describes the work in more detail,

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a natural component of Earth’s atmosphere. It is the most abundant carbon-based building block, and is involved in the synthesis of glucose, an energy carrier and building unit of paramount importance for living organisms.

“Carbon dioxide has been for years used in industrial synthesis of polymers. On the other hand, there has been very few research papers reporting fabrication of inorganic functional materials using CO2”, says Kamil Sokołowski, a doctoral student in IPC PAS.

Prof. Lewiński’s [Janusz Lewiński (IPC PAS, WUT)] group has shown that appropriately designed precursor compounds in reaction with carbon dioxide lead to fabrication of a microporous material (with pore diameters below 2 nm) resulting from self-assembly of luminescent nanoclusters. Novel microporous material, composed of building blocks with zinc carbonate core encapsulated in appropriately designed organic shell (hydroxyquinoline ligands), is highly luminescent, with photoluminescence quantum yield significantly higher than those of classical fluorescent compounds used in state-of-the-art OLEDs.

“Using carbon dioxide as a building block we were able to construct a highly porous and really highly luminescent material. Can it be used for construction of luminescent diodes or sensing devices? The discovery is new, the research work on the novel material is in progress, but we are deeply convinced that the answer is: yes”, says Sokołowski.

Already now it can be said that the novel material enjoys considerable interest. Polish and international patent applications were filed for the invention and the implementation work in cooperation with a joint venture company is in progress.

The design of precursors was inspired by nature, in particular by the binding of carbon dioxide in enzymatic systems of carbonic anhydrase, an enzyme responsible for fast metabolism of CO2 in human body. Effective enzyme activity is based on its active centre, where a hydroxyzinc (ZnOH) type reaction system is located.

“A hydroxyzinc reaction system occurs also in molecules of alkylzinc compounds, designed by us and used for fixation of carbon dioxide”, explains Sokołowski and continues: “These compounds are of particular interest for us, because in addition to hydroxyl group they contain also a reactive metal-carbon bond. It means that both the first and the second reaction system can participate in consecutive chemical transformations of such precursors”.

The research related to the chemistry of alkylhydroxyzinc compounds has an over 150 years of history and its roots are directly connected to the birth of organometallic chemistry. It was, however, only in 2011 and 2012 when Prof. Lewiński’s group has presented the first examples of stable alkylhydroxyzinc compounds obtained as a result of rationally designed synthesis.

The strategy for materials synthesis using carbon dioxide and appropriate alkylhydroxyzinc precursors, discovered by the researchers from Warsaw, seems to be a versatile tool for production of various functional materials. Depending on the composition of the reagents and the process conditions, a mesoporous material (with pore diameter from 2 to 50 nm) composed of zinc carbonate nanoparticles or multinuclear zinc nanocapsules for prospective applications in supramolecular chemistry can be obtained in addition to the material described above.

Further research of Prof. Lewiński’s group has shown that the mesoporous materials based on ZnCO3-nanoparticles can be transformed into zinc oxide (ZnO) aerogels. Mesoporous materials made of ZnO nanoparticles with extended surface can be used as catalytic fillings, allowing for and accelerating reactions of various gaseous reagents. Other potential applications are related to semiconducting properties of zinc oxide. That’s why the novel materials can be used in future in photovoltaic cells or as a major component of semiconductor sensing devices.

Good luck to the researchers as they find ways to turn a greenhouse gas into something useful.

Shining a light on Poland’s nanotechnology effort

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Last week I managed to mention Mongolia’s nanotechnology center (my Nov. 29, 2013 posting) and now I get to feature Poland here thanks to a Nov. 29, 2013 news item (also from last week) on Nanowerk,

Strengthening the nanotechnology capabilities of a key institute in Poland will enable the country to upgrade research on biomaterials and alternative energy. It will also help further integrate the country in the European Research Area (ERA).
Nanotechnology has been instrumental in creating many new materials and devices that offer numerous applications from biomaterials to alternative energy, representing an important driver of competitiveness within the ERA. The EU-funded project

‘Nanotechnology, biomaterials and alternative energy source for ERA [European Research Area] integration’ (NOBLESSE) is supporting Poland in strengthening its research capabilities in this pivotal field.

…

To achieve its aims, NOBLESSE is procuring new equipment for the academy, in addition to strengthening links with other institutes, promoting twinning activities and enhancing knowledge transfer. …

Already, the project team has installed an advanced scanning electron microscope, created a new laboratory in the IPC PAS, the Mazovia Center for Surface Analysis (which is one of the most advanced in Europe), and built an open-access Electronic Laboratory Equipment Database (ELAD) that documents research equipment available in specialised laboratories across Poland.

There is more about the NOBLESSE project from this webpage: http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/star/index_en.cfm?p=ss-noblesse&calledby=infocentre&item=Energy&artid=28137&caller=SuccessStories (article published Nov. 15, 2012),

The use and control of nano-structured materials is of great importance for the development of new environmentally friendly materials, more efficient energy sources and biosensors for medical analysis. The European Noblesse project is boosting a Polish academy’s capabilities to research these developments.

… Such is the scope for the development and application of nanotechnology that nano-structured materials are in high demand. To meet this demand, nano-science institutes need to rise to the challenges that modern society presents.

This is one of the driving forces behind the Noblesse project which aims to establish the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC-PAS) as an integrated partner and respected participant in the European nano-science community.

…

Through a combination of newly purchased, state-of-the-art equipment – financed by EU FP7 funding – and a programme of recruitment and training, Noblesse promises to position IPC-PAS as a leading research centre in Europe and beyond.

…

Significant progress

The project has already made great strides towards bringing new nanotechnology applications to the market place and in promoting the career development of a team of young, dedicated researchers in the field.

“In the first year of the project, we filed 49 patent applications, 25 of them abroad – most of which are nanotechnology patents,” says Professor Robert Holyst, the project coordinator. “I am not aware of any institute in Poland filing more patent applications than us at the moment.

“We have also established two spin-off companies, thanks to the valuable influence of our advisory board members from industry,” he adds. Tomasz Tuora, who is on the advisory board of the Noblesse project, is the main investor in Scope Fluidics Ltd and Curiosity Diagnostics Ltd, Prof. Holyst explains. “While the Noblesse grant did not promise to set up spin-off companies in the Institute, we did promise to collaborate and develop ties with industry,” he says.

According to Prof. Holyst, the two companies plan to make products for the medical sector and have each employed between 10 and 20 scientists to develop new nanotechnology applications.

The creation of spin-off companies from IPC-PAS is unlikely to end there if an application for a €1.3 million-grant from the NCBIR, the Polish funding agency for applied research, is successful. “We are currently applying for this grant to develop and later commercialise the SERS (surface enhanced resonance spectroscopy) platform for molecular diagnostics,” Prof. Holyst explains. “If we are successful in our application, we’ll establish a new spin-off company for this purpose.”

,The 2013 news item on Nanowerk does not mention the commercialization project referred to in the 2012 article. Good luck to the NOBLESSE team and I look forward to hearing more about the nanotechnology effort in Poland.