German nanotech firm to open centers in India

Wednesday, 18 August 2004, 19:30 IST
Printer Print Email Email
NEW DELHI: A German nanotechnology firm Wednesday announced plans to open information centres in major Indian metros for the hottest emerging technology. Announcing this, Matthias Oesterwinter of Thomas Oesterwinter KG told a seminar on nanotechnology, or NT, organised by the Chamber of Indian Industries (CII) here that the centres would seek to make end-users aware of the technology's benefits. Georg Wagner of NTC NanoTech Coatings GmbH of Germany said his company was successfully marketing technology for glass coating that makes glass water repelling. This, Wagner said, has major safety implications in use in automobile windscreens as it gives a clearer view to drivers in heavy rain or mist. He said that while at speeds of up to 60 km per hour water droplets falling on the windscreen roll off it and at higher speeds they begin to roll up through because of the reduction in the adhesiveness of the glass. Products using gloss coated with NT products are neutral to electrical charge, infra red and ultra violet, according to him. He said coatings using the technology also provide better corrosion resistance, temperature resistance and wear resistance. Talking about the coatings for ceramics, stone, marbles and textiles using NT, Ralf Danzebrink of Nanogate Technologies GmbH said the technology makes possible multi-functionality, which is not possible for conventional material. He explained that NT could enhance flexibility as well as hardness of a material - the two properties that are in conventional terms contradictory. The CII in collaboration with the central commerce ministry proposes to make India's research and development community and industry aware of the opportunities awaiting them in the field of NT, said V. Raghuraman, senior adviser to CII. NT deals with particles of molecular scale between 0.2 nanometres (one nanometre being one billionth of a metre) and 120 nanometres. At that scale, the properties of the materials are accentuated several times making them more efficient. NT is finding more and more use in day-to-day life in the form of more effective products. Though the thrust areas for NT are now paints, sunscreens, textiles and microprocessor chips, receiving research funds to the tune of $6 billion, it is likely to enter healthcare field in a big way, it is pointed out. The global market of NT products is expected to grow to $1 trillion by 2011. The US, Germany, Japan and Britain are considered front-runners in NT.
Source: IANS