InterviewBASF hails future of nanotechnology

30 January 2008 16:15  [Source: ICIS news]

BERLIN (ICIS news)--Nanotechnology does not just make sense scientifically but also financially, according to BASF senior vice president Professor Rudiger Iden.

                  

“The possibilities for mankind and for us are huge,” he told ICIS news on the sidelines of the SusChem conference here entitled the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry.

  

German chemicals company BASF set up a $25m programme with the US-based university Harvard in November to research and develop its own nanotechnology, said Iden.  

 

The pair were looking at not only medical applications for nano particles but for their use in every aspect of life, added the professor.

 

It could be used in batteries, fuel cells and other energy efficient materials, he said.

 

“It is [nanotechnology] an enabler. We are coming up with much better products because of nanoscience,” Iden said.

 

He goes on to describe how nanoscience had created a more flexible and durable plastic, which could be used in LAN (cable) connectors because there had been problems with the old material breaking.

 

“BASF has a whole family of nanoplastics,” he said.

 

The development of new materials using the particles often came in response to market demand and stronger, more flexible plastics were being developed,  Iden said.

 

“At the moment healthcare or the wellbeing sector is where nanotechnology can make a difference,” Iden said.

 

Nanoscience was being developed in medicine where producers of medical equipment such as tubing wanted nanotechnology to create materials that would not have any adverse effects on the living cells it was touching, he added.

 

Nanotechnology refers broadly to a field of applied science and technology whose unifying theme is the control of matter on the atomic and molecular scale and the fabrication of devices with critical dimensions that lie within that size range.

 

SusChem brings together a wide spectrum of organisations and individuals looking to boost sustainable chemistry, industrial biotechnology and chemical engineering research, development and innovation in Europe. The conference ends on Wednesday.

By: Lucy Craymer
+44 20 8652 3214

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