Monday, March 13, 2006

Tiny technology.

By Keith Regan

When it comes to protecting the environment, it may be especially true that good things come in small packages. Nanotechnology, and in particular carbon nanotubes, have the potential to address a number of environmental problems by reducing reliance on fossil fuels, helping to improve the way environmental contamination is cleaned and eventually allowing non polluting manufacturing techniques.

Lowell-based Konarka Technologies Inc.'s recent $20 million round of venture funding emphasized the potential many see for nanotechnology to help create a cleaner environment.

The firm, which spun off from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and has now collected some $60 million in funding, has won contracts to develop materials for the U.S. military that can be worked into tents, backpacks and other items to capture solar energy and convert it into power.

The company predicts a range of uses for its materials to boost the efficiency of solar energy and make it possible to create devices that can "scavenge power from their environment," said Konarka Executive Vice President Daniel McGahn.

While Konarka has been building momentum for some time, the renewed focus on seeking ways to reduce dependence on fossil fuels is raising the profile of the company and other firms with similar goals, McGahn said.

"It's very timely and topical," he said. "The technology being developed here and in nanotechnology could be very pertinent to a lot of needs society has."

Konarka CEO Howard Berke, meanwhile, said his firm's recent funding round underscores that nanotech is ready today, and not just a futuristic idea. For instance, Konarka has produced solar-panel-sized modules with carbon nanotubes.

He said the firm plans to use the money to expand its research and development team and speed "process development in support of our growing number of supply chain partners and scale-up partners."

Berke said Massachusetts will likely continue to be at the forefront of green nanotech innovation as well, and the support Konarka has received as it moved from a UMass Lowell lab to its own research and manufacturing facilities has been similar to the support that helped biotechnology take hold in the Bay State.

"There is a beginning of a nucleus of nanomaterials-and-technology oriented companies which are starting to reach critical mass and become self-fulfilling," he said.

A blend of chemistry and engineering, nanotechnology can improve on existing solar-collection technology as well. Franklin-based Eikos Inc. has also worked to develop coatings for solar panels that would reduce the amount of surface friction and enable panels to create more electricity from the same amount of sun exposure. It, too, has won defense contracts, as well as funding from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory program, a U.S. Department of Energy lab established in 1991.

Eikos' products are also being aimed at visual display makers and have other defense applications such as coatings for airplanes that reduce static electricity build up.

Chris Weeks, senior product engineer at Eikos, said the company is in the midst of seeking a round of funding at the same time it is seeing a renewed interest in the environmental applications of its technology.

"There's a lot more interest and money being directed toward technology that can help produce power, and we're seeing the impact of that," Weeks said.

With less than 1 percent of the world's power from solar sources, the potential for expanding the technology could help make a significant difference. Carbon nanotubes, just one form of nanotechnology, are seen as having multiple applications in the environmental field, and several New England firms are pushing to bring the technology to market.

Aninditta Savitry, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan's Technical Insights, said the real effect of nanotubes will come as production is advanced to the stage where they can be readily available.

"Less-expensive nanotubes will enable a wider range of possible applications," Savitry said. "When the industry approaches that point, there will be a rapid expansion of uses."

Other regional firms working on green uses for nanotech include Norwalk, Conn.-based mPhase Technologies Inc., which has struck a broad development pact with Lucent Bell Laboratories to help commercialize nanotechnology for batteries.

With an 18- to 24-month horizon for bringing product to market, the mPhase executives say its technology can help make batteries that have unlimited shelf life, dramatically reducing the number of batteries that are being produced. The nanotech-based devices could also be far smaller than traditionally made batteries, according to the company.

In Rhode Island, eMembrane Inc. is working with carbon nanotubes to create membranes and other materials that could enable far more specific filtration than current membranes, with a range of possible uses. Those uses include environmental cleanup, where a nano-made membrane might be able to attract and collect only specific molecules from an oil or chemical spill, for instance.

In the case of many of the firms, military funding has helped accelerate development by several years.

"To move toward market, you need speed and focus, and working with the military definitely helps to bring the focus about," said Konarka's McGahn.

From there, however, the firm sees a host of applications for its thin-film solar panels, from portable electronics to advanced solar awnings and tents to roofing material made of the solar panels.

Nanotech boosters say in the long run the technology could help to reduce reliance on traditional manufacturing, which would in turn reduce air pollution and preserve more non-renewable resources.

Keith Regan is a freelance writer based in Grafton.