Nano-based products starting to have consumer impact
By Linda A. Johnson, Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J. — For a science that's about manipulating substances at the molecular level, nanotechnology is starting to bring big profits to many consumer product makers.

Gaze deeply into the tennis ball held by Harris A. Goldberg, president and chief officer of InMat; it has an interior nanotech coating.

Mike Derer, AP

Already, nanoscience has produced stain- and wrinkle-resistant clothing, self-cleaning windows, glare-reducing and fog-resistant coatings for eyeglasses and windshields, dramatically increased computer memory, better sports equipment, improved cosmetics and sunscreens, and lighter, stronger auto components.

What's next? More user-friendly cell phones, longer-lasting batteries, lighter car tires that retain air longer, better imaging techniques for diagnosing disease, drugs more precisely targeted to limit side effects, faster consumer electronics, perhaps even cheaper beer made with "nano yeast," experts say.

Fortune 500 companies from General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co. and IBM to Motorola, Sony, DuPont and 3M are making big investments in nanotechnology to improve medicine, computer components, electronic toys, microelectronics, photovoltaic systems, cosmetics and flat-panel displays for TV and video screens. Some products are already on store shelves.

"Nanotechnology is in the process of revolutionizing consumer technology," said Dave Bishop, president of the New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium. "It's really a transformational technology, like transistors were."

Nanotechnology takes its name from the nanometer — one-billionth of a meter — about 80,000 times less than the diameter of a human hair. By manipulating substances from one to several hundred nanometers thick, scientists and manufacturers can take advantage of magnetic, electronic or optical properties not present at normal size.

But unlike the nanotechnology done in "clean room" labs, where devices are sometimes assembled atom by atom under electron microscopes, manufacturers basically use the principles of chemistry, aided by careful control of conditions such as temperature and pressure, to make molecules assemble themselves precisely, yet economically, with desired attributes.

"This is something with huge revenue potential," predicted Bishop, who heads nanotechnology research at Bell Labs, the research arm of telecom gear maker Lucent Technologies Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J.

Estimates of nanotechnology's financial impact range from about $20 billion to $50 billion in revenues today, jumping to as much as $1 trillion by 2010 and more than $2 trillion by 2015.

Lux Research, a New York consulting company focused on nanotechnology, forecasts products incorporating nanotechnology by 2014 will account for $2.6 trillion worth of products — 15% of global manufacturing output.

"There are really a lot of products out there. People just have a low awareness of them," said Matthew Nordan, vice president of research at Lux.

"What (companies) want to focus on is the end benefit to the consumer," such as improvements to cars or fabrics, said Gretchen McNeely, research manager for publisher Small Times Media, which covers the business of micro and nanoscale technology.

While some consumer advocates have questioned nanotechnology's safety, David Luzzi, co-director of The Nanotechnology Institute in Philadelphia, and Clayton Teague, director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, say there's no evidence of serious danger for the general public. People have been encountering nano-sized particles for years in the form of exhaust from cars, furnaces and power plants, toner particles from copier machines, even molecules containing the active ingredients of drugs, they said.

Most nanotechnology applications are not seen to pose a risk, but that is being carefully studied by federal, academic and industrial researchers, Teague said.

Nanotechnology began showing up in consumer products, notably cosmetics and sunscreens about 10 years ago, McNeely said. But it technically dates to decades before. For example, catalytic converters, put on cars since the 1970s, use platinum-rhodium particles to convert pollutants into safe gases.

Fast-forward a few decades, and now nanoparticles are in a broad range of consumer products, from food packaging to sporting goods.

At Chicago-based Wilson Sporting Goods, the nCode — "n" for nanotechnology — line of high-end tennis rackets launched in June already is the top new racket in the world, said Wilson spokesman Jon Muir. Injecting silicon oxide particles into voids in the graphite frame makes it stronger.

"It adds stability and it also enhances the life of the frame" and adds power to each stroke, Muir said.

In 2002, Wilson came out with "Double Core" tennis balls, now the top-selling balls in Europe. Inside is an ultrathin coating of a clay composite material, made by InMat Inc. of Hillsborough, N.J., to make balls retain air better, giving a more consistent bounce and longer life, said company president Harris Goldberg.

InMat has developed variations with other potential applications, including chemical protective gloves and food packaging to keep out oxygen so products like meat and cheese stay fresh longer.

"These are all water-based coatings, so there's no environmental hazard," Goldberg said.

BASF of Mount Olive, N.J., uses nanotechnology to deliver on its motto, "We make a lot of products you buy better," said spokesman Timothy Fitzpatrick.

Its most popular nanotech-based products include high-SPF ultraviolet absorbers for sunscreen and for fibers for clothing, high-durability pigments for plastics and coatings, and polymer dispersions for exterior paints, coatings and adhesives, he said.

Clothing maker Levi Strauss & Co. of San Francisco in fall 2002 came out with Dockers pants that use DuPont Teflon stain defender to keep spills out of the fabric, said spokeswoman Andrea Corso.

"Since then, everybody has it out, all the way up to high-end designers," including Prada, she said.

Corso said about 40% of Dockers women's and men's classic and premium clothes now have stain defender or other nanotechnology, such as the Perspiration Guard line that draws moisture from the body and spreads it across the fabric to dry out faster.

Nano-Tex of Greensboro, N.C., makes nanotech-based textile treatments that resist spills, dry synthetic fabrics quicker or give synthetics the look and feel of cotton. Spokesman Dan Stevens said more than 20 million garments using its treatments have been sold this year. Major customers include Gap, Eddie Bauer, Nordstrom, Brooks Brothers, Nike, Old Navy, Perry Ellis and Tommy Hilfiger.

At IGI in Buena, N.J., a maker of fat-based microcapsules to enclose moisturizers and other ingredients, about 75% of its $3.6 million annual revenues comes from its nanotech "Novasome" capsules, which can deeply penetrate skin and don't degrade while on the shelf. Chief executive Frank Gerardi said top customers include Johnson & Johnson, for its Neutrogena skincare line, Estee Lauder, for Renutriv, Resilience and other product lines, and Chattem, which buys menthol Novasomes to cover its IcyHot Sleeve pain relievers to make them work hours longer.

According to a May 2004 National Science Foundation report, a survey of manufacturers found 28% already were selling nanotechnology products late last year and another 15% expected to introduce commercial products within a year.