Date: May 10, 2012 Source: Market Wire
WOBURN, MA--(Marketwire -05/10/12)- Nanotrons Corporation offers an automated coating system for material researchers to develop and produce nano-enabled optical coatings using layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly. Multilayer, ultrathin films can be designed and assembled at molecular dimensions with precise control of thickness and composition. The SPray Assisted Layer-by-layer Assembly System (SPALAS™) provides drastically shorter processing times compared to alternative methods and equipment.
SPALAS LbL assembly offers simplicity and universality for arranging molecules and nanoparticles only 1-10 nm in size in layers to form a thin film coating for an ever increasing number of technological applications. It is an eco-friendly automated process performed in a laboratory or production environment without the need for temperature or pressure control.
The SPALAS coating system uses a wet chemistry LbL adsorption process, based on chemical or electrostatic interactions between the material building blocks. SPALAS allows the application for even optical grade coatings on various substrate materials, including semiconductor substrates, plastics and glass. SPALAS coating technology has a broad range of applications, including solar panel light absorption enhancement, anti-reflection coating of optical surfaces, IR optical coatings, anti-fog coatings, and other nanostructured multi-functional coatings.
SPALAS provides a robust self-assembly process that produces high performance thin films with many advantages over traditional vacuum or sol-gel based coatings, including unparallel low acquisition and material costs, compact footprint, ease of use, and uniformith and scalability for very large substrates. The basic unit provides programmable spraying control easily generates self-assembled coatings on substrates up to 6" x 10" in size including complex surfaces such as tubes and fibers. SPALAS allows for alternating application of positively and negatively charged functional groups in solution, with intermediate washing and drying steps, as well as simultaneous application of multiple solutions. The compact system readily fits on a bench top.
Nanotrons Corporation, based in Woburn MA, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Agiltron Inc. Nanotrons' vision is to leverage its proprietary advanced nano-engineering technologies to develop solutions to various 21st century challenges confronted by mankind related to energy, water, environment, and terrorism. The company's goal is to create products with revolutionary performance benefits for energy storage, water treatment, environmental sensing and monitoring, and advanced structural materials and coatings. Other Nanotrons products include silver nanowires and graphene.
