Even if it is not visible to the naked eye, nanotechnology already appears in the daily lives of many companies and consumers.
In the Brazilian market, it reaches products from sectors such as cosmetics, health, construction, electronics, fertilizers and fashion. They are materials produced and manipulated from the nanometric scale, between 1 and 100 nanometers. Each nanometer equals one meter divided by 1 billion.
Jefferson Gomes, director of innovation and technology at Senai Nacional, says that the potential of nanotechnology lies in its ability to offer precision and efficiency. This feature applies in various areas, such as power generation and development of new materials.
In addition, it is one of the enablers of Industry 4.0, which will have sensors on a nanometric scale, artificial intelligence and a large capacity for sending data.
In Gomes’ assessment, Brazil has been standing out as one of the countries with good scientific production in the field of nanotechnology and there are examples of application in the country.
On the other hand, he says that the volume of investment dedicated to the sector is still low in relation to the need and in comparison with more developed countries —and he defends greater participation by the State in boosting the sector.
“The quality of what is done here is good, but the volume is still small”, says Gomes.
For Leandro Antunes Berti, president of Brasil Nano (Brazilian Association of Nanotechnology), Brazil has the maturity to develop in the sector, as it has a large volume of qualified researchers and an abundance of materials.
The country stands out especially in the cosmetics sector, in which there were acquisitions of nanotechnology companies by large industries, he says.
The next challenge is to place the country at the forefront of areas in which knowledge has been developing, including medicine and electronics. “There is a race in the world to dominate semiconductor production, and nano technologies are the basis for this”, he says.
One of the companies seeking to combine nanotechnology and electronics is Embeddo, from Rio de Janeiro.
The startup has been working with companies in the automotive sector. In these projects, he uses graphene nanoparticles in the construction of sensors to measure pressure and deformation, says Daniel Giacometti, one of the company’s partners.
The equipment, which is developed in partnership with Unifesp researchers, can be linked to industry machinery to identify problems and anticipate maintenance, avoiding wear and tear and interruptions in production, for example.
Giacometti also envisions using the technology to monitor the integrity of the airframe.
One advantage of carrying out the production of sensors in Brazil is the possibility of offering projects with greater customization. Embeddo also develops software for analyzing the data collected in partnership with customers.
Support from programs to promote research and innovation is often the starting point or what makes the first years of a nanotechnology company viable. NanoScoping, for example, started after an award from Fapesc (Santa Catarina Research and Innovation Support Foundation) received by the company’s partners in 2014.
The business was created by researchers Beatriz Veleirinho and Letícia Mazzarino, both with postdoctoral degrees from UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina).
There were three between the award and having the product on the market, says Veleirinho. Today the company has a laboratory and two production units. It supplies nanotechnology-based inputs to the veterinary, agricultural and cosmetic sectors.
The company’s expertise in developing systems based on nanoparticles with different materials allowed it to enter different sectors, says Mazzarino.
The actives sold to industries by NanoScoping are produced with the aim of providing better absorption through the skin, hair, animal hair or leaves.
The speed and way in which these particles are absorbed can also be worked on with nanotechnology, explains Mazzarino.
Companies in the pharmaceutical sector have already approached Nanoscoping with demands such as increasing the resistance of a drug. The aim is to decrease the degradation of a substance in the patient’s stomach and increase its absorption in the intestine.
Another possibility of nanotechnology is explored by the company Nanox, from São Carlos (inland São Paulo): the bactericidal effect obtained from silver nanoparticles.
The company supplies the actives, in powder form or dissolved in liquid, to be added to products in the textile sector, packaging or construction materials.
According to Gustavo Simões, partner and president of the company, 60% of the almost 25 professionals have a master’s or doctorate.
The research experience allowed the company to participate in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to producing scientific articles, Nanox participated in the launch of masks, packaging, clothes, mats and even toys that brought protection with silver.
In fashion, the startup Insider Store used nanotechnology to create a line of products that aims to prevent the user from getting odor resulting from sweat.
For this, the company adds nanosilver to t-shirts to eliminate the bacteria responsible for the bad smell.
Karen Prado, a researcher at Insider Store, says that the company is looking for innovations based on nanofibers and nanoparticles. She believes it is possible to improve the thermal conduction of clothes, provide protection against ultraviolet rays and provide self-cleaning and electrical conduction properties for the incorporation of sensors.
The potential for advancement of nanotechnology in Brazil boosted the creation of the company FabNS, of nanoscopes. The equipment allows the analysis of materials on the nanometric scale.
The company is the result of research at the Spectroscopy Laboratory of the Physics Department at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais).
The company sells the equipment and software to other companies and laboratories working in the sector. It also provides on-demand material analysis services. According to partners Cassiano Rabelo and Hudson Miranda, the nanoscope should serve as a platform that enables the emergence of more innovations.
To understand nanotechnology
What is it:
Manipulation of materials at the nanometer level, smaller than the microscopic one.
A nanometer is equivalent to a meter divided by a billion.
To get an idea of the tiny dimension, imagine that the proportion between a soccer ball and the entire planet Earth is similar to that between a nanometer and a meter.
Emergence:
A lecture given by the Nobel Prize-winning American physicist Richard Feynman in 1959, with the title “There’s a lot of room below”, is considered the starting point of nanotechnology —despite the term having
was created later. Microscopes that allowed the observation of particles at the nanometer level appeared in the 1980s.
Application examples:
bactericidal
Nanosilver has been adopted in clothing, packaging,
construction and decoration.
Accumulators
Allows the construction of batteries with more storage capacity,
charging speed and power.
cosmetics
The reduced size of the nanoparticles allows greater absorption by
skin and hair.
Pesticides
The formulation of products with nanometer-scale particles promises
improve absorption, in addition to reducing the amount of product and
environmental damage.
Energy
Nanotechnology promises to create more efficient solar panels and
wind turbines with greater resistance.
Electronics
Carbon nanotubes are candidates to replace silicon in
semiconductor production.
Infrastructure
sensors based on nanotechnology should be used to monitor
in real time the integrity of the structure of bridges, tunnels and tracks.
Maintenance
Nanotechnology can be used to enhance protection and
conservation of facades, windows and interiors of residences.
Health
New methods for disease diagnosis are expected and the
development of more effective and personalized medicines.
I have over 10 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked for several different news organizations, including a large news website like News Bulletin 247. I am an expert in the field of economics and have written several books on the subject. I am a highly skilled writer and editor, and have a strong knowledge of social media. I am a highly respected member of the news industry, and my work has been featured in many major publications.
