CeNTI

Nanotechnology – A potential response focusing on the green and digital transition

Nanotechnology is an essential ally in addressing the main challenges of the current green and digital transition. It enables the creation of new materials and processes with functional characteristics and behaviours different from common materials. However, its development and use have been widely debated, due to the potential impact on health, safety, and/or environment. Therefore, its application must be carried out responsibly and safely, following regulations and scientific studies, while also adhering to ethical principles.

One of CeNTI's expertise areas is the development of nanostructured solutions with distinctive and customised characteristics, applicable to different industrial sectors. With installed capacity, from laboratory to pilot scale production, numerous nanomaterials have been developed with functional (e.g., amphiphobic, antibacterial, antioxidant, gas and liquid barrier, thermal management), mechanical, and structural (e.g., encapsulation of active agents) properties. The developed solutions undergo a performance evaluation and validation process from optimization to final prototype validation. Safety procedures and careful handling are adopted according to the synthesis method to achieve stable, safe, and reproducible solutions.

Depending on the approach/method used - bottom-up (synthesis from the elemental level) or top-down (reducing material to nanometric structures/particles)-, it is possible to obtain nanomaterials of different natures: inorganic (silica, metal oxides - titanium, zinc, copper, carbon-based) and organic (capsules, spheres, or emulsions based on polymers, cellulose, rosin and derivatives, etc.). Control of particle size, shape, crystalline or amorphous structure, particle size distribution, film thickness, among others, is performed using different technologies available at CeNTI.