TAPPI: Thank you,
Marie, for speaking with us today. You’re giving a keynote at the upcoming
TAPPI conference. Could you tell us a
little about your talk?
D’Iorio: Well, my approach will be to review where nano
technology is at now and show where it could be in leading applications. I will
focus on lessons learned from other materials systems and how it could inform
current research on renewable materials...
TAPPI: Thank you. You
are the Executive Director at NINT. Can you tell us a little about NINT?
D’Iorio: The
National Institute for Nanotechnology, or NINT, was funded by Canada’s
federal government in 2001, and the current building opened in 2006. For the
past decade, NINT has worked as a partnership between the University of Alberta
and the National Research Council (NRC), with the support of the government of
Alberta. We have 80 NRC staff, 20 university cross-appointees, and 250 graduate
students and postdocs.
TAPPI: How does the partnership work?
D’Iorio: NINT
supports interdisciplinary collaboration in strategically important areas of applications
(Energy Conversion and Storage, Information and Communication Technologies, Sensing
Platforms for Health) by creating a unique environment that merges a university
knowledge creation culture with the strategic and focused problem solving culture
of a national laboratory. We transform nanotechnology breakthroughs into
scalable materials and prototypes that can be manufactured industrially. We
share state of the art facilities and technical expertise and work closely with
industrial partners both small and medium size enterprises and multinationals.
TAPPI: What’s the primary mission of NINT?
D’Iorio: Our primary objective
is to translate research in nanoscience into technologies that can be commercialized
responsibly by Canadian industries.
TAPPI: Why Alberta?
D’Iorio: The National Research Council wanted to strengthen
its presence in western Canada and the University of Alberta’s existing
strength in nanofabrication, nanodevices and materials characterization served
as a seed for the partnership. Given Alberta’s focus on the Forestry,
Agriculture, Energy and Health sectors and its “can-do” attitude and
enthusiasm, there was a natural fit.
TAPPI: Nanotechnology is a broad topic. Where does NINT have
its primary focus?
D’Iorio:
NINT leverages its competencies in nanomaterials and sensor devices, surface
and interface chemistry, nano-bio and materials characterization to deliver
programs in the areas of Hybrid Nanoscale Electronics, Metabolomic Sensor
Systems, Nano-enabled Biomaterials, Energy Conversion and Storage and Industrial
Innovation Support.
TAPPI: How do we get from characterization to commercialization?
D’Iorio: One of NINT’s strengths is in the area of materials
characterization, in particular, electron microscopy. Thanks to a partnership
between NINT, Hitachi High Technologies Canada, the federal government, the
government of Alberta and the University of Alberta, NINT is the home for the
Hitachi Electron Microscope Product Development Centre. This partnership not
only brought a suite of high end electron microscopes to NINT but enabled an
ongoing collaborative initiative between NINT and Hitachi resulting in cutting
edge electron microscopy technologies and products. The latest success is a
centralized computer control system (MAESTRO) for managing electron microscopy
instruments, automating routine tasks with increased reliability and providing
flexibility to script individual experiments.
TAPPI: How
do you work with industry?
D’Iorio:
Our Innovation Support Program integrates NINT’s various areas of expertise
with the needs of business and public sector agencies. Working with partners
ranging from local start-ups to major international corporations, the team
combines NINT’s R&D capabilities with the client’s business savvy to
respond to mid to long term needs either through collaborative research or technical
service agreements. These agreements often lead to protection of Intellectual
Property and technology licensing agreements.
TAPPI: How do you accelerate innovation at other companies
in Canada?
D’Iorio:
Let me give you an example: with a small company that specializes in products
to prevent and control infection, we started by providing technical services in
our characterization labs. This evolved into a collaborative project on
materials development focusing on a new market segment for the company. We work
with the company on product development and scale-up and regulatory compliance.
As one of our performance indicators
is the creation of spinoffs, we work closely with such companies to support the
integration of technologies into their prototypes. We also have an Innovation
Center, where co-location favors access to technical expertise and services at
critical stages of company growth.
TAPPI: Now, what about nanocellulose? What is happening
there?
D’Iorio: We collaborate with metrologists on
characterization of CNC-based reference materials and work on the rheological
properties of CNC suspension in aqueous polymer solutions. We are also interested in CNC-based materials
and coatings for medical applications.
TAPPI: Where do you see nanocellulose in five to ten years?
D’Iorio: I think that nanocellulose will become one of those
ubiquitous materials finding its way in all industrial sectors because of its
biocompatibility and biodegradability. Product lifecycle and environmental
footprint will play in favor of nanocellulose-based materials, be it in
lightweight materials for automotive and aerospace applications or hydrophilic
membranes in biodegradable products. I think that tissue repair and substitutes
and the use of biocellulose are in our future.
TAPPI: Which
applications will come soonest?
D’Iorio: I think that nanocellulose composites will
come first as replacements for plastics and metals. The current interest in
additive manufacturing may also provide an opportunity and demand for
sustainable and renewable materials like cellulose nanocrystals and nanofibers.
TAPPI: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us today.
Anything else you’d like to add?
D’Iorio: We like to be involved where disciplines converge-
biology, physics, materials science and engineering and chemistry. That’s where
the real breakthroughs occur. It is a perfect space for renewable and
sustainable materials!
TAPPI: Thank you. We look forward to hearing your talk.
D’Iorio: You’re welcome, and thank you.
This interview was conducted for TAPPI by Jack Miller,
Founder and Principal Consultant, Market-Intell LLC. Jack is the author of Nanocellulose: Technology Applications and
Markets, published by RISI in 2014. Jack is also working with American
Process, Inc. as Consulting Manager,
Global Nanocellulose Sales.
