Conference provided opportunities for manufacturers to learn from scientists how nano-scale surface analysis can benefit their businesses
Shampoo makers, glass manufacturers, chemists, and other UK industrialists are learning to turn the world's most advanced microscopes to their advantage.
The conference Nano-molecular analysis for emerging technologies, at the National Physical Laboratory, showed a variety of companies how to get the highest accuracy from their nano-analysis of surface molecules.
"Industrial science has evolved a massive need to finely understand surfaces at a molecular level," says Charles Clifford from NPL's analytical science team. "Companies are starting to use devices which, until recently, only existed in research institutions and universities. We are helping them to get the best results and turn this technology to commercial advantage".
The conference attracted 130 Dutch, Swedish, British, Spanish, and American delegates from companies and organisations including ICI, GlaxoSmithKline, L'Oreal, Cancer Research UK, and Pilkington.
It was one of the first opportunities for manufacturers to learn from scientists how nano-scale surface analysis can benefit their businesses.
Delegates explored techniques in scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and static secondary ion mass spectrometry (Ssims).
The conference was sponsored by the DTI Valid Analytical Measurements (Vam) programme.
These techniques, at the frontier of analytical science, are increasingly being used by industry to gain a competitive edge.
As the UK's measurement institute, it is NPL which knows how best to deploy them for industrial advantage. In Ssims, the surface of a material is bombarded with ions to create a release of molecules for analysis by mass spectrometer, with the potential to enable a precise understanding of its molecular structure.
The technology can be used in applications from surface-engineered medical implants such as long-life hip replacements, to development of new non-staining coatings for carpets and a better type of potato crisp.
Atomic force microscopy uses a very small probe to measure surface properties at the nanoscale.
"We are showing industry how to get more than just pretty pictures of a surface," Clifford says. "We can give them a quantitative analysis and measurement of the chemical nature of a surface".
ICI uses secondary ion mass spectrometry to identify molecules on surfaces and characterise their distribution.
This understanding aids the development of, for example, high performance products to deliver desirable effects for hair and skin care, adhesion, lubrication and controlled release of flavours and fragrances.
L'Oreal uses secondary ion mass spectrometry to understand the chemical and physical properties of hair, with obvious implications for its shampoo and conditioner products and how they modify surface hair structure.
Easier calibration of instruments is key to their effective industrial use.
NPL fellow Peter Cumpson showed delegates a new Mems device called an electrical nanobalance, for accurate lateral and normal force measurement in atomic force microscopes, with traceability to SI units.
