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SAENA Technologies Engineering Nanoparticle-based Spectral Barcode

http://www.bulletins-electroniques.com/actualites/61467.htm

SAENA Technologies exploits a technology stemming from the research conducted by the Spectroscopy and Nanomaterials team at the Lyons Institute of Nanotechnologies (CNRS/Ecole Centrale de Lyon/INSA of Lyons/ Claude Bernard University of Lyons). Officially created last November 19 by Mehdi Medjaoui, a young INSA engineer, SAENA Technologies is startup that will be using certain properties (luminescence, among others) of semiconductor nanoparticles to design a spectral barcode for marking and authenticating materials. In the long run, the nanoparticles may also be used as fuel for fuel cells or as a therapeutic cancer treatment. The startup that won the eleventh National Competition for the Creation of Innovative Technology Businesses last June is set up at the CREALYS business incubator. The new business is also backed by INSAVALOR, the research enhancement subsidiary of INSA of Lyons and FIST, the CNRS and OSEO INNOVATION's subsidiary for the transfer and commercialization of innovative technologies.

"I have always wanted to create a business," Mehdi Medjaoui immediately said. So, when the opportunity to embark on this adventure arose while he was studying materials science and engineering for his engineering degree at INSA of Lyons, he naturally grabbed it. He was then doing his fifth year internship at Institut des Nanotechnologies de Lyon (INL, Lyons Nanotechnologies Institute), a recent Joint Research Unit where CNRS Research Fellow Vladimir Lysenko was working, and who backed Medjaoui's startup project. INL researchers conduct research on silicon and silicon carbide nanoparticles. "The 1 to 10-nanometer diameter particles have very interesting properties, including luminescence . However, their spectral properties depend on size. By controlling their size distribution, a spectral barcode can be designed. When the barcode is integrated into a material, it can mark and authenticate it," Mehdi Medjaoui explained.

Eventually, the patented technology should enable SAENA Technologies to make nanopowders for material marking and authentication. This means that a new tool for increasing material quality control and traceability and fighting counterfeit will be available on the market. "Until now, we have been working on a pilot set up at INL. However, it does not allow us to make enough nanopowders. But in February, we will have access to a pre-industrial facility that means we can produce from 1 to 10 kilos per month," he said. SAENA Technologies is also focusing on the supply of raw materials, i.e., nonstandard silicon and silicon carbide. Although the microelectronics industry uses highly sophisticated wafers with ever-increasing added value, the Lyons-based startup needs heavy materials with large surface areas. So, the new business is working with photovoltaics companies to obtain supplies.

One Ton Per Month in 2011

But SAENA Technologies has even bolder ambitions. Indeed, depending on size, nanoparticles could also be employed for other (also patented) applications, particularly fuel cells where the nanoparticles mixed in a solution could be used as fuel. However, as the nanoparticles are fluorescent, researchers are looked into using them to mark cancer cells. "The in vitro tests showed that a large majority of the cancer cells had been killed, which was an unexpected development. So, we are running in vivo tests that are now underway," stated Mehdi Medjaoui who also explained that this application is still only at the research stage.

For SAENA Technologies, the target is first to anchor a specialized business in material marking and authentication based on the nanoparticle-based spectral barcode. "In the long run, we will be offering other marking technologies, specifically the ones we're now patenting, one for metal marking, an increasingly important issue for industry operators, and the other for the food-processing industry." For the time being, the target is mass production as SAENA Technologies' goal is to produce one ton per month by late 2010.

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Saena Technologies - Mehdi Medjaoui - Phone: +33 (0)6 14 94 59 03 - email: mehdi.medjaoui@gmail.com

Code brève
ADIT : 61467

ADIT - Jean-François Desessard - email jfd@adit.fr

eTech France numéro 235 (7/12/2009) - ADIT / ADIT - http://www.bulletins-electroniques.com/actualites/61467.htm