Rob: Some of Oklahoma's strongest industries have started from the ground
up, and that concept takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to
nanotechnology, a new industry in Oklahoma that creates products literally
invisible to the human eye.
Scientists believe by working at the smallest levels, they can make
large strides in everything from fighting disease to improving our
environment, and in doing so, create an important new industry in Oklahoma.
Joining me now from one of these innovative companies is our Brian Bendele.
Brian: Rob, nanotechnology is definitely the science of the small.
If you can imagine, scientists are working on products that are so small
that a human hair, or the fuzz on this microphone, is still 80,000 times
larger than the nano particles.
And it's a technology that many companies in Oklahoma, like SouthWest
NanoTechnologies, believe could very well be the future.
If there is a gram of nanotubes that means
there's a billion nanotubes.
Brian: And they all fit in to these little bottles.
Sahsa Down is a development engineer at SouthWest NanoTechnologies
in Norman, Oklahoma, and says the complicated process all starts with a
grain of sand and carbon monoxide gases.
Down: The sand particles are where they are actually grown.
So the carbon comes from the gas, attaches to the sand particle, and the
nanotube grows as more and more carbon atoms are attached to the sand.
Brian: Thus creating carbon nanotubes, a structure that is changing
the way we create a number of products from coatings to plastics.
CEO, David Arthur.
David Arthur: The carbon nanotubes are also the strongest, stiffest,
materials known to mankind.
So if you want to make a plastic material really strong, and stiff, and
tough, put cabon nanotubes in them.
If you want to make a plastic material, which usually doesn't conduct
electricity, conduct electricity, put carbon nanotubes in them.
Brian: The company was founded in 2001, and thanks to a process
designed at Oklahoma University, SouthWest NanoTechnologies
now has the ability to create a variety of carbon nanotubes, from one
process, that can easily be changed to fit the customer's needs.
Arthur: One thing that sets us apart is that we tailor the carbon
nanotubes for the application, because as you point out, not one
tube structure will be best for all applications.
So we control the tube structure, and then we put it in a product form, a
physical form, that's easy to use.
Brian: Making quality the utmost importance, especially since this
technology can be used in medicine.
Arthur: It's naturally compatible with the body; the body will not attack
the carbon nanotubes.
Brian: Creating endless possibilities for the future of medicine.
Arthur: If you can get the nanotube to attach, by functionalizing it like
you say, you could simply just shine light on it, and the only thing that
will absorb that light; blood and tissue will be transparent to that
wavelength of light; but the nanotube will absorb it and heat up the cell
it's attached to it and kill it.
So that's a much more humane way of treating cancer.
Brian: So while Southwest is growing its technology from the pilot stage, more
and more nano products are appearing in the marketplace, Jim Mason
with the Oklahoma Nanotechnology Initiative.
Jim Mason: Oklahoma is a state that is focusing on applications of
nanotechnology, so that existing companies can take whatever product they
make, and improve it with a nanotech process.
And that can be anything from, if you manufactured something, like this
tennis racket, we can make it lighter, stronger, better; or it could be
something like this car wax which is used to fill in nano particles on a
car, makes a very nice shine on a car wax.
Brian: So companies like SouthWest NanoTechnologies that create the nanotubes
become essential to bringing in more business to the state.
Mason: We think, in Oklahoma, that we can help Oklahoma companies do
this, now, and be world leaders.
It gives them a competitive advantage.
If my product is lighter, cheaper, faster, stronger, then perhaps it will be
the first to market and therefore the winners.
Brian: And that is where SouthWest NanoTechnologies is headed, with plans to
build a facility that will hold a scaleable production process able to
meet industry needs.
Arthur: And no company has been in a position, until now, to deliver both the
quantity and consistency like we are able to do.
Brian: All of which could make Oklahoma THE place for nanotechnology.
Rob: So, Brian, any growth plans for SouthWest NanoTechnologies?
Brian: Well Rob, directly behind me is the new 15,000 square foot
facility that SouthWest NanoTechnologies will be moving to in April.
And they hope to be reaching commercial production by June, all of
which means more economic growth for Oklahoma.
Rob: Thank you, Brian.