A small company in downtown Providence is engineering gold particles invisible to the human eye that can be used to build cheap, rechargeable solar panels, create better liquid-crystal (LCD) displays and improve devices that detect chemical and biological threats. They might one day even give people the ability to see in the dark.
Solaris Nanosciences Corp. is working to turn science fiction into reality through the use of “nano-antennas” – gold particles viewable only with the most powerful microscopes that have electromagnetic fields which enhance the absorption of light.
Solaris, believed to be the only company in Rhode Island dedicated entirely to developing and commercializing nanotechnology products, was founded in 2004 by Nabil Lawandy, a former professor of engineering and physics at Brown University.
Lawandi launched Solaris with $1 million from his document-processing and authentication company, Spectra Systems Inc., which he founded in 1996. Solaris also received initial investments from the state-financed Slater Technology Fund from and Yellowstone Capital, a private equity investment firm in Houston.
“Nanotech was developing a buzz, we had an expertise in it, and so we founded Solaris,” Lawandi said.
Eying the booming renewable energy market, Solaris first focused its technology on developing cheap, rechargeable photovoltaic cells that could be serviced by heating and air conditioning professionals.
The idea failed to attract further venture capital, which Lawandi chalked up to confusion in the investment community over too many new technologies being developed at once.
But now Solaris is re-staffing, having recently received a classified contract worth more than $1 million to pursue a commercial application of its technology, Lawandi said.
Experts predict many opportunities in the commercialization of nanotechnology in coming years, as the field drives a wave of breakthroughs across a wide swath of sectors, including energy, medicine and the environment.
There are already more than 400 products on the market that incorporate nanotechnology components, and some experts predict the market for products containing nanotechnology will grow to more than $1 trillion, said Robert Hurt, a professor in Brown’s Division of Engineering and the director of a major new research center at the university dedicated to nanotechnology and molecular research and development.
More than 50 Brown faculty members from nine departments are affiliated with the Institute for Molecular and Nanoscale Innovation, which opened its doors earlier this month.
Research at the institute is occurring in three areas: the Center for Advanced Materials Research; the Center for Nanoscience and Soft Matter; and the NanoHealth Working Group.
If the institute is successful at attracting funds from the federal science agencies, it could help economic development officials in their quest to grow a lucrative nanotechnology industry in Rhode Island.
But Brown faces significant competition from established nanotechnology centers at the California Institute of Technology, Northwestern University and other universities, and many states have been investing in nanotechnology research and development for more than a decade, Lawandi said.
Rhode Island ranks fourth in the country per capita in federal nanotechnology funding, Hurt said. And yet, several nanotechnology startup companies that have spun out of Brown University in past years have picked headquarters in Massachusetts, one of the nation’s biggest hubs for nanotechnology firms. •
