This is not just goo, this is nanotechnology goo (From Andover Advertiser)

This is not just goo, this is nanotechnology goo

11:28am Monday 29th March 2010 in Hampshire Business By Gareth Lewis, Business Editor

TO the untrained eye it may look like fairly uninspiring green goo, but this is actually the product of cutting edge nanotechnology and the focus of a Hampshire company’s bid to corner a £670m market.

It’s the end result of £9m of investment, more than a decade of Southampton research and could end up powering your mobile phone or camera flash.

That’s what the bosses of Southampton University spin out company Nanotecture is hoping after they proudly unveiled the hi-tech “nanoporous” material.

Founded in 2003 Nanotecture has yet to make so much as a penny in sales but all that is set to change.

Its pioneering techniques allow them to build materials with a honeycomb structure which allows companies to cut down on expensive materials and ramp up the power.

Although it has many potential uses, bosses have decided to start by revolutionising supercapacitors, which power everything from wind turbines to mobile phones.

Bill Campbell, Nanotecture’s chief operating officer, said: “The estimates are that the market is currently worth a few hundred million dollars annually and it is expected to be over $1billion by 2015,” he said. “As far as we know we are the only people working on this.

“We would expect that this year we will be developing partnerships and we |would expect to see significant revenues by 2011 or 2012.”