PUNE: Bringing in a transformative change, the Centre of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) team of scientists has developed a technology for manufacturing precision silver nanowires on a large scale. Headed under scientist Amol Kulkarni, the team developed cost-effective technology at par with global standards.
Interestingly, the market for silver nanowires by end-users will reach $408.14 million by 2022. The annual demand for silver nanowires will reach 11 tonnes by 2025, however, the bottleneck for it was the large-scale production.
CSIR Director Shekhar Mande, who inaugurated the pilot plant for continuous flow manufacture of silver nanowires, while talking to the press said that the team has brought in a transformative change developing the silver nanowires. These silver nanowires are typically footed under smart screens used in mobile screens, etc.
“The global market is very large for this. In India, there are no players in this segment and what we are coping to do with this is to allow entrepreneurs to come forward and manufacture it. Besides that, there is a huge export potential,” Mande said.
Electronic chemicals are used in mobiles and LED TVs, which are 100 per cent imported.
The NCL scientists have been successful in bringing down its price by 12 times than the global rates.
Kulkarni said, “Currently, more than 99 per cent of the manufacturers of these materials are outside India. In general, India imports most of the nanomaterials (except a few inorganic oxides viz. TiO 2 and carbon nanomaterials). The manufacturers have evolved rapidly while developing various technologies that never existed before (viz. metal mesh technology for multi-touch screen, filters for optical components, polymer-nano composites for coatings, printable circuits, nanoceramic dental implants having antimicrobial surface coatings, nano-diaphragms for acoustic sensing and accurate diagnosis among others).
Kulkarni added, “In recent times, silver nanowires have caught the attention due to their suitability for printed and flexible electronics. It is used in the tightly controlled markets (viz. touch screen, conducting inks, thermal coatings, IR shielding sector, etc.) where India has almost zero footprint. Now, with this technology developed at CSIR-NCL, Indian industries will be able to enter in the manufacturing of this precision material. Patents have been filed to protect the technology and the product has been tested for various applications including conducting inks in various forms.”
Kulkarni’s team comprised of Prachi Kate and Suneha Patil. BLV Prasad and Nandini Devi also contributed to this challenging interdisciplinary work.
SUCCESS
CSIR-NCL has already signed a material transfer agreement with an Indian company Nanorbital Advanced Materials Pvt Ltd and another is in progress. The technology is available for licensing.
