Advanced Materials & Nanotechnology

Nanomaterials Synthesis and Characterization involve crafting materials at the nanoscale and analyzing their properties. Techniques like sol-gel, chemical vapor deposition, and bottom-up assembly create nanostructures with tailored properties. Characterization tools like TEM, XRD, and AFM probe size, structure, and behavior, enabling advancements in diverse fields.

Nanotechnology revolutionizes medicine by employing nanoscale tools for precise diagnostics, drug delivery, and treatment. Nanoparticles enable targeted drug release, minimizing side effects. Biosensors detect diseases at early stages with high sensitivity. This convergence of nanotechnology and medicine holds immense potential for personalized therapies and improved patient outcomes.

Energy and Environmental Nanotechnology harness nanomaterials to address pressing energy and environmental challenges. Nanocatalysts enhance efficiency in renewable energy production and pollutant degradation. Nanomembranes enable efficient water purification and desalination. This synergy of nanotechnology with energy and environmental sectors contributes to sustainable solutions for a cleaner and greener future.

Nanoelectronics and Nanophotonics revolutionize electronics and optics by manipulating matter at the nanoscale. Nanoelectronic devices, such as quantum dots and nanowires, enable faster, smaller, and more efficient electronic components. Nanophotonics harness light-matter interactions in nanoscale structures, paving the way for ultra-compact photonic circuits and advanced optical communication systems.

Nanocomposites and Smart Materials combine nanoscale additives with matrices to create materials with tailored properties. These advanced materials exhibit enhanced mechanical, thermal, and electrical characteristics, finding applications in industries such as aerospace, automotive, and electronics. Additionally, smart materials respond to external stimuli, enabling adaptive and multifunctional capabilities for innovative technologies.

The Advanced materials directorate has in the past financial year developed a baseline study on the sector in South Africa. The study entailed understanding the capabilities, opportunities, global trends, gaps and challenges of the industry, with a specific emphasis on titanium, Nano-materials, advanced composites and semiconductors.

Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter at the nanoscale, at dimensions between approximately 1 and 100 nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter. 

Materials science and engineering, involves the discovery and design of new materials.  Many of the most pressing scientific problems humans currently face are due to the limitations of the materials that are available and, as a result, major breakthroughs in materials science are likely to affect the future of technology significantly. Materials scientists lay stress on understanding how the history of a material influences its structure, and thus its properties and performance. All engineered products from airplanes to musical instruments, alternative energy sources related to ecologically-friendly manufacturing processes, medical devices to artificial tissues, computer chips to data storage devices and many more are made from materials.

Ability of a nation to harness nature as well as its ability to cope up with the challenges posed by it is determined by its complete knowledge of materials and its ability to develop and produce them for various applications. Advanced Materials are at the heart of many technological developments that touch our lives. 

Advanced Ceramic and Composite Materials focus on engineered carbonaceous materials, Superior Graphite offers a range of high purity silicon carbide and boron carbide powders for sintered or hot-pressed parts, coatings, and additives. Known for their extreme hardness, low specific gravity, and elevated temperature performance, these materials are used for ballistic armor, abrasives, composites, brake linings, heating elements, nozzles and igniters. Additionally, Superior Graphite is active in emerging technologies and processes related to Non-Oxide Ceramic Powders.

Biomaterials are the fastest-growing emerging field of bio devices. The design and development of biomaterials play a significant role in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases. Recently, a variety of scaffolds/carriers have been evaluated for tissue regeneration, drug delivery, sensing and imaging.

The scope of Advanced Optical Materials is dedicated to breakthrough discoveries and fundamental research in photonics, plasmonics, metamaterials, and more. The following is a non-exhaustive list of the topics covered in Advanced Optical Materials.

Carbon nanotubes or graphene-based nanomaterials functionalized by different strategies have attracted great attention for energy storage due to their large specific surface area, high conductivity, and good mechanical properties. Graphene-based materials exhibit remarkable electronic, optical, and mechanical properties, which has resulted in both high scientific interest and huge potential for a variety of applications. Furthermore, the family of graphene-based materials is growing because of developments in preparation methods. Raman spectroscopy is a versatile tool to identify and characterize the chemical and physical properties of these materials, both at the laboratory and mass-production scale.

Polymers are large molecules, or macromolecule, composed of many repeated subunits. Due to their broad range of properties, both synthetic and natural polymers play essential and ubiquitous roles in everyday life. Polymers range from familiar synthetic plastics such as polystyrene to natural biopolymers such as DNA and proteins that are fundamental to biological structure and function. Polymers, both natural and synthetic, are created via polymerization of many small molecules, known as monomers. Consequently large molecular mass, relative to small molecule compounds, produces unique physical properties including toughness, viscoelasticity, and a tendency to form glasses and semicrystalline structures rather than crystals. The terms polymer and resin are often synonymous with plastic.