EDMOND — Dennis Donaldson, CEO of Edmond’s XetaComp Nanotechnologies, calls his line of work “the ultimate small business.”
That’s because his nanotechnology business deals in materials so tiny they’re measured in “nanometers,” each equal to one millionth of a millimeter.
For its diminutive work, XetaComp Nanotechnologies has won a big award. It is one of five Oklahoma companies receiving nearly $1.25 million in the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology’s Nanotechnology Applications Project awards.
XetaComp, in conjunction with an equipment manufacturer, has developed a proprietary manufacturing process to produce titanium dioxide, or n-Ti02, nanoparticles. XetaComp plans to manufacture the n-Ti02 in its Lawton facility and use it in sunscreens, cosmetics and other products, Donaldson said.
The particles used in the sunscreens and other applications will be less than 100 nanometers.
“By comparison, a human hair is 40,000 nanometers,” Donaldson said. “The surface area of 1 gram of our material is approximately 60-square meters.”
Ti02, an opaque material, already is used in many products, from toothpaste to paint, Donaldson said. The advantage of nanotechnology is the microscopic particles become transparent, making it suitable for use in cosmetic application.
“Our first retail product will be sunscreen. Titanium dioxide is a natural product, mined all over the world, that scatters UV-A and UV-B rays.”
Donaldson said titanium dioxide is by nature photocatalytic, and being so will create free radicals when exposed to light. XetaComp uses a process that coats each particle with other materials, creating a safe and effective slurry that can be used in formulations of many types of products.
“You can hit very high SPFs with this product,” Donaldson said.
The SPF, or sun protection factor, of a sunscreen is a laboratory measure of its effectiveness; the higher the SPF, the more protection offered against UV-B, which is the ultraviolet radiation that causes sunburn, and UV-A, which is more associated with longer-term skin damage.
XetaComp currently employs five people, but within the next five years it plans to employ around 50, he said. Projected income at the end of that five-year period is $40 million to $50 million.
“There’s a big demand for what we’re doing,” he said.
The company’s share of the OCAST awards was $250,000. The program was designed to provide a mechanism to extend financial support and technical services for the application of nanotechnology in Oklahoma’s manufacturing and business community.
The award winners were chosen based on the greatest likelihood for commercial success.
OCAST contracted with the Oklahoma Alliance for Manufacturing Excellence and the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center, managed by i2E Inc., to help implement the awards. The program provides a mechanism to extend financial support and technical services for the application of nanotechnology in Oklahoma’s manufacturing and business community.
Other applications for nanotechnology include improved health care, safer and more efficient transportation, increased sustainability, a cleaner environment and smaller, more powerful technology.
“Nanotechnology presents some incredible opportunities for the state of Oklahoma to catch this wave and become a force out there,” Donaldson said. “We’ve got a lot of people who have gotten on the train, from the governor on down, who are anxious to see Oklahoma become a leader in the nanotechnology field.”
Other companies winning OCAST awards were SouthWest NanoTechnology of Norman, Rupture Pin Technology and Martin Bionics of Oklahoma City and Access Optics of Broken Arrow.
(Alice Collinsworth may be reached via e-mail at acollinsworth@edmondsun.com.)
Nano Facts
- Nanotechnology uses a basic unit of measure called a “nanometer.” Nanometer is a metric word derived from “nano,” the Greek word for “midget.”
- A nanometer equals one millionth of a millimeter. There are one billion nanometers to a meter; 1 inch equals 25,400,000 nanometers.
- Each nanometer is only 3-5 atoms wide.
- A human red blood cell is more than 2,000 nanometers long, almost too long to be on the nanometer scale.
Source: www.oknano.com
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Company receives big returns from tiny product
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