Belgian SME is looking for partners to further develop and implement new low pressure plasma coating technology for biocidal nanocoatings

The Belgian company is specialised in innovative nanocoating solutions using low pressure plasma technology, for which it has developed processes and equipment. During the years the company has built a portfolio of patents as well for the equipment as for the processes. The core applications are found in wearables, nonwovens and medical products. Conventional coating methods have several limitations which make them difficult to apply on 3D structures or materials. The Flemish SME is developing a new coating technology that can deposit in one single step truly biocidal nanocoatings, meaning that they are able to kill both bacteria and viruses. The technology will be using low pressure plasma polymerisation, which is a dry and clean coating process that can be applied both on three-dimensional (3D) products and roll-to-roll (R2R) substrates. This technique ensures a deposition of an ultra-thin continuous coating layer (50-500 nm), without using nanoparticles. The photocatalytic effect of the new coating has been demonstrated in the lab. The technology will allow biocidal coating of 3D products with complex shapes such as surgical instruments, surgical implants, hearing aids, electronic wearable and portable devices, sporting and outdoor shoes and gear, as well as flexible materials with complex structures such as nonwovens and other technical fabrics for surgical clothing, mouth masks, sporting and outdoor. The company is now looking for suppliers of complementary technologies and/or potential end users to further develop and scale this new coating technology into real applications. It is interested in both technical cooperation and research cooperation. That is why it is looking to build or join a consortium (e.g. for the call HORIZON-CL4-2021-RESILIENCE-01-20, with deadline 23/9/2021) to further develop the technology with complementary research and technology partners, and it needs also validating customers. International cooperation can be considered in large consortia or small projects with 2-3 partners (e.g. for Eurostars project, etc.).