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- What's our Secret Sauce? Not the technology... Nanostructure manufacturing has been around for decades using lasers, heat, and/or pressure to texture a surfa

- What's our Secret Sauce? Not the technology... Nanostructure manufacturing has been around for decades using lasers, heat, and/or pressure to texture a surface. My startup has developed a new method for texturing a polymer surface without lasers, heat, or pressure. We developed the process (accidentally) while working in a material science lab at the University of Central Florida's Nanoscience Technology Center. We are currently patent pending (no publish). Traditional manufacturing processes often require a clean room and can cost over $300/sq in. Our process doesn't require a clean room and costs about $1/sq ft. - Is our Secret Sauce repeatable and scalable? We have textured hundreds of samples (by hand), and are working on designing an automated process that can replicate our process and eliminate human error. - Funding to date? After the accident that lead to the new process we applied to and have received funding from the National Science Foundation to continue research. We have applied to additional National Institute of Health and Center for Disease Control grants, but they aren't suitable for building a startup. Yesterday we submitted a grant worth $225K, but we won't even know if we get the grant until September, not exactly a system that is good for funding startups. They are great for alleviating costs for product R&D but that's about it. - What's our team look like? Brandon - He's the inventor of the process and the omniphobicity expert. Dr. T - Is our Science lead and material scientist. Myself - I play with data and do the business side. We started with the idea of a self-cleaning film for solar panels, while the technology worked the finances didn't. Solar is an industry trying to drive costs down, not add another $20 to the price of a panel. It shocked me, but that was the general consensus from the industry (SunPower, SunTech, Solar City, and many more). Questions?

danieltillett 11y ago
1. Is there a limit on the material that can be used to make the pattern? 2. With your catheter can you use the same plastic that is being currently used so all you are changing is the surface structure?
- jonwachob91 11y ago
  Thank you for the questions! I can answer both your questions at once. We are limited to polymer materials. HOWEVER, certain plastics have reactions that MAY have toxin issues. PVC catheters were phased out because new materials were developed that have better bio-compatibility. We can texture the PVC catheters and achieve similar results as what we've already seen. *Polyethelene is a common material for catheters, and while we can texture it the material forces us to add heat to the equation. Removing heat is a critical step that we removed cause it's time intensive. WORST case scenario, our method with heat is still cheaper and faster then current nanotexturing methods.

danieltillett 11y ago

1. Is there a limit on the material that can be used to make the pattern? 2. With your catheter can you use the same plastic that is being currently used so all you are changing is the surface structure?

jonwachob91 11y ago
Thank you for the questions! I can answer both your questions at once. We are limited to polymer materials. HOWEVER, certain plastics have reactions that MAY have toxin issues. PVC catheters were phased out because new materials were developed that have better bio-compatibility. We can texture the PVC catheters and achieve similar results as what we've already seen. *Polyethelene is a common material for catheters, and while we can texture it the material forces us to add heat to the equation. Removing heat is a critical step that we removed cause it's time intensive. WORST case scenario, our method with heat is still cheaper and faster then current nanotexturing methods.