Engineering News — December 08, 2017

A

key success of the National Centre for

Nanostructured Materials (NCNSM),

a joint initiative of the Department

of Science and Technology (DST) and the

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research

(CSIR), has been its role in developing skilled

researchers. This was highlighted by NCNSM

director Professor Suprakas Sinha Ray,

addressing the centre’s recent tenth anniversary

celebration. “What is the biggest achievement

in the past ten years?” he queried. “The biggest

success is human capital development. That is

making [an] impact on the country.”

“The [original] focus [of the NCNSM] was

on developing human capital and credibility,”

agreed CSIR CEO Dr Thulani Dlamini in his

address. This, he added, the centre had been

most successful in achieving, citing its record

of scientific publications (which include 17

cover stories in scientific journals).

DST chief director: innovation priorities

and instruments Cristina Pinto echoed this in

her turn. She highlighted that the major focus

for the centre during its first decade had been

human capital development and infrastructure

development.

Even so, the centre had produced a num­

ber of product prototypes now being com­

mercialised. She noted that the NCNSM was

part of a wider DST programme for human

capi tal development in nanoscience and nano ­

technology. This wider programme included

the coun try’s other national nanotechnology

inno vation centre, at minerals beneficiation

research institution Mintek, research chairs

at universities, the support of nanotechnology

devel opment grants, nanotechnology flag ship

programmes, an MSc programme in nano­

science and a nanoschools programme.

With the successful achievement of both

human capital and infrastructure development,

plans were now in place for a strong focus

on responsible development, Pinto reported.

Responsible development included a Nano­

HSE (health, safety, environmental) Risk

Research Platform, a Nano Research and

Development (R&D) Code of Conduct, Nano­

tech nology Standardisation, and a Nano Public

Engagement Programme.

For the next ten years, she affirmed that the

focus would be on innovation. The NCNSM

was now equipped with pilot plants (and the

centre at Mintek with cleanrooms) and these

would be key to innovation. But the R&D

effort would be focused on identified niche

areas, because of limited resources.

“It is envisaged that, through the focused

inno vation intervention, at least two South

African­developed products will hit the

markets by 2025.”

“The success of piloting will allow the

centre to move beyond the laboratory and pro­

duce real products,” cited Dlamini.

“There is already a lot of interest from

the private sec tor to work with us.” He

observed that nano technology was no longer

an emerging tech nology and the list of its

applications was con tinually growing.

“What next? Science must generate some

value,” asserted Ray. That value could be

scientific or it could be economic, including

creating jobs. “I tell my team – think big!...

Look for big projects... to solve some of

the country’s problems.” More cooperation

and collaboration are required in the sector in

South Africa. “If we want to make an impact

... we have to be very fast,” he stressed. “We
have to move within three to five years...
We have to speed up.” Industry did not need
perfect materials; it needed materials that
worke d r el iably.
“We need to accelerate our product develop­
ment effort,” agreed Dlamini. “I think the
window of opportunity is closing – getting
smaller and smaller. The challenge for us is
to ensure that what we have done up till now
can be converted into products.”

THE National Centre for Nanostructured

Materials (NCNSM) of the Council for

Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

recently celebrated its tenth anniversary.

Nano technology is concerned with materials

at the very small scale of between one and

100 nanometres. A nanometre is a billionth

of a metre.

“Research and development at the nano­

centre supports the manufacturing of bulk

mate rials with improved properties, such as

plastics that are able to tolerate very high

and low temperatures and plastics with fire-

retardant properties or high resistance to

tearing,” highlighted NCNSM nanager and

CSIR chief researcher Professor Suprakas

Sinha Ray. “This includes development of

detection devices that use nanomaterials

capable of detecting gases at parts­per­million

levels with greater sensitivity and accuracy.”

Nanomaterials can have unique properties

• chemical, mechanical, optical and physical –
  that can be exploited to create new materials for
  various applications. To enable local research in
  the field, the centre has been well equipped with
  state­of ­the­art upscaling, polymer processing,
  characterisation and testing facilities. These
  have been funded by the Department of Science
  and Technology.
  In 2015, the Nanomaterials Industrial
  Develop ment Facility (NIDF) was established
  within the NCNSM. The purpose of the NIDF is
  to help scientists, technologists and engineers
  to close the gap between the development
  of materials and their commercialisation. It
  assists other research agencies, industry and
  small, medium­sized and microenterprises in
  developing and scaling up new nanomaterials.
  Currently, it is focused on employing nano­
  technology as a key element in the development
  of cosmetics, polymers and other chemicals­
  related products. The intent is that such devel­
  opments, assisting local businesses, will result

in the creation of new jobs.

The NCNSM already has a number of

achieve ments to its credit. It has developed

a pro totype breath analyser which detects

dia betes without needing a blood test. It has

established new nanoresearch areas by setting

up water and catalysis research groups. And it

has created a polymer processing laboratory

to test and evaluate industrial nanomaterial

samples. The centre has also trained more than

130 postdoctoral fellows, PhDs, and master’s

students.

16 ENGINEERING NEWS | December 8–14, 2017 RA

NEWS&INSIGHT

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY – 1

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY – 2

Expanding Innovation

CSIR national nanomaterials centre

celebrates decade of achievement

CSIR nanotechnology centre: foundations laid, future challenging

ESSENTIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

CSIR polymer characterisation technologist

Lesego Maubane in the CSIR NCNSM

polymer characterisation laboratory

KEITH CAMPBELL | CREAMER MEDIA SENIOR DEPUTY EDITOR

KEITH CAMPBELL

CREAMER MEDIA SENIOR

DEPUTY EDITOR

ENGINEERING NEWS COUPON ON PAGE 42 E

ENGINEERING NEWS COUPON ON PAGE 42 E

Picture by Keith Campbell