NN: What advances in materials science have you seen in the past five years, and what has driven them?

The commercialization of the first group of nano products that are economic and amenable to consumer and other large-scale applications; the advent of "crossover products" that combine biological processes or applications with chemistry, physics, metallurgy and the other engineering sciences.
—Keith Blakely, CEO NanoDynamics

NN: What are the primary applications for your materials? Who are the primary users?

Life scientists - biologists doing biology and/or drug discovery research.
—Andy Watson, Consultant to Quantum Dot Corporation

NN: What kind of advances do you expect to see in the next five years, and what are the likely drivers?

We expect to see the continued emergence of nanomaterial composites, and a broader availability of materials whose macroscopic properties may be altered and tuned based not only on their size, but their relative elemental composition. Historically, technical groups have been unable to produce nanocomposites whose properties (namely, relative elemental composition) are highly specified. However, as the art is progressing, this will become more commonplace, and also the scaling of these materials will happen more readily. On a non-technical level, the nano-hype will (hopefully) subside, and people will broadly embrace all that nanotech truly has to offer by way of its technical merits, and not solely due to its name.
—Jason E. Rama, Ph.D. President Meliorum Technologies, Inc.

NN: What unique properties do your materials bring to the end-user?

Our nanomaterial based coatings have the ability to serve as a barrier to unwanted substances, while allowing improved adhesion to difficult materials. They are UV-curable, cross linking in a few seconds of ultra violet light exposure - as opposed to the long period of heating required by conventional powder coats. In this time of high energy costs, this can produce significant economies. Since the formulations contain no VOC's or HAP's, emissions are greatly reduced, contributing to a cleaner environment.
—Sally Ramsey, Chief Chemist Ecology Coatings