Dr Cinzia Casiraghi, The University of Manchester
Graphene: Materials in the Flatland
Dr Cinzia Casiraghi a key member of the graphene team at Manchester has kindly offer to stand in for Professor Konstantin Novoselov who has informed us that he is unable to attend NanoFormulation2013 due to a global crisis. Dr Casiraghi talks about his Nobel Prize winning discovery graphene, and what the future holds for it.
When you write with a pencil, you leave thin flakes of graphite on the paper. Some of these are less than a nanometre thick, and can be thought of as individual atomic planes cleaved away from the bulk of the pencil tip. This two dimensional material is called graphene, and was thought not to exist in the free state until it was discovered in 2004.
It now turns out that graphene is just one of a whole class of two-dimensional crystals. Its unusual electronic properties combined with the possibility of chemical modification make it a promising candidate for a number of novel applications such as composites, coatings, transistors just one atom thick, ultrafast photodetectors for telecommunications and sensors that can detect just a single molecule of a toxic gas. By stacking layers of graphene and other two-dimensional crystals with different insulating, conducting and magnetic properties, new materials on demand can be developed that could revolutionise the telecommunications and electronics industries.
Carol Boyer-Spooner, Chemistry Innovation
Formulation in the UK
Carol Boyer-Spooner is uniquely placed to be able to set the context for NanoFormulation2013:
having worked across the formulating industries from pharmaceuticals to chlorine, taking in paints, explosives and plastics on the way, while moving across 3 continents – Australia, Asia and Europe;
and now heading up Chemistry Innovation which is tasked with ensuring that the value of Chemistry-using industries is both recognised and maximised for the United Kindgom, and as such Chemistry Innovation is driving the UK formulation innovation agenda.
Carol Boyer-Spooner’s wide industrial experience has only been broadened by her current roles as CEO of Chemistry Innovation, Chair of the Knowledge Centre for Materials Chemistry, a member of the Manchester University school of Chemistry External Advisory Board and Chair of the Molecular Engineering Translational Research Centre (METRC) Advisory Board, as well as being a member of a number of other boards including the Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Advisory Board (Cogent sector Skills Council), Technical Advisory Board for Centre for Process Industries, the Chemistry World Editorial Board and the Royal Society of Chemistry’s ITF Management Group.
Carol Boyer-Spooner has been directly involved in championing the UK’s current focus on how to enhance its strength in the formulating industries. Chemistry Innovation has brought together the major UK formulating companies to express both their strengths and their needs, this has led to the recognition by the UK government that formulation is one of the high value manufacturing areas that need to be sustained and the formation of Formulation Special Interest Group to define a collaborative industry / government partnership to take formulation in the UK forward.
Carol Boyer-Spooner will talk about what it is that makes formulation in the UK special and how a collaboration across the industry with government backing will secure formulation’s future strength.
Professor Gordon Tiddy, The University of Manchester
Formulation Science
While the conference is focused on “sexy” nanoscience, it is important that fundamental formulation science is not forgotten. Professor Tiddy’s careers in both industry and academia give him a unique perspective on how fundamental scientific principles understand current applications but are also a key starting point for the new state of the art formulations. Professor Tiddy spent 3 decades in Unilever providing the scientific understanding which was key for their successful detergents and personal care products. 17 years ago he moved to The University of Manchester and continued his research in surfactants, developing particular interests in liquid crystals, gels, soft solids/pastes and coacervates – doing soft matter research before the term was in common use.
Professor Tiddy has been able to develop a range of molecular and mesoscopic models which are able to explain the application behaviour of these complex fluids using techniques ranging from rheology to X-ray diffraction. For example a focus on chromonic liquid crystals is key to the properties numerous dyes and pharmaceutical systems. Professor Tiddy has been able to make sense of the phase behaviour where many phases coexist, all having an influence on the properties and subtly altered by slight composition changes.
Professor Tiddy’s contribution to the industrial application of formualtion science has been recognised once again, by the award of the 1st Formula Pierre Fillett award by the French Chemical Society on the recommendation of the international societies who are co-ordinating the upcoming FormulaVII conference, making this a truely European recognition of Professor Tiddy’s unique contribution over the decades.
Professor Robert Lochhead, The University of Southern Mississippi
Formulation of Polymers and the National Formulation Science Laboratory
Professor Lochhead’s knows the complexity of formulation science and has worked to systematise it over the last four decades in industry and academia, where he has studied water-soluble polymers, polymer solution theory, polymer behavior at interfaces, polymer/surfactant interaction, colloid and surface science, stabilization of dispersions and emulsions using polymers. This depth of experience led Professor Lochhead to be instrumental in setting up the National Formulation Science Laboratory. The Laboratory, working as a partnership, has been key to accelerating innovation by developing combinatorial techniques for polymer formulation, educating a globally competent scientific workforce that is skilled in combinatorial techniques, rapidly introduce new technologies by partnering with multinational companies and allowing the partners to gain access to commercial scale equipment for commercialization of new techologies.
Professor Lochhead will use the science behind nanoformulation of complex state of the art product to explain how the rapid development of such systems is only practical in a collaborative approach as exemplified in the National Formulation Science Laboratory.
