Our technology offers a cost-effective production of novel advanced materials for BioMed and electronics. Like Dr Leo Baekeland, who invented Bakelite, the world’s first plastic, we developed patterned microcontainer film. Our material is a polymer film made with microcontainers, which look like air bubbles in Bubble Wrap, only at the micro- and nanometre scale.
MICROCONTAINER FILM TECHNOLOGY TO PRODUCE NOVEL MATERIALS FOR BIOMED AND ELECTRONICS
We are pioneering novel materials to the market. We developed cutting-edge technology to produce novel advanced materials for a variety of industries, ranging from BioMed to electronics. Our material can be used as a drug-eluting coating with a controlled drug release function for medical devices or as a next-generation dielectric material with exceptional physicochemical properties.
FOR BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS
Instead of air, the microcontainers are filled with drugs. Made from biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, our microcontainer film is the world’s 1st drug-eluting coating with a controlled drug release function for catheters, stents, implants, and transdermal patches.
We place drugs inside programmable microcontainers to ensure their controlled release, significantly improving treatment effectiveness.
CONTROLLED RELEASE FUNCTION
We can programme our microcontainer film to achieve the controlled release of encapsulated drugs on demand:
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PROLONGED DRUG RELEASE
Constant and prolonged drug release, up to several months
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SLOW/FAST DRUG RELEASE
Drugs can be released slowly or immediately
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TIMED DRUG RELEASE
Drugs are released at a specific time
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TRIGGERED DRUG RELEASE
Drug release can be triggered by ultrasound, light, pH, or temperature
Wide choice of drugs
Microcontainers can be filled with almost any drug regardless of their molecular weight and solubility.
Biocompatible and biodegradable FDA-approved polymers
Our material is made from FDA-approved polymers – biocompatible and biodegradable synthetic polymers (PLA, PCL, PLGA, etc.) or natural polymers (albumin, chitosan, alginate, agar-agar, gelatin, etc.). The selection of polymers will depend on the specific requirements, taking into consideration the properties of active substances and the required release mechanism.
High loading capacity
Microcontainers can hold a high volume of drugs (cargo-shell ratio up to 10:1).
Flexible shape, size and thickness
Microcontainers’ shape, size and thickness are adjustable to meet the required properties.
Low-cost solution
The production costs of our material are mainly determined by the price of raw materials (polymers, encapsulated active substances). They represent a fraction of the final price of the product.
FREE-STANDING MICROCONTAINERS
In addition to microcontainer film, we can produce their derivatives – free-standing custom-shaped microcontainers by separating the microcontainers from the film. With the same technology, we can produce two types of products:
- microcontainer films
- free-standing microcontainers
Microcontainers can be of various shapes, forms and sizes.
FOR ELECTRONICS
For electronics, the microcontainers contain air. Due to air saturation, our microcontainer air-film reduces the dielectric constant to close to 1, nearly the same as the air, making it a NEW super-structural material.
Our air-film is a breakthrough solution for high-frequency/high-density interconnect printed circuit boards (PCBs) for high-frequency telecommunication (5G), data centres, high-performance computing, etc.
EXCEPTIONAL DIELECTRIC CONSTANT
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WE BRING THE DIELECTRIC CONSTANT DOWN TO 1.31-1.5
Our polyimide air-films have the best on-the-market dielectric constant.
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WE MAKE COST SAVINGS
Our air-film provides significant cost reduction due to air saturation (up to 80%) as a smaller amount of polymers is required.
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WE MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE
Our material enables to design next-generation ultra-high-frequency and high-performance computing, data processing and telecom systems.
Wide range of polymers
Our air-film can be made from a wide range of polymers (PI, PEI, PEEK, etc.), enabling customisation with respect to dielectric properties, mechanical strength, thermal, chemical, and environmental resistance, and production costs.
Can be rigid or flexible
By varying the production technology, air-film can be made as rigid as steel or flexible (for wearable electronics).
Can sustain high temperatures, pressure and mechanical loads
Our air-film can sustain high temperatures (+220 – +370°С) and high pressures required for PCB manufacturing, and it inherits the mechanical strength of polyimides.
Reduced production costs
The production costs are mainly determined by the price of raw materials (polymers, encapsulated active substances).
Our air-film consists of 80% air and only 20% polymer, significantly reducing the production costs as five times less polymers are required.
Flexible shape, size and thickness
Microcontainers’ shape, size, thickness and array density are adjustable to meet the required properties.
The size of microcontainers can be from submicron to hundreds of microns, and the array density (spacing between microcontainers) can be from a few microns to hundreds of microns.
PRODUCTION DEVICES
Pre-industrial prototype of the rolling device to produce microcontainer films and microcontainers.
Microcontainer air-film for electronics
Microcontainer film for medical devices
Electronics
Our microcontainer air-film is an excellent material for high-frequency/high-density interconnect printed PCBs for 5G telecom, data centres, high-performance computing, etc. due to its ability to reduce energy and signal losses, increase data transmission rate and reduce heat dissipation (overheating).
Product tracking systems
Our microcontainer film can be used to design invisible magnetic tags, a better alternative to the existing RFID tags and QR codes. Magnetic tags based on our material can be incorporated into banknotes, paper, plastic, powdered products or even liquids, and they are impossible to counterfeit.
Medical devices
Made from biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, our material can be used as a next-generation high-performing drug-eluting coating for catheters, implants, and stents to achieve controlled drug release and bring treatment effectiveness to the next level.
Cosmetics
Made from biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, our microcontainer film can be used for cosmetics and skincare products to improve the delivery of various ingredients to the skin for increased effectiveness due to our innovative controlled release mechanism.
References:
“Micro-sized “pelmeni” – A universal microencapsulation approach overview” 2021, Materials & Design
“Polyelectrolyte–Graphene Oxide Multilayer Composites for Array of Microchambers which are Mechanically Robust and Responsive to NIR Light” 2018, Macromolecular Rapid Communications
“Patterned Microstructure Fabrication: Polyelectrolyte Complexes vs Polyelectrolyte Multilayers” 2016, Scientific Reports
“Microcontact printing of polyelectrolyte multilayer thin films: Glass–viscous flow transition based effects and hydration methods” 2015, Colloids and Surfaces A
“Micropackaging via layer-by-layer assembly: microcapsules and microchamber arrays” 2014, International Materials Reviews
“Adhesion of Polyelectrolyte Multilayers: Sealing and Transfer of Microchamber Arrays” 2012, Langmuir
“Fabrication and mechanical properties of microchambers made of polyelectrolyte multilayers” 2011, Soft Matter
In total, our team has over 400 scientific publications on patterned microcontainer films and microencapsulation technologies.