Sol-gel diversity revealed at ANSTO-sponsored meeting

In the last week of August, Australia's first international meeting on sol-gel science and technology revealed the diversity of a scientific process which can produce ceramic and glass materials at low temperatures for use in areas ranging from biotechnology, telecommunications, protective coatings, nanotechnology, environmental monitoring and waste clean-up.

According to Dr John Bartlett from ANSTO and Chairman of the meeting, the sol-gel research projects being conducted at ANSTO have potential applications in areas as diverse as medicine (eg, drug delivery), biotechnology (eg, biocatalysis) and materials technology (eg, coatings to provide protection against abrasion and corrosion).

"In medicine ANSTO is researching how the sol-gel technique can produce nanoparticles and microparticles for the controlled delivery of therapeutic drugs," he said.

"The future application of this research could enable sustained and controlled delivery of drugs to specific sites within the body, avoiding possible side effects that can arise from standard (uncontrolled) delivery. This has the potential to offer better compliance for patients and save doctor-time and costs.

"In biotechnology, ANSTO's research into how to make porous ceramic 'cages' for immobilising biological species such as enzymes or bacteria has potential for use in biocatalysis and environmental monitoring and remediation (eg, adsorption of toxic species)," Dr Bartlett said.

Potential commercial applications exist for ANSTO and Australian industry in the form of new ways to engineer thin films on plastics, metals and glass to provide protection against abrasion and corrosion, or to modify the optical properties of the substrate.

Item provided courtesy of ANSTO