Special Report: The funding is additional validation of the technology’s potential.

Strategic Elements (ASX:SOR) has scored another important victory in the development of its world-leading Nanocube Memory Ink technology.

The company today announced a $1.069m funding agreement as part of the Australian Research Council’s Linkage program, as it moves towards a commercialisation pathway.

Developed in conjunction with the University of NSW (UNSW) and the CSIRO, the Nanocube Memory Ink is an advanced data storage technology, comprised of a transparent liquid ink that contains billions of tiny nanometer scale particles.

When physically printed onto glass or plastics, it provides memory for surfaces “where current silicon chip technology cannot go”.

While initial development of the technology has focused on its memory and data storage capability, it has the potential for multiple applications.

SOR is aligned with the project via a licensing agreement between its wholly-owned subsidiary, Australian Advanced Materials (AAM), and UNSW.

 

Project Resources

As part of the new funding arrangements, the federal government will provide $320,000 in cash to the project. AAM will also contribute $160,000 in cash with and $150,000 in in-kind support services, with a combined $439,000 contribution from the CSIRO and UNSW.

SOR said the project will be “strongly supported” by UNSW, with resources allocated from multiple departments including the School of Materials Science and Engineering and the Faculty of Science.

Along with UNSW Associate Professor Dewei Chu, co-inventor of the Nanotube Memory Ink technology, the project will be assisted by a large cross-section of leading scientists in fields such as nanotechnology materials and electronics, as well as PhD candidates.

The merits of the project have also allowed the team to gain access to UNSW’s “state-of-the-art Australian Supercomputer facilities, including the National Computational Infrastructure (Raijin) and Pawsey Supercomputer Centre (Magnus)”, SOR said.

 

World-leading memory technology

SOR was recently selected as one of 20 companies globally to present its technology at the IDTechEx Show! In Berlin.

Following the show, IDtechX chief executive Raghu Das said the Nanocube Ink Technology was “genuinely one of the best developments I’ve seen in a while in printed electronics”.

The goal of the project is to build further on its recent breakthroughs in addressing a key problem area in the field; the emergence of cracks on the material’s surface caused by the heating and cooling process once the memory ink has been printed.

Using slot die coating, the Nanocube technology has previously shown it can enable low-temperature solution that results in crack-free resistive switching layers.

“In this project, the team will further develop scale up printing technologies for A4 size resistive switching materials on various substrates, with improved uniformity and mechanical flexibility,” SOR said.

“The expected outcomes will be new electronic materials for a wide range of uses in flexible electronics and significant advances in energy efficient data storage devices.”

Via its subsidiary AAM, Strategic Elements has a number of patent applications pending, and maintains intellectual property and commercialisation rights to the technology.

This article was developed in collaboration with Strategic Elements, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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