New brochure on “Nanotechnology in Plastics”

03.12.2009 09:20

Overview of the diverse areas of application of modern plastics

The triumph of plastics began 100 years ago with the production of Bakelite developed by Leo H. Baekeland at the Rütgers factory in Erkner near Berlin. Bakelit GmbH was founded in 1910 for the industrial production of this “material with 1000 possibilities”. The first buyer of the new material was the electrical industry.

Today, plastics have become indispensable in all sectors of the economy. Whether automobile manufacturing or the packaging industry, the construction industry or medicine - fields of application have opened up everywhere that would not have been possible without the continuous development and research of Baekeland's invention.

The new brochure “Nanotechnology in Plastics” from the Hessen-Nanotech campaign line - an economic development measure of the Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs - is intended to provide an overview of the diverse areas of application of modern plastics and show what additional potential the use of nanotechnology can open up in this area. Thanks to nanotechnology, “printable electronics” is almost ready for the market. Cheaper solar cells, paper-thin large screens, entire wallpapers made of organic light-emitting diodes – these examples illustrate the performance of this technology.

The brochure was published as volume 15 as part of the Hessen-Nanotech series and can be obtained free of charge in electronic or printed form at www.hessen-nanotech.de/veroeffentlichungen or Hessen-Nanotech, Fax 0611/774-8620