Head to Head with Nikalyte Ltd

Nikalyte Ltd was founded to provide an easy to operate, bench-top nanoparticle deposition product, to address an increasingly routine laboratory-based need. Recognised expert in nanotechnology, Professor Alistair Kean established Nikalyte with colleagues of the former Mantis Deposition Ltd; vacuum systems expert of 30 years, Dave Mason, and application development and nanoparticle deposition expert of 20 years, Srinu Saranu.

Whilst not the only market, biotech has a rapidly growing need for functionalised surfaces, where the sophistication and purity provided by a vacuum deposition technique, outstrips that of complexity and potential contamination of chemical techniques. Presently, scientists access nanoparticles via solvent-based chemical sources, which have inherent & unattractive properties such as nanoparticle agglomeration and unintended impurity incorporation. We see biotech as a large potential market, however, there is interest in many other areas such as photonics, environmental, clean energy, chemical engineering, etc.

The Nikalyte bench-top system development will be available to a wide audience. We will give experts in biotechnology access to a technique where previously only physicists would tread. Our product will have a touchscreen-based computer control system incorporated into the unit, designed specifically to make the testing and operation of the unit as simple and reliable as possible so that anyone can produce high-quality nanoparticle coated samples quickly and easily with the minimum of training.

We are planning to exhibit at two scientific conferences and exhibitions in early 2020 in Europe; one will be life science-focused and the other the European Materials Research Society meeting in Strasbourg in May 2020. Targeted institutions will be high tech SMEs, corporate research labs, publicly funded research institutes and universities. In addition, we already have facilities to deposit nanoparticles onto customer samples, a service which is a useful tool both for process development and future sales.