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Spin-off Profile

SmartMembranes GmbH

Smart Membranes

In many areas, the demands on hygiene and cleanliness have increased; that, in turn, aroused the need for new methodologies. A promising procedure lies in membrane technology. One company specializing in this technology is SmartMembranes GmbH. Their ultra and nano porous membranes are suited for the filtration of water, air, gas, and other substances. Possible applications include environmental protection, ambient and breathable air control, as well as industrial medicine. Founded in 2009 as a spin-off of the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM, the company is based in the weinberg campus technology park in Halle.

SmartMembranes GmbH came into being in 2007 with winning the Nano-Entrepreneurship-Academy (NEnA), an ideas competition exclusively awarding female scientists with a nanotechnology background. With the support of the FFE program (Fraunhofer Fosters Entrepreneurship) of Fraunhofer Venture, a business plan and a comprehensive business concept were developed within one year.

At the beginning of the SmartMembranes GmbH technology was the idea to develop a membrane with pores that would only allow to pass parts of a few nanometers in diameter. This plan was realized by developing a highly ordered structure similar to a honeycomb. Materials such as silicon and aluminum oxide are used for this purpose. One example for parts with a size of only a few nanometers are viruses featuring a diameter of approximately 0.025 to 0.1 micrometers.With conventional filtration processes, such as for example micro filtration using pore sizes of more than 0.1 micrometers, viruses are not captured. Filtration using membranes of SmartMembranes GmbH enables to go below this value and, thus, to capture the viruses. With a pore size of less than 0.1 micrometers, this type of filtering is to be attributed to nanotechnology. Compared to conventional filtering, it is not only an extremely small pore size that clearly distinguishes the membrane technology of SmartMembranes GmbH, but also the possibility of variable and precise adjustment of the pores within the range of nanometers. Pore size, membrane thickness, lattice constant, and membrane porosity may be determined individually. Against this background, there are hardly any limits to the industrial application of this technology of SmartMembranes GmbH.