Ilika's Technology - Advancing Materials Discovery

Synthesis

Many of the materials of interest to the energy and electronics industries are inorganic materials. To make these materials, Ilika uses a process which is based on ultra-high vacuum technology used widely in the electronics industry, but modified in a proprietary way to make hundreds of distinct materials in one automated experiment. This process creates so-called ‘thin-film’ materials for testing.

Many biomedical applications have a need for materials with a biological function, which can be provided through the use of polymers. Ilika uses ink-jet printing and contact printing processes to make arrays of unique polymers.

Materials with compositions which show interesting properties can be made in larger amounts for further testing by Ilika using a range of processes suited for industrial commercialisation.

Testing

Once the arrays of candidate materials have been produced, they can be rapidly tested using Ilika’s proprietary screening techniques. Ilika’s equipment has been developed to measure well-understood materials properties using established concepts modified for use in a high throughput manner. For instance, one of Ilika’s test rigs can simultaneously measure the electrochemical properties of over 100 candidate electrode materials for use in lithium-ion batteries.

Informatics

To allow Ilika’s scientists to identify promising materials more rapidly, the Company has developed a proprietary informatics suite. The software collects data from the high throughput testing rigs, collates the information and displays it in a way that enables scientists to quickly understand and interpret the measurements made.