The "Crispr/Cas" for the chemical industry

Young entrepreneur Matthias Koebel. © Empa

What Matthias Koebel is offering in his portfolio sounds almost like the Crispr/Cas genetic scissors, which were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine and can be used to specifically cure genetic diseases. Only for the chemical industry: a multifunctional material building block that improves the properties of adhesives, coatings or fillers depending on the product and customer requirements.

Strictly speaking, this building block is a silicon-based, molecular hybrid building material that is only about one nanometre in size. If this "tentacle molecule" is used correctly, it can specifically improve the properties of certain substances. For example, coatings can become more scratch-resistant, adhesives can have better adhesion or shorter curing times, or fillers can interact more specifically with a resin matrix. With this "multifunctional Lego brick" in his pocket, as Koebel himself calls it, the researcher recently founded the start-up Siloxene AG. Koebel discovered and researched the building block during his time as a scientist and head of Empa's Building Energy Materials and Components department.

Know-how, technology and a lot of verve

In addition to the raw material, i.e. the macromolecule, he received the second important component from here that forms the Siloxene portfolio: the know-how that is essential in the development of complex chemical products. Siloxene focuses on companies in the plastics processing, adhesives or sealants manufacturing and building materials industries. "Here, the regulatory hurdles are not as high and we can work with companies to optimize their products and processes relatively easily," Koebel explains. Behind the formulation of an adhesive, for example, there are precisely coordinated mixtures of different chemical substances whose interaction must be understood in order to then make a targeted change.

At the moment, he and his team of four are already working with various companies on new developments. In such a process, the company's customers primarily work on their own product formulation, while Siloxene provides technological advice on how the macromolecule can best be used in a specific case and makes it available as a raw material. Depending on the requirements and application, this is also adapted. "For industrial companies, especially now in the crisis, there is an opportunity to invest in research and development, to develop or improve products. This benefits us," says Koebel. 

Eye on own production

In general, there is little sense of crisis when you talk to him. The financing for a good start has been secured. Koebel can now concentrate on building up his own research and development department and acquiring more corporate customers. In addition, the energetic entrepreneur already has a vision for the next five years: "Initially, we will probably have our macromolecule produced by a contract manufacturer. In the long term, however, I would like to set up our own production. I'm an optimist by nature and always look ahead and keep going, no matter what."