Why this is important:<\/h2>
Transitioning to a greener society requires all possible resources, including the chance to develop new materials faster. <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A few weeks ago, the Delft-based company raised \u20ac6.5 million<\/a> to advance the development of its technology. The round, led by Nordic Ninja and Plural, will help the company sustain its operations. IO spoke with Aaike van Vugt, CEO and founder of VSParticle, about this investment round and the company\u2019s prospects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cInorganic materials are fully human-developed, and the progress in this space is closely connected to what we can do in material synthesis. By contrast, organic materials can take lots of inspiration from nature \u2013 think of all the gene editing technologies. In the past decades, we have seen enormous progress in chip manufacturing, proving that we are good at making small yet powerful structures. But we can\u2019t solve the climate crisis with chips only.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201dNanoparticles\u2019 unique capability is the possibility to change material properties by changing their size. For most energy applications, we need nanoporous thin films, fine layers that look like sponges, to drive the performance of batteries or electrolyzers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBased on our unique ability to make nanoparticles at the push of a button, we have developed a process to print nanoporous thin films with the same ease. Since these layers are so important to key energy technologies, we are doubling down on them. VSParticle currently supplies more and more material research labs around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nanoparticles are ultrafine units with nanometer dimensions, which have uncommon properties because of their size. One of the most significant ones is that they have quantum effects. At such a scale, altered electrical, optical, and magnetic properties\u2013that can\u2019t be found in bulk materials\u2013 can be observed.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe main trend is leveraging existing technology at its best, using robotics as much as possible, and AI-driven material synthesis processes. Our technology helps material development with AI. Our process for nanoporous materials is the fastest and the most flexible, allowing researchers to test nanoparticle structures quickly. This way, they can amass data they can use to train AI models that can help them discover new materials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the past months, we shipped the first VSP-P1 models to European and US customers. Now, we also intend to approach the Asian market, so we need more working capital to expand our business and keep up with our sales funnel, meeting market requirements. In addition, part of this money will go to product development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnlocking a century of material development in a decade is our overarching mission. In the mid-term, we will stay focused on thin film nanoporous materials, given our position in material development and AI. There is a big time difference between introducing a new computer chip, which takes one or two years, and a new-generation battery, which can take up to 15 years. If we get in the position to get on par with chip development times in the next five to ten years, we will be very successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s still very ingrained in my mind the first time I synthesized some materials with the prototype created by Professor Schmidt-Ott. I remember looking into the microscope and seeing the sample color, zooming in, and noticing the structures coming into the focus. I was amazed by what structures I could make by simply pushing a button. From then on, the feeling of so much potential in the inorganic material space stayed with me. We can do much more, as we have barely scratched the surface. I believe we have discovered less than 1% of the materials we can make.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Much of the fate of the energy transition depends on the availability of high-performing materials. Whether for top-notch batteries or efficient electrolyzers for green hydrogen production, materials are the enablers behind these and many more technologies. The clock is ticking, and new solutions are needed to win the race against climate change. However, material development, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2084,"featured_media":506184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[84165],"tags":[69087,31379,84783,86037,28198],"location":[6763],"article_type":[6758],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[82815],"class_list":["post-486526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-energietransitie-2","tag-energy-transition","tag-investment-of-the-month-2","tag-nanomaterial","tag-vsparticle","location-netherlands","article_type-interview","reboot-archive-green"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"\u201cI believe we discovered less than 1% of the materials we can make,\u201d says Aaike van Vugt, CEO of VSParticle, which recently raised \u20ac6.5 million. ","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Mauro Mereu","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/mauro-mereu\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/VSParticle_-1.jpeg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["COMMUNITY<\/a>"],"unlinked":["COMMUNITY<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["energietransitie<\/a>","energy transition<\/a>","investment of the month<\/a>","nanomaterial<\/a>","VSPARTICLE<\/a>"],"unlinked":["energietransitie<\/span>","energy transition<\/span>","investment of the month<\/span>","nanomaterial<\/span>","VSPARTICLE<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 years ago","modified":"Updated 2 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on September 6, 2024","modified":"Updated on September 6, 2024"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on September 6, 2024 10:00 am","modified":"Updated on September 6, 2024 10:00 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2084"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486526"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=486526"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=486526"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=486526"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=486526"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=486526"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=486526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why does it take so long to develop inorganic materials?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Why are nanoparticles so important for the energy transition? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How is your company helping? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What are nanoparticles?\u00a0<\/h2>
What are the current trends in material research? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How is this funding round helping you? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"energy](\"https:\/\/archive.ioplus.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/VSParticle_-1004x669.jpeg\")
What goals do you have in sight? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What keeps you motivated? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n