The Government of Canada has committed $24 million through the New Frontiers in Research Fund for a project led by Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, poised to extend the lifespan of metals. The project uses unique molecular coatings that could save billions of dollars on maintenance across several sectors including aerospace, automotive, cancer therapy, consumer electronics, and infrastructure.
$1.875 million was awarded to Christian Moreau, professor in Concordia’s Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering and co-principal investigator on the research. The Canada Research Chair in Thermal Spray and Surface Engineering brings his expertise to the team led by Cathleen Crudden, Canada Research Chair in Metal Organic Chemistry at Queen’s University. The multidisciplinary team involves academic and industry partners in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Finland, and other countries.
The group is developing a fundamentally new approach for protecting metal surfaces: a carbon-on-metal coating that could slow or halt corrosion and degradation caused by oxygen, changes in pH, and temperature. The work builds on Crudden’s prior discovery that a certain class of organic molecules can form bonds with a wide range of metals.
These coatings could prevent metals in microchips from breaking down, leading to greater longevity for computers, phones and other electronic devices. They could also guard against automobile rust, improve aerospace design and even be used on a nanoscale, improving targeted chemotherapy and radiation therapy and refining medical imaging.
“Worldwide, countries spend, on average, over three per cent of their GDP each year on corrosion maintenance,” says Crudden. “Annually, Canada spends around $66 billion across sectors. With new strategies like the innovative coatings we are developing, we could save governments, taxpayers and industries up to 25 per cent of this cost.”
The technology’s potential to improve cancer care is promising. It could enable new advances to nanomedical precision cancer treatments that could impact the health and well-being of one in two Canadians who will develop the disease in their lifetime.
Image – The new approach has serious implications for aerospace design, cancer treatment and more. Courtesty of Inma Santiago on Unsplash.
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Concordia University
Queen’s University
