Inspiring contributions on ultrathin coatings and 2D materials last Wednesday in Fribourg at NTN Innovative Surfaces Association Annual Event!
There were many highlights among the plenary talks, here are just some:

• Jan Gebers demonstrated a new Atomic Layer Deposition-based continuous nanocoating technology at BASF Schweiz AG on large, flexible polymer substrates. These ultrathin barrier layers will be essential to protect the next generation of flexible (or 3D-shaped) thin-film photovoltaics. Efforts are currently underway to extend the use towards lithium batteries.
• Michel Calame of Empa showed the huge potential of graphene nanoribbons, how to select their shape to achieve completely different electronic properties, and wafer-scale production methods.
• Natanael Lanz picked up on that topic and showed how his ETH Zurich spin-off, Chiral Nano AG, works of fabrication methods to boost the next generation electronics by nanomaterials. Examples shown were graphene and different types of carbon nanotubes.
• Jakob Heier (Empa) brought new, nanometer-thin transparent conductive coatings to the table: MXenes.  By «Blade Coating» from a special ink of these 2D materials, coatings with an impressive average thickness of less than 2 MXene sheets and low sheet resistance could be engineered − for instance suitable as supercapacitors.

Furthermore, the topical roundtables in the morning fostered vivid exchange among the attendees. Thanks to Joerg Guettinger for the organization − everybody left the event inspired!

Text: Marcus Morstein