The document analyzes RevolutionFibres' strategy for entering the specialty films market with its nanofibre technology. It identifies supercapacitors as the strongest initial customer segment due to opportunities for nanofibres to create highly functional electrodes and separators. The technology strategy recommends establishing a partnership with a supercapacitor manufacturer to gain expertise in components, then expanding into other energy applications like piezoelectric generators and DSSCs which have material and process similarities. Upgrades to production technology and acquiring additional post-production expertise will support customized product development as the strategy progresses.

1. Technology Strategy for Nanofibres in the Specialty Films Market
Introduction
Nanofibres are characterised as fibres with a diameter around 100 nm. Compared to conventional thin films, they offer extremely high surface area, porosity and
depth. They can also be manufactured from a wide range of materials. RevolutionFibres has developed a proprietary technology allowing for industrial scale
production of nanofibre textiles. The company would like to enter the specialty films market by partnering with existing companies to produce customized nanofibre
products. As such the aim of this project was to identify and develop a technology strategy for successfully entering the specialty films market.
Industry Analysis
Through regular meetings with RevolutionFibres, we were able
to identify which industries were best aligned with the value
propositions, company vision and its to meet the technological
requirements. The industries were analysed using criteria such
as technology partners, pricing, the company’s current
capabilities and whether any industry specific resources were
required.
The analysis showed that supercapacitors were the strongest
customer segment to pursue with neighbouring energy markets
such as DSSCs, piezoelectric generators and fuels cells offering
industrial overlap possibilities in the future, due to similarities
in materials and post processing required. Although these all
showed promise, the lack of technological partners for DSSC
and the lack of material knowledge for fuel cells set these
industries as long term customer segments. It was also
concluded that the sensors industry and oxygen barriers
industry were not suitable for RevolutionFibres to pursue due
to their large, complex and diverse nature and due to the fact
that adding nanofibre would not result in an economically
feasible performance increase.
Technology Strategy
Vision & Strategy: RevolutionFibres vision is to become industry
leaders in the manufacturing of nanofibres and a licensor for
nanofibre IP with the assistance of technology partners. It is thus
necessary to devise the strategy with this end goal in mind.
Value Propositions:
• Collaborative nanofibres design service
• Experience and expertise in materials and designing customized
nanofibres.
• Industrial scale nanofibres manufacturing
Customer Segments: Correlation of the AHP results with
RevolutionFibres, concurred that supercapacitors was the strongest
customer segment to pursue with neighbouring energy markets such
as DSSC, piezoelectric generators and fuels cells offering industrial
overlap possibilities in the future.
Performance & Value Chain analysis:
Technical Capabilities of RevolutionFibres:
• The ability to electrospin PVDF, biological materials, PES, PLA and
PANI using Sonic Electrospinning.
• The ability to electrospin nanofibres onto an aluminium foil
substrate.
Technical limitations of RevolutionFibres:
• The ability to electrospin new materials such as PZT , Nafion and
TIO2 using Sonic Electrospinning . The materials must be
conductive and able to be dissolved. Expertise is also required for
some new materials.
• The ability to electrospin two materials simultaneously in a core-
sheath configuration (coaxial electrospinning) company’s
capabilities and offers an alternative to achieving a composite
membrane.
• There are complex post treatments involving thermal annealing,
compression , vapour treatment, dip coating and sputtering. Of
these heat treatment is essential for many processes such as
carbonization of PAN or PBI based nanofibres into carbon
nanofibres, annealing of TiO2 to conductive glass to create DSSC
photoanodes and manufacturing of PEM fuel cell membranes.
• Industries require nanofibre sheets in formats other than rolls,
fabric conversion is very costly and must be contracted out.
• The ability to electrospin Nanofibres at a very small fibre
diameter range of 20 nm for applications in semiconductor
separators.
Piezoelectric Generators –
Energy sources which harvest
mechanical energy through vibration,
bending or compression. Thin
conductive films made from PZT or PVDF
are used.
Dye-sensitized Solar Cells –A dye-
sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is a subset of
thin-film solar cells. Electrons in the
organometallic dyes on a semiconductor
layer are excited by sunlight causing
them to flow into the bandgap in the
semiconductor layer. Nanofibres have
been trialled in the semiconductor layer
and electrodes due to their high porosity,
which increases the solar conversion
efficiency of the cell.
Fuel cells - Proton Exchange Membrane
(PEM) fuel cells use a polymer
membrane in order to catalyse the
electrochemical reaction between
Hydrogen and Oxygen, generating
electricity.
Supercapacitors –
High capacity capacitors designed to
Bridge the gap between rechargeable
batteries and capacitors, for applications
with high volume and speed of charging
and discharging. Nanofibres have been
used to create highly functional
electrodes and separators, owing to
good material choice and high porosity.
Recommended Strategy
• RevolutionFibres’ technology strategy uses the market pull
approach, the first step of which is establishing a
technology partnership with a manufacturer of
supercapacitors.
• Due to the diverse nature of supercapacitor applications, it
will be necessary to acquire expertise in supercapacitor
components, providing RevolutionFibres with the necessary
technical knowledge to design specialized nanofibre
components
• Success in creating nanofibre components within this
industry can be followed by be moving into the other energy
applications discussed above with a minimum amount of
development .
• Upgrades to production technology creating dedicated
machines as per product demand.
• Acquisition of post production technologies and materials
expertise as necessary.
Oxygen Barriers – Multi layered thin films are used to limit the flow of oxygen and
moisture within a bulk packaging material.
Sensors - Measuring equipment used to detect gases and other chemicals that is
based on a reactive material which is altered by the reagent. High porosity and
surface area of nanofibres are significantly beneficial over its thin film
counterpart.
Identified Nanofibre Applications