/ Erfolgsgeschichten
Electron diffractometer from ELDICO Scientific: First delivery to Germany
The start-up ELDICO Scientific, which was founded in 2019 as part of the SNI network, has delivered and installed its first electron diffractometer in Germany. Based at Park Innovaare, the young company is collaborating with the Max-Planck-Institut (MPI) für Kohlenforschung in Mülheim an der Ruhr. Over the coming months, the researchers in Germany will investigate how ELDICO’s electron diffractometer can expand the wide-ranging analytical capabilities of the MPI.
“Research at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung pushes the boundaries of catalysis, including chemical analysis, to provide a deeper understanding of matter. Electron diffraction using the ED-1 is one of the promising techniques when it comes to obtaining structural information for systems that aren’t yet fully understood.”
Dr. Michael Patzer, researcher at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung
Rooted in a Nano-Argovia project
ELDICO Scientific is a start-up that emerged from the Nano-Argovia project A3EDPI. As part of the project, an interdisciplinary team of scientists led by Dr. Tim Grüne (then PSI, now University of Vienna) demonstrated that the diffraction patterns of electron beams are excellently suited to elucidating the spatial structure of tiny organic nanocrystals in powder form — while X-rays or synchrotron beams had not led to satisfactory results given the small crystal size.
Based on this positive outcome, ELDICO Scientific has spent the last four years developing the ELDICO ED-1 electron diffractometer, which specializes in precisely this kind of analysis of tiny crystals. One of the first ELDICO ED-1 devices has been available in the “Customer Experience Center” at Innovation Park Basel Area for almost two years. A consortium of four partners supports the platform operated by ELDICO Scientific, in which the SNI acts as an academic partner, opening the door to this promising technology for its members.
“Taking measurements at ELDICO is a great opportunity to stay at the forefront of crystallography while obtaining results that are impossible with traditional crystallographic methods."
Dr. Alessandro Prescimone, Department of Chemistry, University of Basel
Numerous challenges
Much has happened since ELDICO Scientific was founded in June 2019, with the young company’s team evolving alongside advances in device development. Highly qualified new team members — including application scientists and sales staff — have joined ELDICO and are now seeking to bring the electron diffractometer to market and collaborating with wide-ranging customers. In parallel, ELDICO continues to work with its engineering and software development team to improve its devices and make them more user-friendly — and to help shape the future of crystallography as a market leader in the industry. ELDICO will deploy its next instrument for solid-state analysis in the United States, thereby also expanding its market in geographical terms.
“With the new team, we’re ideally positioned to support new customers such as the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, to consolidate our market position, and to drive growth with optimized devices."
Dr. Gustavo Santiso-Quinones, founder and senior scientist at ELDICO Scientific