Welcome to the website of PhotoNanotech, short for "Photozyme naoparticle applications for water purification, textile finishing, photodynamic biomineralisation and biomaterials coating". PhotoNanoTech is a research consortium funded by the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Commision.

The aim of the PhotoNanoTech research project is to investigate the synthesis and application of photozymes. Photozymes are amphiphilic water-soluble copolymers that combine three functionalities in one molecule:

• hydrophilic sections that ensure good solubility of the polymer in water;
• hydrophobic sections that cause the dissolved polymer to form micelles in water; other small hydrophobic molecules can be dissolved in the hydrophobic pocket of these micelles;
• chromophoric monomers that are built into the hydrophobic sections. By acting as an antenna for light, they allow the transfer of solar energy into chemical energy due to singlet oxygen production and the tailored photochemical transformation of molecules dissolved in the hydrophobic pocket.

The co-existence of these three functionalities in photozymes opens a wide range of possible technological innovation developments. The goal of PhotoNanoTech is to develop new nano-based processes with long-term applications in

• wastewater decontamination,
  
• textile processing,
  
• biomedical coatings and materials, and
  
• bone regeneration.

New photozymes will be synthesized to obtain these goals, using zwitterionic monomers that provide specific antipolyelectrolyte properties, salt-philicity as well as a unique self-organization ability similar to that of phospholipids.