DZP Technologies specialises in the development and application of advanced materials, which hold transformative potential across a range of industries. They offer both off-the-shelf products and the development of new and bespoke technologies for clients with specific requirements. Whilst this creates opportunities for both DZP and its customers, it also presents some challenges. One such challenge is how to measure and prove the capabilities of brand-new technology where existing metrology processes may not work.
In 2024, DZP successfully developed a new printed sensor based on graphene, a highly advanced and flexible material. The sensor measures the stress or strain an object is put under when in use, and can monitor the strength and integrity of large structures such as bridges, aircraft, buildings and the major parts of performance cars.
The novel design, and its use of a highly advanced material such as graphene, meant that measuring the sensor's efficacy was proving difficult. DZP had tested it in-house, consistently generating positive results, but when customers used the sensor, the data obtained varied, causing a lack of confidence in DZP's product, and potentially affecting its expert reputation. It became apparent that it was the way in which customers were testing the device, and the environments in which it was being tested, that caused the variations. DZP needed a new and independently-verified method to measure how the sensors were performing so they could demonstrate their true effectiveness.
DZP approached the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) through the Measurement for Business (M4B) programme to help develop a new approach. The two organisations had recently collaborated on a different M4B project, so DZP already had confidence in NPL's capabilities.
The highly controlled test environments at NPL were a valuable aspect of this engagement but it was the team's deep expertise in the electrical characterisation of advanced materials that was essential to DZP.
The NPL team understood that the metrology used to measure the sensors performance needed to be highly advanced, to match the significant technical leap represented in the sensor's technology. NPL's scientists recommended a specific measurement technique to help DZP Technologies develop a suitable test method that would provide considerably more data than the current approach. Not only would this provide independent verification of the sensor's performance, it would also give users the opportunity to predict how it might perform under different circumstances, helping them extract maximum benefit from DZP's technology.
NPL created a bespoke process that required the integration of advanced metrology instrumentation and extensive automation. This ensured that tests on the sensor could run continuously for hours or even days, and made the analysis, visualisation and reviewing of the resulting data much faster. This involved the development of multiple new software scripts to make the automation possible, along with the implementation of rigorous quality assurance and verification processes to ensure everything functioned as intended. It was a significant undertaking, yet NPL completed the work in 20 days.
"We could have approached a university or another research organisation to help us with this measurement challenge, but it would have taken them much longer to deliver, because they usually have other priorities" explains Dr. Zlatka Stoeva, Founder of DZP.. "NPL had so much existing knowledge of the underlying technology and the metrology involved, we were guaranteed a much quicker route to successful delivery."
The M4B project has had an immediate impact. Two months from the completion of the project DZP has generated more than £500,000 of new revenue opportunities as a clear result of the increased confidence it can offer in the performance of its sensor.
“Being able to offer independently verified evidence that our technology works has made a huge difference," says Dr Stoeva. "Not only are we now attracting new customers, we are also able to increase the support we provide existing customers by offering them a proven method to help them achieve their own objectives. That is essential because each of our customers has a different application for our sensing technology, so they all need to generate new validation data that reflects the unique way our sensors are being used."
The work has generated such rapid success that DZP has already applied for a follow-on M4B project. The collaboration with NPL is therefore set to continue.
DZP customers are usually at the cutting edge of emerging technologies, as such NPL's work on this project has much wider implications for a range of industries. Having confidence in DZP's expertise allows their customers to integrate their innovative products into development processes, bringing society a step closer to exciting new technologies, such as wearable smart textiles, robotics and the next generation of planned space missions.
The project enabled NPL to create an entirely new measurement process for sensing technologies utilising complex advanced materials, as a result it is now able to offer this out to a wider range of organisations working with similar challenges. This has extended NPL's commercial opportunity in this space and increased the number of companies that can benefit from a verifiable way to measure the performance of such devices.
We needed to solve this emerging problem quickly. We already knew NPL had the required knowledge, equipment and facilities so we engaged them immediately. It was imperative that we had access to advanced metrology that could determine the performance of our technology with an extremely high degree of accuracy to build confidence with customers and the wider market.
Dr. Zlatka Stoeva, Founder - DZP