Panasonic Corporation today announced that global shipments of nanoe devices in the fiscal year ending March 2022 surpassed 10 million.
The history of nanoe has its origins in the research and development of air purification for living environments initiated by Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. in 1997. In 2001, focusing on water's ability to dissolve odor components, the development of nanoe generation technology began with the aim of applying it to air purification. In 2003, Panasonic succeeded in developing a nanoe device that can generate nano-sized particulate ions containing hydroxyl radicals [OH radicals] (highly reactive components) that can easily act on various substances by applying a high voltage to water, and consequently launched Air Refresh, an air purifier equipped with nanoe.
The research and development of nanoe generation technology continued, and in 2005, the technology evolved from its original water-filled type to the Peltier type that utilizes moisture in the air. Owing to its simplicity of use due to its compact size and reduced need for maintenance, its applications expanded to white goods such as room air conditioners and refrigerators for household use, as well as housing equipment. Since 2007, it has also been applied to automobiles.
Panasonic focused on the discharge area where hydroxyl radicals are generated, and improved the shape of the counter electrode. In 2016, Panasonic succeeded in developing the nanoe X device, which achieved approximately 10 times the amount of hydroxyl radicals compared to nanoe devices, by establishing a multi-leader discharge technology that uses a 4 needle-shaped counter electrode plate to perform concentrated discharge, instead of the conventional corona discharge which is a point discharge. In 2019, Panasonic achieved the generation of about 20 times the amount of hydroxyl radicals compared to nanoe devices.
Improvements to the shape of the counter electrode continued, further evolving into a round-leader discharge that discharges in a circumferential manner to expand the area in which the hydroxyl radicals are generated. This significant expansion led to the successful development and mass production of a new nanoe X device in 2021 that achieved approximately 100 times the amount of hydroxyl radicals compared to nanoe devices.
Currently, nanoe and nanoe X devices are used not only in Panasonic products such as consumer electronics and air conditioners, but also in facilities and public spaces around the world, including domestic railroads (11 companies), automobiles (98 car models from 8 companies), schools, hospitals, hotels, offices, and commercial facilities domestically and internationally, with its application continuing to expand.
Panasonic will continue to pursue and advance the possibilities of nanoe technology to provide clean and comfortable environments in various aspects of people's lives and society, such as in the fields of consumer electronics, automotive, and housing-related sectors.
