Rice University to organize a technical symposium on Nanotechnology
February 9th, 2010Rice University is set to organize the Carbon Nanotechnology technical symposium during October 11-13 on the occasion of 25th anniversary of nanotechnology. Many other events are also likely to be held during the year.
Buckminsterfullerene later known as fullerene was the first molecule that was discovered 25 years ago and since then there is a continual growth in the area of nanotechnology. The first molecule consisting 60 molecules of carbon looks like a soccer ball and therefore is nicknamed as “buckyball”. Later with the discovery of carbon nanotube in the year 1991, the rapid devlopment in the area of nanotechnology is taking place.
Today scientists and researchers across the globe are not only identifying the practical uses of the nanotechnology but are also examining the key issues such as health and safety associated with the use of the technology. A lot of emphasis is also being given to the environmental issues.
The distinguished inventors including Sir Harold Kroto, Sean O’Brien, James Heath and Robert Curl will be participating in brainstorming session. Curl and Kroto along with Smalley has already won Nobel Prize in Chemistry in the 1996.
The other key focus areas of the symposium are history of nanotechnology, state of the art applications of nanotechnology in various fields including energy, medicine, electronics, photonics, environmental and quantum research, material science etc. A large of people interested in the nanotechnology areas are expected to participate in this August gathering and if you have some interest in the area, visit the organizers and confirm your participation.
Nanotechnology can play a vital role in fighting cancer
February 6th, 2010Nanotechnology can play a vital role in fighting cancer is a reality now and many experts of the area nanomedicine and nanotechnology foresee tremendous scope of nanotechnology in many more areas covering wide range of health and medicine in future. One of the key property of nanotech based therapeutic agents is that these complex nanostructures can exploit the cancer lesion’s mechanical properties and therefore can effectively be used for various applications.
The researchers claim to have engineered the specific nanoparticles that are far superior as these are capable to deliver the drugs only at the affected sites and thus don’t cause any adverse effect on the healthy cells. Researchers argue that the understanding of the mechanical aspect associated with the cancer can help in designing nanoparticles for fighting cancer. Further all the mechanical aspect lead to transport or motion of the blood and cells.
Researchers at the Department of Nanomedicine and Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas led by Dr. Mauro Ferrari, chairman have recently launched a new field known as “Transport Oncophysics” where nanotech based therapeutics are under study for their performance. Researchers have so far found that the new nanoparticles developed and studied indicate their superiority over conventional drugs. The outcome of the study will be presented in the forthcoming conference, “First Global Congress on Nanoengineering for Medicine and Biology” starting from Feb 07, 2010 at JW Marriott Houston.
White light produced by researchers at Fraunhofer Institute
February 3rd, 2010Production of white light was a challenge for a long time and researchers all around the globe were looking for some alternate options. The conventional methods for producing white light also accompany with some defects known as peripheral color affects and now researchers led by Dr. Michael Popall of Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research in Wurzburg have found a solution for it.
Researchers here claim to have a technique for producing white light, which will be presented at the forthcoming event Nanotech 2010 dueing February 17 to 19, at Tokyo. Here as claimed, the tiniest colors green, blue and red diodes in the condensed place produced light, which is homogenized through the use of nanotechnology using a ORMOCER optics to produce the brightest white light.
ORCOMER, a hybrid of inorganic and organic networked components is much more superior and a perfect ideal material for producing microoptics. The Applied Optics and Precision Engineering department of Fraunhofer Institute at Jena developed the ORCOMER, which is able to produce the highest quality white light without refraction errors.
Semprius Inc. get DOE subcontract for scaling solar energy technology
January 22nd, 2010Semprius Inc. have patented micro transfer printing technology, which is one of the state of the art process that is used for depositing high performance semiconductors on a number of substrates. The company also license the technology for other advanced applications including LCD and OELD displays.
NREL has recently short listed Semprius for $3 million subcontract for scaling up the patented technology for solar energy on behalf of Department of Energy as its proprietary solar energy technology is one of the best and at the same time the process is economically viable also. Semprius, a North Carolina based Company, commercializes Solar Module arrays based on the patented technology.
Semprius Inc, will utilize the fund for developing and demonstrating the solar technology at pilot plant. Once the process will be established, a full-scale manufacturing plant will be setup. The high efficiency scalable design of the patented technology will benefit large customers across the United States.
New novel lipid nanoparticles for RNAi Therapeutics
January 19th, 2010Researchers from various organizations and universities including The University of British Columbia (UBC), Alnylam, Tekmira Pharmaceuticals and Alcana Technologies have recently come out with a publication in the journal Nature Biotechnology, where they have claimed that the systematic approach in lipid nanoparticles can lead better delivery of RNAi Therapeutics.
Researchers in their new paper, which was published on 17 January, 2010 in the journal Nature Biotechnology discusses with the discovery of the novel LNP composites that improved the systematic delivery of RNAi therapeuticals dramatically. The novel lipid which is known as KC2 was based on the medicinal chemistry. Although a large number of novel prepared by researchers and characterized for various properties and finally were also evaluated for their suitability in delivering the RNAi therapeutics.
Researchers carried out some additional tests to ascertain the vivo gene silencing activity of the newly developed novel lipids. The tests provide indication of physicochemical changes in lipid bilayers and with the successful formulation of novel KC2 lipids based on siRNA and LNP, researchers were able to distinct it with others during their vivo data analysis. These data show that with the KC2 lipid, the gene silencing in rodents was achieved at a very low dosages of 0.01mg/kg, gene transthyretic (TTR) was clinically silenced at coparitive low dosages of 0.1mg/kg in non-human primates and the formulation was well tolerated by both rodents and non-human primates.
Nanotechnology helps in producing biodiesel from algae
January 16th, 2010Fuel consumption is growing throughout the globe, however production of the convention non-renewable fuel or energy is constant and further the resources of petroleum and coal based energy are limited and therefore worldwide researchers are looking for alternates of petroleum and coal based energy and biofuel is one of them. Researchers are working on various biofuel sources such as cane sugar for producing methanol, jetropa, rapeseed oil and algae for producing biodiesel.
U.S. Department of Energy has already launched a program for research and developing advanced biofuel and DOE will invest around $78 million in coming years. Two teams at Iowa State University will get a grant of $8 million from DOE over the next three years. The first team is led by Victor Lin, Professor of chemistry and Director of the Institute for Physical Research and Technology’s Centre for Catalysis, which will get $5.3 million and the team, will mainly focus on nanotechnology for converting algae to biodiesel. The other team is led by Robert C. Brown, Professor in Engineering, which will get a total grant of $2.7 million for study of catalytic conversion of biomass so that it maximizes fuel production.
The first team led by Professor Lin will study the silica nanocomposites prepared by Catilin Inc can be successfully used for selective conversion of algae into useful components such as high value lipids and the rest of the algae will be converted into biodiesel using Catilin’s commercial catalysts.
NIST studies nanoparticle and protein interaction
January 13th, 2010Gold nanoparticles have been found in a number of applications including the diagnosis and treatment of number of human diseases including cancer, however their interaction with human blood proteins have been studied first time. Scientists at NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) have now studied and quantified the interaction of gold nanoparticles with human blood proteins. The new finding will help in developing the next generation therapies that could be used for diagnosis and treatments of a number of diseases including cancer.
One of the major advantages of gold nanoparticles is that, these can be functionalized easily if the nanometer size is between 5 and 100 nanometer. Scientists have predicted that the functionalized nanoparticles will interact with protein and this interaction will alter the biochemical activity of protein. The altered protein will behave differently and may have some adverse affect. Researchers led by Douglas at NIST studied the gold nanoparticles with five types of blood proteins with the help of microscope and spectroscopy devices.
Researchers studied the optical properties and found that once the protein stick to a nanoparticle, it changes the optical properties of both. Studying these changes carefully, researchers were able to quantify the stickiness and thickness of absorbed protein on nanoparticles. Researchers found that all five types of protein selected for the study interact with the nanoparticles and once they stick to the nanoparticles, the diameter of the nanoparticles increases, which also increases the stickiness. Researchers are planning to carry out more experimental work to understand how the different sized nanoparticles attached to the human cells.
NIST awarded new grants of $123 Million
January 10th, 2010The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) have recently awarded $123 million grants. The grants will be utilized by 11 universities and one non-profit research organization for creating new scientific research facilities in their institutions. All the 12 projects are from variety of fields including wind power to nanotechnology and will start investing money in their projects right from the beginning of 2010.
These research grants will not only help universities in funding their immediate requirement of laboratories and instruments but will also generate employment especially for young researchers. All the 12 projects selected by NIST are of national importance and will deliver value and economic benefits to the country. The grant will provide state of the art research facilities in these institutions and thus will benefit the future researchers also.
Some of the Institutions and Universities who got the prestigious NIST award include Nova Southeastern University for creating Coral Reef Ecosystem Science facilities ($15 million), University of Pittsburg for creating nanoscience and physics research facilities ($15 million), University of Kansas for creating Measurement, Materials and Sustainable Environment Centre ($12.3 million), University of Maine for creating advanced facilities for nanocomposites in Renewable Energy department (12.4 million).
“Nanodragster”- A new molecular machine developed by scientists
January 7th, 2010Researchers at Texas has developed a new molecular machine that is much more efficient that the current molecular machines available. According to the research findings as published in the ACS Organic Letters, this machine can outperform the traditional nano machines and researchers believe that it is the beginning of new generation state of the art molecular machines.
The latest machine which is less than the width of 1/50,000th of the human hair will find many applications in many areas including electronic and computer devices, The molecular machine, which resembles like a hot-rod was developed by controlling the motion of small molecules and controlling the motion as per design, many more futuristic nano and molecular machines can be made.
Researchers James and Kevin have made a nanocar for which wheel were especially designed from C60 (Molecular carbon having 60 carbon atoms). Having bulky wheel, the motion of the car is limited or restricted and these drawbacks were later addressed by incorporating some of the newer techniques in it. These include the quality of the material for making wheel and reducing the front axle size, which makes it much more comfortable to work at lower temperature than nanocar. The “nanodragster” thus formed by improving the design and which can lead to the development of many futuristic molecular and nano vehicles.
Nanoparticle self-assembly study could lead new molecular machines
January 5th, 2010Nanoparticles or nanomaterials are required for various applications in almost all fields including energy, medicine, electronics, consumer goods and technology. These particles rearrange themselves, which is also called self-assembly of nanoparticles.
Now researchers at the University of Glassglow along with scientists of University of Bielefeld have recorded the self-assembly process of nanomaterials. The team has managed to get the blueprint of the whole assembly process and come out with the research findings in the recent issue of the Journal Science.
Researchers constructed flow reactor system and observed the assembly process under dynamic flowing conditions thus allowing first time to monitor the growth at nano level. Researchers here took molybdenum oxide wheel molecule and observed the self assembly of the molecule around intermediate structure.
Researchers found that a template used to form a larger molecule and after reaching to a particular size the nanomaterial ejects automatically allowing space to form another nano-molecule. Resaecrhs also photographed the formation of nanomaterial through a X-ray crystallography.
The new process will allow to generate the information on a number of nanomaterial self-assembly process and which will ultimately guide formation of a number of future advanced nanomaterials that will find place in all fields of science and technology.
Nanotechnology got its new application in DNA sequencing
January 1st, 2010Carbon nanotubes are of many forms and these finds variety of applications in all spheres of material science, energy and medicine. In the present work, researchers from Centre of Single Molecule of Arizona State University and Biodesign Institute have successfully demonstrated the use of carbon nanotube for DNA sequencing and the details is published in the current issue of Science.
Carbon naotubes having unique arrangements of carbon atoms exhibits many special physical and chemical properties and researchers used these properties for DNA sequencing. They passes a single stranded DNA ribbon through the carbon nanotube and noted the voltage spikes that were produced by DNA. The information later was analyzed for obtaining the information on DNA.
Nearly a decade ago, first human genome code at the cost of over $1 billion was successfully decoded by researchers. A genome consists of more than 3 billion base pairs and it was then really a difficult and challenging task to get information on all these pairs. For the current study, researchers took single walled carbon nanotubes, which were grown on oxidized silicon wafer.
On passing electric currents through the carefully selected 1-2 nm diameter single walled carbon nanotubes, the oligomers part of the single stranded DNA having 60 or 120 nucleotides get translocated. These oligomers will generally be collected from cathode side and the speed of translocation is dependent upon the DNA molecular weight and the nucleotide structure. Researchers are obtaining perfection in the technique and once they succeed in this, the DNA analysis will be much faster and much accurate than the current existing methods.
Production of new innovative Li-ion batteries
December 29th, 2009RUSNANO of Russia and Chinese Thunder Sky will jointly put a manufacturing plant for producing the latest innovative Li-ion batteries. This is the first project in which the new class of batteries produced will be aimed to meet the growing demands from all sphere of industries.
Thunder Sky of China is the lone company in the world engaged in the production of rechargeable micro and e0business storage batteries. The joint venture will put a manufacturing plant in Novosibirsk. This newly build plant at Novosibirsk will use the proprietary and patented technology of the Thunder Sky and will produce high capacity batteries.
The advantage of the Thunder Sky technology is that it is rapid and it only takes around half an hour for battery charging. Further with this unique technology, the cost of production and thus the sale price of Li-ion battery will be significant lower than the competitor’s battery price. The advantages of these batteries will be that these will be free from memory effect and thus can be used in public transportation system.
The plant is expected to be commissioned by the year 2011 and will start production in the same year with initial capacity of 300 million Ah, which will be further raised to 400 Ah by the year 2012. The joint project will be financed by RUSNANO, Thunder Sky Energy Group and a third partner. Initial invest by RUSNANO will be 2.2.4 billion rubles, Thunder Sky will also invest 2.24 billion rubles and the third partner will grant a loan of 3.9 billion rubles. RUSNANO will also extend a loan of 5.5 billion rubles to the newly formed company.
New technique for detecting cancer cells
December 26th, 2009Japanese researchers have recently developed a new technique for detecting cancer. Researchers first synthesized a protein that emits light in near IR region and thereafter conjugated the protein cell with therapeutic antibodies. The research findings have been published in the proceeding of 7th September 2009, of National Academy of Sciences of USA.
Researchers took a light emitting organic fluorescence dye of the species of cyridina noctiluca and with the help of this light emitting fluorescence dye synthesized a protein. Once there is any interaction between two compounds in the form of a vivo chemical reaction, some amount of energy is transferred from one to another and the dye emits near infrared light, as it can easily penetrate the living tissues, it can be monitored externally.
This is the first time when a light emitting protein is synthesized by researchers and moreover researchers demonstrated the nano liver cancer cells deliberately transplanted in the body of test animals, can be diagnosed and monitored with the help of near infrared light-emitting probe of a CCD camera. This is really a unique innovation, as it does not require conventional radiation techniques to detect and monitor the cancer cells.
Researchers at IBM develops new diagnostic tool
November 17th, 2009Researchers at IBM have developed a unique one-step diagnostic tool that requires very less amount of fluid and can detect multiple diseases and cardiovascular diseases. The technique is based on silicon chip and the results obtained during the analysis are very accurate and the output can be seen immediately for predicting the patient’s condition and accordingly the doctor can decide the new course of action to save the life of the patient.
The newly developed diagnostic tests use a capillary force to analyze the protein markers that are the characteristics of the diseases. Using the capillary action, a small quantity of blood or serum sample is required for diagnostic materials.
The researchers has used the capillary force action and encoded it on a silicon chip. The chip is similar to the one used in computer, where the serum or blood sample is passed through the micrometer wide channels and if required the speed of the sample is adjusted. The sample analysis is carried out in five stages and IBM researchers took several years for developing the technique.
National Science Foundation CAREER award for research in microtransfer prnting area
November 14th, 2009Mechanical Engineering professor Kevin Turner is working on the areas of fundamental research in Mechanical Engineering and working on microtransfer printing process. This microtransfer printing process once established could lead to many innovative and useful technologies of the furture. Some of the promising applications of the microtransfer printing are optoelectronic devices, high energy solar cells, microelectromechanical systems.
His latest work on microtransfer printing has bought the prestigious NSF CAREER award, which comes with a five-year grant of $ 4,30,000. The award is a facilitation of outstanding and creative research for new faculty members who have just begin their career.
The process is known as microtransfer printing as it prints solid material and in the process, silicone stamp is designed from micro or nanostructures from the substrate. These stamp later transfer to process and integrate with the complex devices and systems.
Ordinary devices produced on thick wafers and making these devices flexible so that these can be used in flexible display, processors etc., thin layers of silicon crystal need to be peeled from thick substrate onto the desired substrate. Although silicon is very stiff and brittle, however if the thickness of Silicon is less than 1 micron, it becomes flexible, however the current processes available are unable to move large thin layers.
Microtransfer printing is based on surface adhesion and uses Van der Waals forces to overcome the above problems and at ambient temperature, silicon allows the structure to pick up as these stamp bonds with micro or nanostructures and get adhered.
A new high density data storage device is underway
November 11th, 2009There are continuous efforts to enhance the data storage devices by researchers across the globe and in continuation, Bao Yu Zong and co-workers are a step closer to it. Researchers at Data Storage Institute, Singapore have modified the existing technology by which data storage device is created by depositing resist material onto a substrate.
Researchers found that when the existing resist material is mixed with metallic nanoparticles, the new material becomes semi-metallic and its resolution is much higher in comparison to the existing material. For mixing the metallic nanoparticles uniformly onto the surface of resist material, researchers used a chemical technique. They took chemically similar nanoparticles as that of resist material and found that metallic nanoparticles with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic molecules gets individually attracted towards the resist molecules and distributes evenly.
The commercial electron beams are used for patterning resists and the technique is suitable for many types of electron beam resists available commercially. With the semimetallic approach using metallic nanoparticles, researchers were able to pattern in the range of 5-50 nanometer and even researchers were successfully able to demonstrate that the complex pattern as required in nanosensors can be made using the technique.
World’s ultra-high resolution microscope’s working is in progress
November 8th, 2009Researchers are working on a unique electron microscope that will have a resolution of 50 billionth of a millimeter. The work has began at the Julich Aachen Research Alliance’s (JSRA) campus of Forschungszentrum Julich. The new microscope will be the best so far and will enhance the position of both Julich and Aachen in the worldwide ultra-high resolution microscopy.
The project is jointly been funded by RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Julich and the name for new ultra-high resolution microscope project will be PICO. The new microscope will help various scientists engaged in basic research in the area of material science and industry researchers for investigating atomic and sub atomic structures and the new development will benefit especially the electronics and information technology.
For the new building and equipments, a total of 15 million euros will be provided jointly by the German Research Foundation, Federal Government and NRW federal state. The project is again an example of cooperation in the frontier technology between University and non-university research.
PICO or Advanced Picometer Resolution Project, will have the best resolution of 50 picometer and using the latest computers, the microscope will be able to measure atomic distances that were not measured previously with accuracy. In addition, the spectroscopic analysis using this microscope will help in investigating the chemical bonding.
65nm eFlash Process Technology jointly produced by Infineon and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)
November 5th, 2009According to the agreement between Infineon Technologies AG and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, both will jointly develop and manufacture 65nm embedded flash process technology that will be used for various future generation technologies and especially for automotive industries. The new 65nm eflash microcontroller that will come into market will fulfill the enhanced security requirements.
Infineon Technology AG is a German based semiconductor solution providing company that offers technique for security, energy efficiency and communication. It has present in US and as well in Asia Pacific and it employs around thirty thousand people globally. TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) is based at Taiwan and is the world’s largest semiconductor foundry.
The partnership between the two companies is a decade long and many Infineon’s product range was earlier manufactured by TSMC on a 65nm lowpower technology for various applications including mobile application. Two years ago both decided to work on automotive and chip card applications.
This joint partnership between the two will benefit both the companies and the outcome i.e. 65nm eFlash technology is expected to arrive in the market during 2012-13. The 65nm eFlash technology will have highest performance and features of safety and emission standards. Infineon’s 32-bit MCU will be the first product that will come into the market and later other security microcontrollers will be launched.
Conference on Naotechnology, Energy and Biomedical Science during 8-13 November 2009
November 2nd, 2009AVS 56th International symposium and exhibition on Nanotechnology and the allied areas will take place at San Jose, CA during the coming 8-13th November 2009. This one of the largest conference and exhibition will showcase the latest developments in the areas of nanotechnology, alternate energy, medicine, material research, fuel cells etc. This is one of the best opportunity for you to grasp the latest in the fields especially for researchers and entrepreneurs.
The highlights of the forthcoming symposium will not only cover plenary lectures on naoparticles, but a lots of other interesting things will happen simultaneously and you can see all the details directly at avssymposium.org. The other topics that will be of interest are a scaffold for spinal cord injuries, growing neurons on glass, skin creams face off at atomic level, thin film mimic gecko feet and insect wings, drive hard disc spacing, nano-copper improves methanol production, a new way to make mirrors, tungsten nanotubes, programmable matter, fuel cells with lessplatinum, long particle flow with blood to deliver drugs etc.
The plenary lectures on nanotechnology will be delivered by three eminent scientists; Joseph DeSimone from NC State University, Sharon Glotzer from University of Michigan and Andre Nel from University of California. Joseph will discuss about the new roll-to-roll technique developed by his laboratory for lithographic precession. Sharon will deliberate on computer simulations so that nanoparticle shapes such as sheets, wires, shells etc can be obtained. Andre will deliver the last pleneray lecture and it will focus some of the key issues such as biocompatibility and toxicity of nanomaterials.
Environmentalists are worried about the possible risk associated with Nanosilver
October 30th, 2009Nanosilver is being widely used as antibacterial and odor-fighting properties in many consumer durable products used by millions of people across globe. Scientists and environmentalists are suggesting having a closer look on the health and environmental aspects of the nanosilver. Off late we have seen many products such as socks, bandages etc. contains nanosilver, which can be washed during laundering operation.
Research from Arizona State suggests that these silver nanoparticles can travel through the wastewater treatment system and can reach the aquatics, where these nanoparticles can have adverse effect on aquatic organisms living in the water. Researchers have first time investigated such release of silver from the clothing products. Paul Westerhoff and Troy M. Benn will be delivering their report at 235th American Chemical Society meeting.
These researchers took six pairs of shocks of various brands of nanosilver-impregnated socks and soaked them in distilled water for one hour. After one hour, the water was tested for nanoparticle and ionic forms of silver. Researchers found that a few socks released silver at few washing, however some didn’t released silver even after several washings.
People at large are not aware about the ingredients present in the consumer products they buy. Researchers further suggest that unlike food labeling, clothes containing silver nanomaterials should also be labeled so that the users can identify the ingredients present in the product they are buying and their possible threat to environment and humans.
New nanotechnology based technique used for identifying the protein
October 27th, 2009Interdisciplinary researchers at Boston and Tufts University have used Infrared (IR) spectroscopy technique and demonstrated that IR technique can identify the vibrational fingerprints of protein even if it is in extremely small in quantity. The technique can significantly alter the future diagnostic studies of diseases and can provide effective and quick treatments.
Conventionally biomolecules are identified by fluorescence spectroscopy where bright fluorescence tags are tracked for interaction between the molecules, however sometimes the fluorescence tags are as high as molecules and thus interferes with the interaction. Infrared spectroscopy (IR) technique is widely used for fingerprinting various structures, however by incorporating nanotechnology in it, researchers were successful in identifying the vibrational fingerprints of the biomolecules. Further the limitation of fluorescence spectroscopy is also minimized using the infrared spectroscopy.
The rotational or vibrational frequencies of the molecules are specific to individual molecules and these frequencies mostly lie in the infrared frequency range of the electromagnetic spectrum and thus can be determined by using infrared spectroscopy. However especially if the quantity of the sample is low, ordinary infrared spectroscopy is unable to detect these molecules.
Researchers added the features of nanotechnology and nanophotonicvs and were able to overcome the problem faced while using infrared spectroscopy. Researchers used arrays of gold nanoparticles as nano antenna and thus enhanced the ability of the technique to detect the molecules. By using the gold nanoparticles, researchers were able to enhance the vibrational signatures more than hundred thousand times. The work has been reported recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
New technique for nanoparticle self-assembly established
October 25th, 2009Researchers have found a new technique for self-assembly of nanoparticles and the technique can induce nanoparticles to form complex structures that can be used for numerous applications. Researchers at Berkeley Lab of US Department of Energy found that by adding a specific molecule to the mixtures of nanoparticles, the self-assembly process increases.
A well-designed nanoparticle is must for specific applications especially in the field of medicine and energy. The spatial arrangement in nanoparticles can enhance or minimize the specific properties of the nanoparticles and designing such particles is one of the challenge before the scientists. Researchers now believe that by adding a particular type of substance in the polymer solution can enhance the desired nanoparticle arrays in one, two or three dimensions.
Researchers further found that the additional inputs such as heat and light can also catalyze the self-assembly process. Ting Xu and her team of researchers at Berkeley Lab found that the small molecules first attach themselves with the nanoparticle and later attach with copolymer surface along with the attached nanoparticle. Xu took surfactants dubbed with two types of molecules PDP and OPAP and the performance of these enhanced by light and heat.
The paper has recently been published in the Journal Nature Materials. The bottom up technique used by the Xu and her team will be an answer to the bottleneck and will lead to the design of new spatial arrays that can find their applications in many areas.
LM-10, A unique Characterization System from NanoSight
October 21st, 2009NanoSight is a global brand that many researchers and scientists now prefer to use for research activities. Its nanoparticle characterization technology is unique and using the latest technology, you can even monitor the activities of each nanoparticle during fabrication and application. Its latest LM-10 characterization system is useful in many research and application areas of nanotechnology.
Although there are many characterization techniques such as DLS (Dynamic light scattering) and UV-VIS adsorption spectroscopy, however all these characterization techniques provide information at bulk level. Researchers at NanoSight thought to devise an instrument, which can provide information at individual particle level and thus the new technique was born.
Today, it is opening many new avenues in nanotechnology area and people now from across the globe are looking much deeper into the formation, application and other hidden areas of nanotechnology using these latest instrumental techniques. The technique is not only useful in characterizing spherical molecule but even you can analyze the nanorods.
Recently the Centre for Molecular Nanometrology, University of Strathclyde has selected and finalized LM-10 characterization system for augmenting their research and development work on biosensors. The tool will help into development of new biosensors that will use functionalized nanomaterials. Researchers will monitor the controlled aggregation of the sensor to a targeted biomolecule, which cannot be monitored by using other techniques.
Researchers are working to develop eco-friendly thermoelectric sell
October 18th, 2009A team of researchers at Helmerich Advanced Technology Research Centre, Tulsa of Oklahoma State University are working towards the conversion of waste into electricity. The research is jointly funded by the Air Force Office and National Science Foundation.
If researchers succeed in their aim of getting the desired result with the use of thermo electric nanotechnology, they will produce electricity first time from the exhaust gases of military turbine aircraft. The advantage of this thermo electric nanotechnology is that it does not produce any toxic emissions.
So far the thermo electricity has never been used; however Dr. Daryoosh Vashaee and his team of researchers can change the scenario and can produce electricity efficiently. Air Force is currently using the infrared technology and researchers are also examining the benefits of thermo electric nanotechnology. The major benefit of thermo electric technology is that it might not require liquid nitrogen, required for cooling the infrared cells and it would be also cheaper.
The thermo electric sensors that will be used for the thermo electric technology are much simple in design and at the same time are suitable for use in high performance infrared detectors. Being small, these thermo electric sensors can easily be used for military applications. Researchers are working on developing the module to be used for electricity generation.
International conference on Nanocomposite/ Nanoengineering during July 4-10, 2010 (ICCE - 18)
October 15th, 2009The eighteenth annual International Conference on Nanocomposite/Nanoengineering to be held during the coming July 4-10, 2010 at Alaska, USA. The venue of the conference is Anchorage and if you have interest in the subject of nanocomposite/ nanoengineering, you too can take part in the international event. Alaska is one of the beautiful unpolluted place on earth and you can explore the city and nearby.
The organizers are now calling for short page papers and you can get more details on this from the website. These papers will be reviewed and will be published in the special issue of the World Journal of Engineering. This special journal will cover more than 1000 pages.
You will get an additional benefit of publishing the expanded version of these two page short papers to any journal of your choice and thus you will have two publications i.e. one short and one long paper, however the organizers will allow only one paper from an author. Thus the International Conference on Nanocomposite/ Nanoengineering provides you an excellent opportunity to represent your area of research at this august gathering of scientists and researchers.
JSC Sitronics launched 90 nanometer chip manufacturing project
October 12th, 2009JSC Sitronics, one of the leader in the area of microelectronics, information technology and telecommunication has recently launched a full fledged production unit for 90 nanometer chip with the help of RUSNANO (Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies). JSC Sintronics has already “NIIME and Mikron” technologies under the microelectronics business dividion and the new facility will boost the overall growth of the company.
Out of RUR 16.5 billion expected cost of the project, RUSNANO will invest RUR 6.5 billion and an equal amount will be invested by Sitronics in the form of the equipments and other logistics. The facility for 90 nanometer chip production will be built at Zelenograd and it will also include the scope research and design. ST Microelectronics, a partner of Sintronics and one of the world’s largest developer will be the technology partner for the project.
A large number of products will be utilizing these 90 nanometer chips and some of them are GPS navigation systems, TVs, electronics devices including industrial and automotive devices and smart cards. RUSNANO believes that nanotechnology production is one of the key areas for the growth of Russia and thus the present 90 nanometer chip manufacturing will enhance the country’s technology requirement and technology security.
IBM develops nanpdevice that could help in reading DNA
October 9th, 2009Scientists at IBM have demonstrated “DNA Transistor”, a new device based on silicon that could help in reading human DNA fast. The research will help us in understanding the human DNA so that suitable steps are taken for diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. Scientists have drilled nanoholes in the chips and after passing DNA strands through these nanopores, researchers are expected to get the information on genetic code.
On successful, the research will significantly bring down the overall cost of personalized genome analysis to $1000, which is at present much higher and at the same time having information on personalized genome code will also help in prescribing personalized medicine and facilitating clinical testing. Researchers at IBM from four nanofabrication, microelectronics, physics and biology are working towards optimization of the technique so that DNA molecule is read accurately.
Researchers are finalizing the rate at which a DNA molecule will pass through the three-meter long aperture. Scientists all over the world are working hard to analyze DNA but so far none of the researchers got success. The main challenge before the researchers is the speed and scientists at IBM are hopeful to tackle speed with their unique and innovative approach.
Solar nanoparticles improves efficiency of solar cells
October 6th, 2009Researchers at Ohio State University have found that by adding silver nanoparticles to the solar cell polymers, higher amount of electricity can be generated. The research team led by Paul Berger, professor of electrical and computer engineering and the finding of the research was published online in journal “Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells.”
Researchers carried out experiment with and without silver nanoparticles and found that electricity generated per square centimeter is almost 12 percent higher for cells containing silver nanoparticles. Researchers argue that silver help in polymer to capture wider wavelength of sunlight and therefore enhances the output current. Berger and his team is hopeful in making these polymer solar cells available at an affordable cost and are more flexible than the existing polymer cells.
At present the overall efficiency of the existing solar cells is very low and the best products has efficiency of the order of 5 percent. For a long term commercially viable option, the efficiency of new generation polymer solar cells should be around 10 percent and the best way to achieve the targeted efficiency is to widen the absorbable wavelength range the sunlight.
A tailor made fabrication technique by which silver particles are encased in the ultra polymer layer, a layer that is kept below the light absorbing layer; so that the coating of silver not only prevents silver particles from clumping but also helps them in rearranging or self assembling in mosaic pattern so that more light is absorbed by the polymer cells.
Rusnanotech 09 to be held during 6-8 October 2009
October 3rd, 2009The second International nanotechnology exhibition will be held during 6 to 8 October 2009 at Moscow Central Exhibition Complex and participants from more than 300 companies are expected to take part in the exhibition. The exhibition will focus on the latest developments in the area of nanotechnology and at the same time there will be a huge display of latest nanomaterials, and latest instruments developed based on the.
The forum will also devote on key issues related to the development and safe use of nanoproducts and nanoprocesses by the means of panel discussions, plenary sessions, technical and scientific sessions and business programs in addition to the well organized exhibition. Second International Competition of scientific papers for young researchers will also take simultaneously.
One of the glaring event of the forum will be the award ceremony for RUSNANOPRIZE 2009, an award established by Rusnano. So, far more than 600 speakers from 36 countries have confirmed their participation for attending the coming Rusnano forum and making it a great event. So, if you also have an interest in the nanotechnology areas, book your participation right now and be the part of a business and scientific community of 21st centuary.
Nanotech Research Strategy announced by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
September 30th, 2009The use of nanotechnology is growing at much faster pace, however the health and safety issues are still major concerns. To study the health and environmental effect of the nanomaterials, EPA (Environmental Protection Agency of USA) has recently announced a Nanotech Research Strategy program.
There are a number of consumer products including cosmetics and sports equipment based on nanomaterials and the present strategy will focus on the four research themes i.e. identifying fate, understanding human and ecological health, developing risks and preventing risks.
The research team of EPA will generate information on safe use of nanaotechnology for next several years and will develop coordination with many other governmental agencies and research institutions. The research will also simultaneously be carried out for cleaning toxic chemicals from the environment.
EPA has mentioned three major purposes of their new program and these are to guide their own managers and researchers for conducting research programs, to assist researchers from other organizations and to inform the public.
Advance material growth technology for improving solar efficiency
September 27th, 2009Collaboration between QuantaSol Ltd., manufacturer of solar cells and Centre for Advance Materials, University of Houston has recently been announced by QuantaSol recently. This new collaboration will allow QuantaSol to use the dilute nitrides and thus the manufacturer will get a reduction in quantum well layers into each junction, however will get an increase in solar efficiency.
The technology will also benefit in reducing the thickness of the nanostructures and the overall manufacturing cost will also come down. The nanostructures or the quantum wells play key role in enhancing the photovoltaic conversion energy and the company is hopeful to produce high efficiency triple junction concentrator photo voltaic devices by the year 2010.
QuantaSol, a design and manufacturing company came into existence in the year 2007. It has got a few highest performing products in the world and strain balanced quantum well solar cell is one of them. This collaboration is one of the great efforts made by the company to enhance the use of renewable sources of energy, which will ultimately offer high efficiency products at an affordable price.
Gold nanostar, new biomedical imaging tool
September 24th, 2009Dr. Alexander Wei and Dr. Kenneth Ritchie of Purdue University have created gold nanostars that can improve biomedical imaging. Researchers found that these nanostars show twinkling effect in presence of rotating magnetic field. The study has been published in the Journal of American Chemical Society.
According to the researchers, background noise is one of the factors responsible for poor imaging, however with the gyromagnetic imaging this problem can be minimized up to great extent.
The 100 nanometer wide nanostart used in the study contains iron oxide core to help the nanostar in spinning under the influence of a magnet. These nanostars after properly aligning reflect light to an attached camera. The speed of the rotating magnetic filed is adjusted in such a way so that the nanostar reflects light at a desired twinkling rate.
The total setup required is a nanostar containing sample cells, a standard microscope, and a white light source, polarizing beam splitter, camera and a rotating magnet. A light is passed through polarizing beam splitter to the sample and light is reflected back through the splitter to the camera that collects images.
Fourier transform and other mathematical tools could be used for processing the information obtained through above setup.
Scientists created high temperature superconducting nanowire
September 21st, 2009Researchers at California Institute of Technology have first time created an array of high temperature superconducting nanowires that could lead to the development of many energy efficient electronic and electrical devices. The research finding published recently in Nano Letters indicates that the high temperature superconducting nanowires can drastically change future nanotechnologies.
Although researchers around the world are working in high temperature conductivity since long time, high temperature superconducting nanowire is created first time by Heath and colleagues at California Institute of Technology using a compound of copper oxide known as YBCO. 400 nanowire arrays of YBCO were fabricated and all were joined perpendicularly so that the electrical properties of these nanowires could be measured.
Each nanowire was as thin as 10 nanometer in dia and 200 micrometer in length and researchers found that the critical temperature of these nanowires is 50K, quite above than the temperature of liquid nitrogen below which every metal behaves superconductor. The broader superconducting and resistive behavior shown by these nanowires could possibly lead to their use for superconducting quantum interface devices or SQUIDs.
Although there are many challenges to reproduce the same material again so that the physical and electronic features of the nanaowires remains same, researchers are optimistic to use and commercialize the technology for future emerging nanotechnology applications.
$10M fund secured by Shocking Technologies
August 17th, 2009Shocking Technologies Inc., a private company engaged in the development and marketing of Voltage Switchable Dielectric TM (VSDTM) material. VSDTM is a polymer nanocomposite used for various applications including electrostatic discharge protection LED’s, cell phones and other semiconductor devices.
These nanocomposite acts like an insulator and conductor in two different operating conditions and thus acts like a switch. Actually during normal circuit, the nanocomposite behaves like an insulator and once the voltage across the VSDTM increased beyond the threshold limit, it acts as a conductor and reverts back to the original insulator condition as soon as the voltage drops below threshold voltage.
The first application of this patented technology was introduced in embedded electrostatic discharge protection where it was used in printed circuit boards and semiconductors and recently Shocking Technologies has raised another $10 Million in second round of funding.
The new funding will be utilized for building the manufacturing infrastructure and part of it will be used for further development work. The company is hopeful to launch the products in coming months and initial products will be used in cell phones and flash drives.
Workshop on Microelectronics and Nanotechnology
August 15th, 2009A workshop on “The Convergence of Conventional Microelectronics and Nanotechnology” will be held during Sept 15 to Sept 17 at Grenoble, France. The event is the part of a series ProMiNaS (Prototyping in the micro and nanoscale) and it is the last event of the program.
ProMiNaS was aimed to teach and train selected PhD and Post-docs students from across the globe in the areas of micro and nano electronic devices. The present workshop will cover some of the areas including nanoscience, spintronics, optoelectronics, nanoelectronics and nanobiology. The workshop will also provide an opportunity to interact the participants with well known experts and speakers.
There will be a total of five sessions during the workshop and each session will cover a talk on current trends of nanoscience by an expert followed by three to four invited talks. Some of the expert speakers invited for talk includes Dr. B. Dieny on Spintronics, Dr. Jean Michael Gerard on nano-optics, Dr. Silvano De Franceschi on nanodevices and Pr. Uri Sivan on nanobiology.
Energy Frontier Research Centers get funding of $377 million
August 12th, 2009US Energy Secretary has recently announced a funding of $377 million to the 46 new Energy Frontier Research Centers. These centers are located across the US in different laboratories, universities and private and non-governmental organizations. There is an urgent need to reduce the energy dependence on imported oil and the new funding will be the right direction to find a cost effective and green alternate.
Out of the $377 million funding, $100 funding will come from the budget of DOE for the current financial year and the remaining $277 will be financed through the recovery act. These 46 research centers have carefully been selected by US Department of Energy for funding and will get fund at $2to 5 per year for an initial period of five year.
The research area will cover a broad spectrum including nanotechnology, supercomputing, advanced instrumentation, high intensity light sources etc. to enhance the research further in the areas including solar energy, biofuels, transportation, energy storage and transmission, nuclear energy, clean energy and energy efficiency.
Some of the EERCs funded include Cornell University ($17.5 million), Columbia University ($16 million), MIT Cambridge ($19 million), Pennsylvania State University ($21 million), Purdue University ($20 million), University of Michigan ($19.5 million), Northwestern University ($19 million), University of Arizona ($15 million) and University of California, Santa Barbara ($19 million).
Organic Spintronics receives Frost and Sullivan Innovation Award
August 9th, 2009Generally inorganic semiconductors such as gallium arsenide are used in spintronics, which are not suitable for ambient temperature applications. The new technique which is based on organic semiconductor approach is applicable for room temperature applications. Organic semiconductors have low scattering rate in comparison to the inorganic semiconductors and therefore can suitably be used for transporting spin-polarization.
The use of nanotechnology for fabricating the organic semiconductors enhances the capabilities of the spintronics manifold and the modern spintronics will have much more applications in spin based devices including sensors. Organic Spintronics has developed a new technique known as pulsed plasma deposition (PPD) system, a unique thin film fabrication technology for depositing organic and inorganic thin films.
There are many benefits of the new technique PPD (pulsed plasma deposition) over conventional PLD (pulsed laser deposition) technique such as repetition rate, power efficiency and beam power density and low cost. All the benefits make PPD suitable for use in a variety of industrial applications.
The new technique used by Organic Spintronics was awarded 2008 European Frost and Sullivan Technology Innovation Award. Frost and Sullivan, each year presents the award to each individual or the company who has carried out innovative research that can result significant change or contribution to the industry.
Conference on nanoscience and solar energy
August 6th, 2009A conference on technologies having the potential to change human life is likely to be attended by more than 4500 delegates from all over the world. The venue of the program is San Diego Convention Center where technical discussions, panel discussions, exhibition and development courses will simultaneously run.
The conference will cover many modern technologies including nanoscience and nanoengineering, solar energy, photonics and solid-state engineering. This is one of the largest programs that is being held in North America and will cover many areas. More than 200 companies from across the globe have attended a three-day exhibition.
SPIE (Society for Optics and Photonics) has initiated the event to mark the 400th anniversary of the first telescope and at the occasion, a rare and unique telescope will be placed for exhibition. A number of other events in the field of optical science will take place simultaneously.
A number of presentations and talk will also be on solar energy program. A lot of focus is being given by NREL (National Renewable Energy Lab) for successful implementation and deployment of new solar energy technologies to the US Market. NREL expects that the growth of solar energy will increase in the coming years.
Electrical properties of graphene
August 3rd, 2009The electrical properties of carbon nanoribbons has recently been studied and found that its current carrying capacity is much higher than copper. Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology have reported that the narrow width graphene can have current carrying capacity as much as thousand times that the copper.
Researchers at Georgia Tech’s Nanotechnology Research Centre found that 16 nanometer wide graphene ribbon have current carrying capacity by a minimum of two orders of magnitude higher than copper and the excellent current carrying capacity of these is related to the resistivity. The measurements carried out by researchers for thermal conductivity and breakdown current density were published in 19th June edition of the Journal Applied Physics Letters.
Raghunath Murali, senior research engineer at Georgia Tech’s Nanotechnology Research Centre and his colleagues carried out a number of measurements including thermal conductivity on graphene of selected width range to use graphene as interconnects in place of copper. The current carrying capacity as measured by the research team was in the range of 10^8 to 10^9 amps per square centimeter. This is really perfect material to use in the chip, which will make the chip more reliable and resist electromigration up to a great extent.
Organic Photovoltaics – A new source of solar power
July 30th, 2009Organic photovoltaics is likely to be used for generating solar power and researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are hopeful to use in near future. Researchers at NIST have understood the mechanism of the complex organics films that can be used for generating solar energy.
In Organic photovoltaics, sunlight is directly fall on an organic film that convert it into electricity and this technique has many advantages than the conventional silicon cell base technology, which is presently used for converting sunlight into electricity. In photovoltaics, a simple chemical is spread across a large flexible area and the chemical arrays works as solar cells. The cost of manufacturing the technology is very low, however their application is limited.
The best photovoltaics manufactured so far have a conversion efficiency of around 6 percent and have limited life of couple of thousands hours and researchers are working hard to increase the conversion efficiency as well as the life. Researchers at NIST believe that if the conversion efficiency exceeds 10 percent with a life span of 10,000 hours, the technology adoption of organic photovoltaics will enhance significantly.
Researchers at NIST used a blend of polymer for absorbing sunlight, which ultimately loose lectrons in presence of sunlight and fullerenes were used for collecting the electron. Once the polymer blend is applied on a flexible surface, it hardens and form a film that contains a network of fullerenes.
NNI Amendment Act 2009 introduced by Senator John Kerry
July 26th, 2009Senator John Kerry, who is the chairman of subcommittee of Science, recently introduced the National Nanotechnology Initiative Amendment Act 2009 in the Senate and this amendment will ensure the leadership not only globally but will address the key issues. The other leaders who have actively participated are committee chairman John D. Rockefeller IV, Senator Ron Wydon, Mark Pryor and Olympia Snowe. The amendment will come into force as soon as Senate approves it and it get signed by the President later this year.
Although the original act of 2003 was a landmark in the history of American legislation and the current amendment will enhance the research and development activities in nanoscience and nanotechnology sectors. The new bill will also ensure the smooth transaction of research findings in useful applications so that the research is used for human causes.
The amendment also focuses on the commitment of the American government to impart nanotechnology in science education and more and more graduate should pass out. There is also a focus on teaching nanoscience at high school and technical college levels so that at the end, more researchers opt for nanoscience and nanotechnology and wider applications of the science are covered.
New metrology system for solar photo voltaic applications
July 23rd, 2009Nanometrics, a major a manufacturer and supplier of modern state of the art metrology systems has newly launched the TSM integrated metrology system. It is the latest product offered by Nanometrics. The company is based at California, is the leader in marketing and marketing of integrated metrology systems that are used to measure thin film properties, optical and material properties and structural properties of silicon used in semiconductor as well as photo voltaic devices.
The latest technology in TSM is useful in measuring the film thickness on high throughput processes and Nanometrics claims that this will provide the advantage of controlling the controlling the complex thin films silicon cells.
The technology will further integrate the various processes of solar cell manufacturing lines so as to provide a good control in especially critical layers of the system. As these systems are able to provide the precise metrology and therefore can be used in most complex thin film solar materials including vacuum and atmospheric systems, high roughness copper indium gallium salenide and copper telluride.
Artificial graphene engineered by researchers at NEST
July 20th, 2009Researchers at NEST laboratory in Pisa, Italy have created first artificial graphene. The NEST laboratory is attached to Italian Institute for Physics of Matter and scientists here with the help of other colleagues from different part of the world have sculpted it on the surface of a semiconductor, which is made up off gallium-arsenide. They found that it shows the properties to similar that of graphene and they named it “artificial graphene”.
This created artificial graphene is found to have similar electronic qualities as the original graphene, which was discovered in the year 2004. The original graphene have peculiar structure and here a single layer of carbon atoms, one atom thick forms a grid and that’s why it shows very different electronic properties and these properties of graphene could be used for replacing silicon by it.
The main drawback of the natural graphene is that so far it’s production as required by semiconductor industry is not yet feasible due to the exact size that is needed by the industry. Researchers thought at Pisa that if they could overcome the problem by creating a matter similar to natural graphene and carried out in the direction.
Researchers not only from NEST of INFM-CNR, but from various other institutes such as University of Missouri, Columbia University and Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs also participated in the study. With this invention, if this commercialized, we can hope that silicon based semiconductors could be replaced by engineered artificial graphene.
$14 Million investment for Nanotechnology R&D Centre in Alberta, Canada
July 19th, 2009A $14m investment is planned for a new state of the art Nanotechnology R&D centre in Alberta, Canada with the fund provided by M/s Hitachi High Technologies. The state Alberta will be the centre of nanotechnology research with the participation of various sate government agencies and other nanotechnology institutes and groups.
The Hitachi Electron Microscopy Product Development Centre (HEMiC) at the National Institute of Nanotechnology (NINT) have made the project successful by collaborating the project with a number of other partners including University of Alberta, National Research Council and Alberta Inguinity Funds nano work program and Hitachi High Technology.
Out of the $14m investment, $7m will be used for purchasing latest electron microscopes including Hitachi’s environmental transmission electron microscope. Half of the amount of the investment will come jointly through the help of WEPA and the remaining half will be funded jointly by the public and private consortium.
These new facilities at Alberta will enhance the image of Alberta or especially the University of Alberta nationally and internationally as a nanotechnology research institute and in future the University can and help dramatically in the field of nanotechnology. The program will help in creating jobs, improving economic activity which will overall improve the lifestyle of the people of this region.
Laser technology enhances nanoparticle’s affect in diagnosing and treating cancer
July 16th, 2009Romain Quidant, an ICREA researcher at the Institute of Photonic Science has recently shown that the laser illuminated gold nanoparticles could successfully be used for diagnosing and treating cancer. Romain is an excellent researcher in the area of photonics and has recently been awarded Fresnel Prize 2009 for his excellent contribution in the field of photonics.
With the fellowship of Caltex Foundation, Barcelona and the efforts made by Quidant, the new science called “plasmonic oncology” will change the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The idea is to send the gold nanoparticle at the cancer cell and by illuminating the gold particle with laser will until it attains such a high temperature that destroys the cancer cell completely.
Unlike in chemotherapy or radiotherapy where the surrounding cells also get damaged during the treatment, in this laser technique as the gold nanoparticles is selectively allowed to go inside the cancer cell only, this technique is much more beneficial as it will not damage the healthy human cells. Although the nanoparticles especially of gold are biocompatible and our body ejects these automatically, however scientists must ensure that these do not damage the healthy cells in the whole process.
Quidant has already done enough work in this area and he has already developed nanosensors that are capable to diagnose the doped material such as steroids used by sports persons in human blood. He is working to develop a chip that will be effective in diagnosing and treating cancer.
Nanomaterials for application in the areas of Sports
July 13th, 2009Nanomaterials are being used by every industry including from electronics, energy to medicine and the demand of these nanomaterials will continuously grow further in the near future. Nanotechnology will bring a revolution in almost all the industries including sporting industry in the 21st century.
The only nanomaterial that is of significant use in sporting application is carbon nanotube. The production of carbon nanotube is continuously growing at a continuous pace in the coming years. According to an estimate the carbon nanotube market was worth $100 million in the year 2007 and many more commercial carbon nanotubes producers are planning to start the increased production of these within the next 2-3 years.
At present an estimate says that around 14 percent of world production of carbon nanotubes is being used by sporting industries. As the production will go up within a couple of years and price will come down significantly, more carbon nanotubes will be required by sporting industries.
At present a limited applications of carbon nanotubes are available especially in sporting industries such as rackets, skis, gold shafts and snowboards are only based on carbon nanotubes. As the market will grow, many more sporting accessories will be based on carbon nanotubes and other nanomaterials.
Future solar panels will have light absorbing nanowires
July 11th, 2009Researchers throughout the world are looking to enhance the conversion rate in a solar panels and recently scientists at Stanford have tried to improve the conversion of energy from the sun with the use of semiconductor nanowire. Researchers across the globe are investigating the use of various nanowires that can show some improvement in the efficiency.
The nanowires made by the semiconductor material like germanium can have many advantages including its compatibility with the computer chips and researchers found that it can enhance the light absorption significantly at some of the wavelength of light. Researchers at Stanford further observed that the efficiency improves further if the semiconductor nanowire is made from the combination of silicon and germanium.
The research team suggest that the size of the nanowire will play key role and different size nanowires will absorb different frequencies and further observed that a 10 nanometer nanowire absorbs shorter wavelength in the region of red to orange of the spectrum and as the size goes up, the nanowire absorbs higher wavelength towards the IR region of spectrum.
Further the research team found that certain angle boosts the absorption and if light falls on these nanowires and while designing solar panels with these nanowires, the size as well as the angle must be taken into account. A combination of size of nanowires along with the direction might improve the conversion of solar energy to electrical energy.
Effective control of single bit in quantum computer
July 8th, 2009Researchers have achieved a major breakthrough in deliberately controlling a single bit in a quantum processing computer without disturbing the information stored in its neighborhood. Physicists at NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) have devised the technique of manipulating the single bit of a quantum processor.
Qbits or quantum bits play a key role for carrying the information in quantum processors and maintaining desired control over these qbits was a great challenge. These qbits can be put in either “on” or “off” mode and thus are useful in solving the complex problems; however conventional computer fails to solve such problems.
To achieve a quantum bit, researchers took rubidium atom, which can have as such as eight different energy states. Researchers did a careful selection of the two energy states and designed them as “on” and “off” positions. The selected energy states should completely be insensitive to the strayed magnetic field.
Researchers at NIST used two pairs of energy states and designed them for two different purposes. The purpose of the first pair was for storing information and the purpose of second pair was for computation work. Whenever a computational task is required, a magnetic field is applied to the qbit without disturbing the surrounding qbits.
Researchers at NIST took an array of atoms and grouped them in pair allowing them to simplify the process of selecting a qbit from many options available for them. With the research now available with the scientists, they are hopeful for making a quantum computer that is still a challenge before the scientific community since long time.
Malvern’s webinar to focus on chromatography
July 5th, 2009Malvern Instrument is planning to host a series of webinar that will help thousands of researchers and beginners to understand the use of chromatography for characterizing various nanomaterials and synthetic and natural polymers. The main focus of webinar will be SEC (Size Exclusion Chromatography) / GPC (Gel Permeation Chromatography).
The series of webinar will start from 16th July 2009 with a focus on basic understanding of the technique, however it will continue for the year. SEZ OR GPC is widely used for characterizing a number of polymer and proteins that are now being examined for suitable use in nanotechnology applications and therefore the series of lectures will not only be beneficial for beginners but experts can also take advantage of the offer as registration for the program is open for all and that too free of cost.
In GPC, columns are used for separating various polymers, nanomaterials or other mixtures . Different materials including nanomaterials get separated on the base of their size and elutes from the column. Detectors or a series of detectors are used to detect the eluted material and thus we get the exact concentration of the material in the mixture. Now a days many advance detectors such as light scattering, viscometer are being used for getting the detailed information of the mixture including precise molecular weight distribution as well as size of the nanomaterial.
In an advance GPC technique, we can get a number of informative data such as particle shape, chemical composition, zeta potential etc and therefore the information obtained on a particular nanomaterial can be very useful in deciding its application in actual field.
New electrochemical process for coating implants
July 1st, 2009Researcher from Tel Aviv University has found a new electrochemical process that is better than the conventional processes. Prof Noam Eliaz is behind the innovation and he found that the new implant improves function and longevity as well and therefore the newly developed process can significantly enhance the life of patients who have undergone the total joint replacements.
The new implants are more acceptable to people’s bodies as these are able to enhance the integration of the nanocoatings to the human tissues and these nanocoatings very much resemble with the biological materials. Professor Eliaz found 33% decrease in material failures with the new coatings.
Traditionally plasma spraying technique is more common and is used, however Prof Eliaz from Tel Aviv University and his team have successfully developed a process of electrochemically depositing synthetic hydroxypatite. In the new developed process, implanting the metal coating through an electrolyte using electric current carries out the coating onto the metal.
As professor Eliaz suggest that electrical coating is generally works better at low temperature and therefore the process can suitably incorporate biological materials. The suitably selected drug will reduce the risk of post-surgery infection and at the same time will boost the growth of the bone faster.
Professor Eliaz presented a paper in the Electrochemical Society’s meeting held at San Francisco in May 2009.
