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.
Exploration of nanomedicine market
June 28th, 2009Nanomedicine is one of the branch of nanotechnology where thousands of researchers working hard day and night to explore the use of this branch for treating many diseases including life-threatening diseases. Many applications of nanomedicine such as nanobiomaterial, nano drug delivery and nanopharmaceuticals are on the fast track, which will enhance the efficacy and at the same time significantly minimizes the risks associated with standard therapeutics.
In the last couple of years many new novel products in the area of nanobiomaterial especially in the form of coatings have successfully come out from clinical research. Some of these are now available commercially and plays a key role in the area of health care application.
Another major area of nanomedicine is the drug delivery and which is the largest application area and it is expected to grow at a faster pace within the next five years. A lot of research in this area is underway since the last four years and we will see the outcome in the form of many process technologies suitable for treating life-threatening diseases including cancer in the next couple of years.
Key players in nanomedicine market include Nanosphere Inc., Par Pharmaceutical Companies Inc., AMAG Pharmaceutical Inc., Elan Corporation PLC, Life Technologies Corporation, Abraxis BioScience Inc., Flamel Technologies S.A., Oxonica Plc, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Arrowhead Research Corporation.
Protein stabilized nanoparticles could enhance drug discovery
June 26th, 2009Protein plays a key role in drug discovery and understanding the structure of these molecules could significantly enhance the development of new stable and efficient drug. At present with the conventional technologies available, the drug development is very slow due to various conditions including the instability of protein.
Researchers at Birmingham and Warwick Universities have found that if the membrane protein is preserved, researchers can get more details about the structure of protein and other molecular information. This new discovery will lead to use more and ignored protein molecules for drug discovery. The researchers have published their finding in the online Journal of American Chemical Society.
Researchers used the styrene maleic acid lipid particles (SMALPs) for stabilizing membrane and found that SMALPs maintained the structure and enzyme activities of protein intact making it suitable for useful for virtually all lab applications. The technique of stabilizing protein using SMALPs is useful in enhancing the stability, activity and structural qualities of protein membranes.
Inter-country Nanotechnology Interaction Workgroup formed
June 22nd, 2009The two fast developing countries in the field of nanotechnology, Russia and Japan has agreed to form a joint nanotechnology interaction workgroup. The nanotechnology workgroup will establish the cooperation between researchers, entrepreneurs and governing bodies.
The agreement was signed by Anatoly Chubias, DG of the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies and Toshihiro Nikai, Minister of Economy Trade and Industry, Japan. The Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan has nominated Hideiti Okada, DG of Ministry’s Trade Policy Department who will lead the Japanese side, however the Russian side will lead by Alexander Losyukov, RUSNANO Dy. DG.
DG, RUSNANO is optimistic about the workgroup which will focus on the interaction on a number of projects that will be implemented in Russia and RUSNANO will play a major role. Both the countries will also lookout the opportunities to expand the business across the countries and at the same time will enhance the development of state of the art technologies.
DG, RUSNANO also focuses on the forums, seminars and conferences and in line with the first Nanotechnology International Forum that was held in Moscow in December 2008, an arrangement for second Nanotechnology International Forum is being made that will held in Moscow during 6-8 October 2009.
Nanotech molecular gear of size 1.2nm invented
June 19th, 2009Professor Christian Joachim of IMRE has led the team of researchers to invent a unique and first time in world a nanoscale molecular gear of 1.2nm size only that can deliberately be rotated and controlled. The invention can significantly change the understanding and further work on nanotech machines.
Professor Joachim focuses on controlling the motion of the miniature molecular gear that is different from other nanotech gears as it is one of the fully functional gear that can lead to invention of many more complex molecular machines of size of a grain of sand or smaller. The research finding has been published in the Nature Materials.
So far the motion of nanotech gears manufactured by other teams of researchers was random and difficult to control. Researchers at IMRE (Institute of Material Research and Engineering) considered the surface chemistry and molecular manipulation and designed the nanotech molecular gear so that the researchers can control the rotation of the gear and they succeeded.
Researchers at IMRE under the guidance of Professor Joachim succeeded in well controlling the rotation of molecular gear by manipulating the electrical signal between molecules. Researchers are hopeful the future molecular gears will have many added advantages and could be used for controlled drug therapies and many other fields of science.
Graphene might replace copper from Integrated Circuits
June 17th, 2009Graphene a well known nanomaterial and a building block of graphite and it is used for many electronics applications. Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have now established it’s another important property and according to them it might replace the copper from next generation integrated circuits.
Presently thin copper wire is being used for connecting transistors and other devices within an integrated circuit and now researchers have carried out the detailed testing including the thermal conductivity and resistivity of an integrated circuit using an 18 nanometer graphene ribbon and found that the grapheme can replace the tradition copper for on chip connect application.
Researchers found that at the 18 to 20 nanometer scale, the grapheme wire can out perform the traditional copper. In addition to significant improvement in resistivity and thermal conductivity, grapheme interconnects were also better in electron mobility and mechanical strengths. Researchers also observed that there was lower conductivity between grapheme interconnects and the adjacent wire.
Ragunath Murali, a researcher at Georgia Institute of Technology and his collaborator took out grapheme from a block of graphite and studied their electrical properties and are hopeful to integrate grapheme with silicon. Researchers have published their findings in the June issue of Electron Device Letters, an IEEE Journal.
Second Annual Nano Renewable Energy Summit will hold during 22-23 June 2009
June 14th, 2009Renowned people from across the world will again meet on the occasion of 2nd annual nano renewable energy summit during 22-23 June 2009. The NanoBusiness Alliance and the Colarado Nanotechnology Alliance are organizing the second summit and has recently announced the program. The venue of the conference is University of Denver and top energy experts and Nano-scientists are expected to attend the program.
The summit will provide opportunities in the areas of latest technology in renewable energy in conjunction with nanotechnology, the potential benefits of commercializing the technologies, the business opportunities and emerging technologies for sustainability sector. Most distinguished faculties has been invited by the organizers and a few speakers include Alicia Jackson from Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee, John Spiers from iTi Solar, Rahmat Soureshi from University of Denver.
The program will begin 8:20 am on 22nd June 2009 and if you wish to attend the program, you should immediately contact the event director, Vincent Caprio, Sr. Vice President NanoBusiness Alliance. You can also visit the website nanoenergysummit.org and can download the program schedule or even can book your hotel through the event manager.
Innovative silicon membrane developed for NanoBattery
June 12th, 2009MPhase Technology Inc. is one of the company, which is engaged in development, manufacturing and commercialization of the new nano battery technology. A new patented technology based on electrowetting is very much useful in storing and managing energy and power especially for Smart NanoBattery. The company has recently released a new superhydrophobic silicon separator that is expected to revolutionize the Smart nanoBattery architecture.
The new Smart NanoBattery design is unique and it only provides power on command and this unique feature differentiates it from all other battery designs. Until and unless power is not required, the design separates the liquid electrolyte and electrodes and once a command is put up, the electrolyte come in contact with the electrolyte and thus the required power is generated.
The current version that released recently contains 12 individual cells assembled in a 4X3 matrix together to form a Smart NanoBattery. These cells contains micropore and in each cells, there are about 17,000 pores and thus one smart nano battery having 12 cells 2,04,000 pores are arranged in the size of a matchbox. This excellent technology thus manages more than 200,000 pores for the smooth functioning of a Smart NanoBattery
Use of nanoparticle for improving laser performance
June 8th, 2009”Scattering light through tailor made nanoparticle can significantly improve the laser performance” is the outcome of latest research carried out by researchers at Madrid.
Researchers at Instituto de Ciencia y Technologia de Polimeros, Madrid and at the Instituto de Quimica – Fisica, Rocasolano found that the laser get scattered in such a way so that it enhances the laser action. Lasers uses dyes that can choosen from over a broad visible wavelength and these lasers can be used for various applications. Present day lasers are also used for medical applications including cancer therapies and for environmental applications including pollution control.
The researchers however claimed that to get the enhanced emission, the inorganic material should have small enough and evenly distributed in such a way so that its transparency is not affected. Researchers used a nanoparticle known as polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS), a silicon and oxygen based material that can suitably be fixed in an organic material.
These POSS nanoparticles play a significant role in the organic matrix. These nanoparticles scatters the light emitted by dye weakly thereby extending the path of the light inside the material, which will ultimately provide the extra output.
Mapping of polycrystalline nanoscale structure
June 5th, 2009Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University has successfully attempted mapping of polycrystalline nanoscale structure. Katayun Barmak and Thomas Nuhfer have become the first material scientists across the world that successfully map polycrystalline structure. Barmak, a renowned professor of material science and engineering at the University has led to achieve the novel mapping process.
Barmak and her colleagues found that some of the physical properties within nanoscale structure changes with time. Actually a polycrystalline structure has three dimensions and these dimensions are known as atoms, ions and molecules. All the three dimensional patterns may have a number of orientations in space and Barmak have successfully map the boundaries between these dimensions.
Barmak has analyzed a number of times the crystalline materials and that too thousand time smaller and found that even a minute grain of boundaries can significantly obstruct the important physical parameter such as electrical charge if these polycrystalline materials are subjected to electrical field.
The novel research led by the professor of material science and engineering and her colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University can enhance the designing and tailoring of conductive materials such as copper so that these matters become more conductive in future.
New 45nm chip for smart phones
June 1st, 2009Qualcomm Incorporated, one of the major leaders in wireless technologies, is developing a new process technology that uses 45nm chip. The company presently use Snapdragon platform for a number of smartbook and smartphone models. With the introduction of these next-generation 45nm chip, users will get the benefit of faster processing and longer battery life.
The new chipset named as Snapdragon QSD8650A is expected to come at the end of 2009. The feature of this next-generation chip includes the improvement in the processor (1.3GHz) and an overall 30 percent improvement in performance. There will also be an enhancement in overall quality and graphics in 2D/3D. The major benefit of these new 45nm chipset is that these will consume around 30 percent less power than the conventional Snapdragon products available in the market today.
The new Snapdragon 8650A chipset offers exceptionally well-designed integration of technology for the future. The chipset is not only faster but it also offers CDMA 3G mobile broadband connectivity and multi-mode UMTS. The chipset is designed to provide excellent graphic and multimedia features while running Abode and Flash software. The chipset also supports the new generation wireless technologies such as bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
Applied Material Inc. produces large photovoltaic cell
May 29th, 2009Applied Material Inc. is one of the largest nanomanufacturer and is engaged in the fabrication of various equipments, photovoltaic cells and semiconductor chips. The company uses the most advance nanomanufacturing technology to fabricate the world’s finest and innovative products.
It has already produced many electrical and electronics appliances including solar panels. A 1.4 square meter solar panel produced by the company last year using thin film line has already been certified by IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).
Recently Applied Material Inc announces that it has produced world’s largest 5.7 square meter photovoltaic (PV) module using advance technologies. The advance tandem junction technology based 5.7 square meter photovoltaic panel has also been awarded IEC certificate for its outstanding performance on diverse conditions.
With the new innovation, the input and installation cost of the solar panel will come down significantly. It is really a boon in the area of renewable energy and it will enhance the increased use of solar panels by individuals and large organizations.
Fracture Putty - A biocompatible nanobased compound to be developed for treating bone injuries
May 26th, 2009DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) of US Department of Defense is funding a project that will focus on designing fracture putty for treating bone injuries. In the two year research project, scientists from multi-institution and research centers will participate for the development of new technology.
Tissue and bone injuries in US soldiers is very common which often lead to leg fractures and amputation. The new technology could lead to the timely treatment and ultimately could revolutionize the medicine and especially regenerative medicine. The fracture putty is being aimed to substitute the damaged bone and simultaneously it will start formation of natural bone and it will also facilitate in healing the damaged surrounding tissues.
The participating institutes in this multi-institutions program include the Northwest University and the University of Texas Health Science Centre at Houston. The Institute of Bio Nanotechnology in Medicine IIBNAM) will use peptide amphiphile (PA) for improving the bioactive features of the putty. The other features of the fracture putty will be studied by the Houston and Harvard teams.
Researchers at Missouri develops new hydrogen storage device
May 23rd, 2009Researchers at the University of Missouri have engineered carbon nanostructures so that these becomes an excellent hydrogen storage media and could be used for future hydrogen vehicles and many other energy applications. Actually it is the porosity of the carbon nanostructures that can be utilized for storing hydrogen.
Researchers found that within these carbon nanostructures the porosity is sufficient enough and sometimes the diameters of the empty spaces within these structures can range few nanometers. Carbon nanostructures has many advantages over the other targeted storage devices, however the main disadvantage of these is that the interaction energy between carbon atom and hydrogen atom is low and thereby making these storage devices is difficult especially at ambient temperature.
Researchers at Missouri have taken the job of engineering the carbon nanostructure so that more and more hydrogen is stored in the device. The researchers argue that if the binding energy of carbon and hydrogen is raised, the bond between these atoms will be strong and thereby increasing the possibility of more storage of the hydrogen.
Researchers were able to produce tiny carbon granules having large surface area of 3100 square meters per gram and at the same time the pores having deep potential well so that the ultimate nanostructure have higher binding energy. Further doping with the selected element increased the hydrogen carbon interaction and raised the storage potential of the device. The paper has been published in the Journal Nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology helps in reducing staph infection
May 1st, 2009Staph infections are generally caused by staphylococcus aureus bacteria and sometimes the infections can be more severe especially if the bacteria finds it’s way to bloodstream, urinary tract or heart/lungs. The bacteria is becoming more and more resistant to the available common antibiotics and therefore the use of nanotechnology as suggested by the Scientists of Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University can be very much beneficial for curtailing the staph infection.
The father son duo at Einstein, Dr. Joel M. Friedman and Adam Friedman has developed a new nanotechnology based drug delivery system that shows promise to fight the staph infections more quickly and effectively. The nanoparicles used for the current study were capable to carry out payloads of the drugs and release the drugs at the sites in a controlled manner. The drug used for the study was nitrous oxide, which can significantly heal the site and kill bacteria or enhance the blood circulation.
As the life of nitrous oxide is very short and its delivery to targeted tissues was also not fruitful during earlier studies, the nitrous oxide used for present study for killing bacteria was generated within the nanoparticle. The nanoparticles were designed in such a way so that nitrous oxide is produced from sodium nitrite and it is released at desired site in a controlled manner.
The trials of the technique has already been conducted on mice infected with methicillin resistant staph or MRSA and it was found that after a week there were significant improvement in the mice in comparison to the other group which was not treated with nitrous oxide. The research group at Einstein now plans to have a full fledged clinical trial against MRSA and other infections and scientists are hopeful to have a better and quick solution to fight staph infections.
European students will benefit from NANOYOU project
April 28th, 2009A new NANOYOU project is designed for school students and the new winner of the 1.5 million euro tender, Israel’s Organization for Rehabilitation and Training will provide the basics of nanotechnology to more than 30,000 students across Europe. The program will be designed by professionals and experts of the field and will be well balanced to aspiring students of 11 to 25 years of age.
The program NANOYOU will be introduced across more than 20 EU states and the mysteries of the topic will be covered in school programs and science centers for the age group of 11 to 18 and 19 to 25 years respectively. The program lessons will be introduced by about 400 best technical institutes of Israel and will thus bring the new educational export status to the country.
The NANOYOU program will cover some of the most challenging tasks associated with the use of nanotechnology such as ethical, societal, health and legal issues. The program will benefit to the teachers as the contents and information of the nanotechnology program is well designed and it is up to date. The educational methodology and communication of the program is enriched by the NANOYOU partners that have rich experience in academia and industry.
Nanosys and Harvard University agrees on IP assets
April 25th, 2009Nanosys Inc. was keen in licensing out on two fast moving nanotechnology areas and has recently signed agreement with Harvard University. The first important area is nanowire based biosensors and the second one is nanowire based volatile memories. A number of technologies are available for licensing out to any third party interested in these areas.
Researchers at Nanosys and Harvard University have done a lot of work especially on the areas of biosensors and volatile memories and the present Intellectual property offer will cover many new dimensions of nanotechnology including production, functionalization, specific applications, nanostructure based devices, interface technologies from Nanosys and nanowire based biosensors and non volatile memories available from Harvard University.
Nanosys Inc. is a name in the area of nanowire and the present agreement with Harvard University will bring new innovations in the areas of biosensors and volatile memories. The present agreement will also focus on the marketing of the technologies available from Nanosys and Harvard University and at the same time will enhance the marketing portfolio of Nanosys.
At present the core business of Nanosys is commercializing medical device application, energy storage and electronics and solid stage lighting technologies and the new IP agreement will open a new dimension to the business of the company.
Webinar on markets for Quantum Dots
April 22nd, 2009A new webinar is being organized on Thursday, 7,2009 at 11:00 am on “Future Applications and markets for Quantum Dots”. IntertechPira will organize the webinar.
Quantum Dots or semiconductor nanocrystals are not new for the researchers and scientists working in the area of nanotechnology and the present webinar will focus on bottom up approach.
Nanotechnology is growing at much faster pace and it is now available in many applications in the form of commercially available products. In the current webinar, the focus will also be given on the journey of the nano-science and nanotechnology from the R&D unit to real products. Special attention will also be given to the market volatility with respect to the recession at present and in future economic scenario.
Dr. Clinton Ballinger who has worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will be delivering the talk on Future applications and markets for quantum dots. He has worked in vast areas of nano-science and physics and have more than 20 publications in nuclear science, medical physics and optoelectronics. He has also served the Advanced Concepts Research Division of the Lockheed Martin (KAPL Inc.) as project leader. He has many awards and achievements to his credit.
Analysis of Nano and Micro fiber made easy
April 19th, 2009A new automated system that uses electron imaging and analysis system for analyzing Nano and Micro fiber has been developed recently. The new system known as Fibermetric TM is powered with Phenom electron microscope and is designed to quantify accurate properties of fiber samples quickly and easily. The technique will help many producers of woven or synthetic fibers for quality check of their products much faster.
The system is easy to handle and does not require any pre-training to the operating staff and it uses a personal electron microscope, which automatically collects hundreds of images and analyze the images quickly and gives the relevant information about pore size distribution of the fiber and predict the important parameter such as filtration efficiency.
The fibermetric device takes less than 30 seconds for loading a fiber sample and once it loads the samples to one of the best SEM (Scanning electron microscope), which ultimately magnifies the image upto 24000 times so that the instrument can provide accurate information about fiber size up to 100 nanometer.
Vice president and general manager of technical division of FEI, Mr. Paul Scagnetti assures that it will deliver the return on investment rapidly as Fibermetric is available at an affordable price, it is much accurate and its overall accuracy is above 97 percent, easy to use and it provides results quickly.
MOU between Malaysian and Egyptian Universities for Nano R&D
April 16th, 2009The two top universities of Malaysia and Egypt came together and signed a MOU (memorandum of understanding) to jointly work in the areas of research and development in nanotechnology. University of Alexandria and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) will jointly work on a number of projects in the fast growing areas of nanotechnology.
Professor Kamarulazizi Ibrahim, coordinator of the USM Nano Optoelectronics Technology and research Laboratory has vide experience in the area of nanotechnology and the current MOU will enhance the capabilities of USM in designing and developing new devices including BLE (Blue light emitting) and LD (laser diodes). These new technologies will significantly reduce the cost of electronic equipments, semiconductors and at the same time will be environmental friendly.
USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia) has also signed an MOU with Al-Azhar University in science and technology area. The two MOUs will enhance the research abilities of USM. Vice chancellor of USM Professor Tan Sri Datuk Dzulkiffi Abdul Razak is hopeful about positive outcome of these programs as both the universities have interest in the respective field and are also working with many other universities.
Johns Hopkins plan for third annual symposium on NanoBio technology
April 13th, 2009Third annual symposium “Nanoscience for Nanoscience and Neurosurgery” is being organized by Johns Hopkins on May 18, 2009 at the School of Medicine. Johns Hopkins is inviting all faculties and students to submit the posters on various topics including nanobiotechnology, engineering, public health, imaging, medicine and neuroscience before the deadline of May, 4 2009, however for delegate the registration is open upto May 15, 2009.
Registration for delegate and poster title can be submitted online at the website of the Johns Hopkins University and university is also awarding prizes to the best poster presentation. Further details regarding the symposium, poster submitting guidelines, speakers and other information is made available at the NanoBio Technology website of the John Hopkins Institute.
The symposium on, “Nanoscience for Neuroscience and Neurosurgery” will begin 9 a.m., sharp on 18th May, 2009 and talks on various topics will be delivered by renowned scientists and technologists and later in the day by 1:30 pm, the poster session will be held. Some of the renowned speakers include John W. Griffin, Ted Dawson, Abramson, Michael T. McMahon, Jeffrey Rothstein, Sharon Gerecht and Tomas Guilarte. Poster presenters will be available to discuss their results with the visitors and delegates.
New funds for developing self-healing circuits
April 9th, 2009A professor of electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology has been awarded $6 million grant for developing self-healing circuits. The grant will be for a period of four years and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded it. The work will be carried out on millimeter and microwave frequencies as these are widely used for various applications including communication, imaging, radar etc.
Professor Ali Hajimiri has been nominated for the award and he and his team will work on self-healing mixed-signal integrated circuits or HELICs. This program is designed to continue Moore’s Scaling law. As the transistors run on very high frequencies and within a circuit many transistors might not work perfectly and the team will identify such transistors through sensors and will take appropriate action.
Many times the transistors not work at par or can act in line with actuators that can modify or alter the system and therefore to rectify the problem, self-healing circuits are the best choice before us. Ali Hajimiri has already developed a self-healing circuit that was developed on a single silicon chip in the year 2004 and the present development will allow superior self-healing circuits that will work faster and will be also cheaper. These new circuits are designed to resemble living organisms so that they self-heal and readily adjust to the environment.
Hong Kong Polytechnic University get $9 million nanotechnology research grant
April 6th, 2009A fund of $ 9 million has been granted to the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for conducting research on theoretical and technical application of nanostructured material. The grant has been awarded by Research Grants Council (RGC) and the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF).
The Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) will be collaborative project with “Nano and Advanced Materials Institute Ltd.” (NAMI) and the project will engage in development of layered nanostructure of metallic plates and metallic sheets for structural applications. Two industry partners and both Fortune 500 companies namely Baosteel Group Company, China and European Aeronautics Defence and Space Company will also support the research.
The other fund granted by RGC will be used for collaborative research and establishing theories. Both the projects will lead by Prof. Lu Jian, Head Department of Mechanical Engineering. Prof J. Lu has done extensive research in broad areas including material science, mechanics, mechanical engineering, material science and nanoscience. He is also the recipient of many prestigious awards and honors for his excellent contribution to the science and technology. He was awarded “The French Knight Order of National Merit” in the year 2006 and in 2007; he received Gold Medal and a special prize at Brussels Eureka Expo.
Under the guidance of Prof. J. Lu and his collaborator Prof. K. Lu, the work on nano-scale structure material is continuously in progress at Hong Kong Polytechnic University since long back. The current study will enhance the understanding of the nanostructured material that can find applications in steel and aerospace industries and at the same it will ensure the leadership of the university in world map in the fast growing area of nanotechnology.
Silver Nanotechnology Working Group formed
April 3rd, 2009Silver nanoparticles are used in number of products especially electrical and electronic appliances and the risk vis-à-vis the benefits of these are not yet fully known. Now a Silver Nanotechnolgy Working Group is formed jointly by The Silver Institute and Silver Research Consortium, who will investigate the benefits of silver nanoparticles in a wide-range of industrial and consumer products.
A lot of companies are facing problems especially regulatory problems in registering various consumer and industrial products containing silver nanoparticles and for solving the problem of such companies, the Silver Nanotechnology Working Group was formed. The group will ensure that the people associated in designing and production of silver nanoparticles, users of nanoparticles share information on health and environmental aspects of the silver nanoparticles. The data will be collected and on the basis of the information, the particular industries can file registration of their products to the respective regulatory agencies.
So far the four companies have joined the Silver Nanotechnology Working Group (SNWG) and these are Bayer MaterialScience, NanoHorizons, Servicious Industriales and BYK Chemie and many more companies are likely to join the SNWG in near future. The headquarter of the Silver Nanotechnology Working Group is at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and it will operate research programs that will be funded by silver industry.
Conversion of sound waves to electricity could lead to better LEDs and computer chips
March 23rd, 2009Electrical signals are converted into sound in a cell phone and by reversing this technique; researchers claim to have that they can significantly enhance the efficiencies of LEDs and computer chips. The speakers in a cell phone use piezo electric device that generally operates at low frequency easily heard by human ear, however the detection of high frequency sound is a challenge for researchers.
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory along with the collaboration from scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Nitronex Corporation have first time converted the highest frequency sound to light by reversing the common process that converts electrical signal to sound. Researchers took a high frequency wave that is almost 100 million times than the audible frequency and generated light by reversing the process.
During the earlier studies it was possible to detect acoustics and shock waves with terahertz frequencies using sub-pico second lasers and now just reversing the process and by converting the high frequency sound waves into electricity. This study is useful for detecting materials on very small length scales and could significantly enhance the effectiveness and life of many computing chips.
Non-random palladium/gold nanoparticles synthesized using galvanic replacement reaction
March 20th, 2009Nanomaterials that are composed of two metallic ingredients are best suitable for many new advance applications including catalytic and electronic applications as these bimetallic nanoparticles have unique physical and electronic properties, however previous research shows that palladium and gold nanoparticles have excellent catalytic properties and therefore can be used in alternative energy applications. The bimetallic nanoparticles having non-random structure are most suitable for many novel applications.
Actually synthesizing a non-random structure is quite a difficult task and it requires handling of many-advanced characterization techniques so that we get the desired end result. Now, researchers from University of Delaware and Brookhaven, Yeshiva University have successfully synthesized a palladium/gold nanocomposite that has nano-random structure.
Galvanic replacement method, which is well known technology that is used for making batteries, is selected for the fabrication of palladium and gold bimetallic nanoparticles. Due to electrical potential difference between various metals, here in galvanic replacement method, one metal act as cathode and another act as anode. The reaction was carried out between a 2.5 nanometer thick palladium nanowire and gold chloride solution in toluene. Various characterization techniques including electron microscopy, UV-VIS absorption, X-ray diffraction etc. were applied to monitor the galvanic reaction.
Researchers found that the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) technique is best suitable for monitoring the galvanic reaction as it provides the clear idea about the structure and geometry of the end product. Using the technique the research team was able to stabilize the non-random structure by addition of alkylamine, which stabilize the palladium on surface so that the product remains uniform and non-random.
The research finding was published in the January 23, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Soceity.
New nanotechnology patents filed by Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
March 18th, 2009Nanotechnology is one of the forefront areas of research at premiere institutes worldwide and in Indian Institute of Technology, Madras also major work has been carried out in this area. The Indian premier research institute has recently been filed two new patents on nanotechnology applications and one patent is for better cancer drug delivery application and another is for removal of dyes from waste textile mill water.
The cancer drug delivery application of nanotechnology was carried out under the supervision of Dr. S. Ramaprabhu and his team found that by eliminating the use of a spacer, the drug delivery efficiency could be increased. His team joined the drug molecule directly to the carbon nanotube, which acts as a vessel for the drug molecule and directly transported to the CNTs containing drug molecule to the site. This resulted in reduced side effects, which would have otherwise been caused by the chemotherapy agents.
In the other invention, Professor Ramaprabhu and his team took nanomaterial as absorbent for removing the dyes from the wastewater generated by textile mill. It not only removes dyes but it also removes the bad odor from the water and makes the water suitable for use in industrial or agricultural applications.
Professor Ramaprabhu, took graphite in bulk with selected amount of carbon nanotube as adsorbent for cleaning the wastewater from textile industries. The team is also working on the wastewater from tanneries. Although it is possible to recover dyes from wastewater if the carbon nanotube is passed through a selected fluid, where the dye will be solubilized and it can later be recovered from the fluid.
Samsung’s new technology for producing fusion memory
March 15th, 2009Samsung Electronics is one of the largest electronics companies that have developed many novel technologies in the area of advanced memory technology and it has recently announced the success of 40-nanometer process technology. The company has started production of eight gigabit fusion memory chip. The name of this new advanced fusion memory chip is kept as Flex-One NAND and these memory chips provide both SLC and MLC NAND in single cost effective chip.
Although the development of Flex-One NAND was started in the year 2007 using the advanced 40 nanometer technology, the company has launched the chip recently and Samsung expects a growth in productivity over the earlier designed 4 gigabit (GB) chip that was produced with 60 nanometer technology. The applications of these Flex-One NAND chips will enhance to full HDTV, IPTV and many more applications in the high end electronics applications.
40 Nanometer technologies has many advantages over the conventional technology and the major advantage is that this technology offers cost effective benefits to consumers for memory selection and at the same time the designers can have the advantage of flexibility of selecting either portion of SLC or MLC for a particular design through simple adjustment in the software. This technology will also enhance the speed and reliability during processing of both code and data.
Samsung has also launched software that will support moviNAND in 8 GB Flex-One NAND, which will benefit the handset designers to design the state of art next generation phone devices. These new generation high end phones will have much higher memory allowing them to transfer data at much higher speed.
Opportunities in Nanocoating market
March 12th, 2009At present the global nanocoating market is above US $ 600 million per annum and it is expected that by the year 2013, the market will cross US $ 6.5 billion. The majority of the market currently is “one way” including anti-bacterial, conductive and protective coating, however the research on “ two way” coatings are going on throughout many research institutes and within next 4-5 years we will see many two way nanocoatings including pigmented coatings, hydrophobic / hydrophilic switching coating etc.
Companies throughout the globe investing in research in nanocoating materials and within a couple of years many new novel products are expected to commercialize. Presently many physico-chemical methods are used worldwide to fabricate the nanomaterials that can enhance the physical and chemical properties of nanocoatings, however the scaling of R&D is still a major challenge before the major companies.
So, before commercializing the technology, the companies must ensure the nanocoatings have additional features than conventionally available coatings and at the same time the new products must have reasonable price. These new nanocoating can find many applications in wider fields including transportation and high tech sports gadgets etc.
18 Million Euro investment plan for developing new organic nanomaterials
March 9th, 2009Current silicon semiconductors are used in any electronic equipment, however the major disadvantage of silicon chip is that their manufacturing requires lots of energy and also generate huge amount of waste. Although, the silicon semiconductor industry is well established but because of their high cost manufacturing many EU member states have ambitious plan to develop new organic nanomaterials that can lead to new future generation electronics.
A total of 28 partners from 10 EU member states are participating in the project ONE – P and a total of 18 million Euro under the NMP Theme of Seventh Framework Programme (FP 7) will be invested during the next three years. The research will develop many new nano material products including nano materials for use in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), photo detectors etc.
The main advantage of organic nanomaterials is that they are easy to fabricate and these uses less energy as well as generate less waste. The current FP 7 (Framework Programme Seven) will develop many new novel technologies that will enhance the Europe’s member countries position as world leaders in organic nanomaterial area. It is expected that the new novel technologies will be easy to process, fabricate, cheap and will generate less waster or will be environmental friendly.
IBM researchers were able to track heat flow in carbon nanotubes
March 6th, 2009Understanding the mechanism of heat flow in carbon nanotubes is one of the important task that can lead to many new applications of carbon nanotubes in future nanoelectronics devices. Researchers at IBM have recently announced that they were able to track the heat dissipation into nanotube’s atom vibration and surface vibration.
Actually any electric device get heated due to conversion of electricity into heat and in similar fashion, carbon nanotubes also got heated during the operation of the device, however so far researchers were not able to measure or track the heat flow of heat dissipation within the nanotube devices.
Researchers at IBM took a single carbon nanotube for the study and incorporated it as an active channel of the transistor. Researchers measure the change in optical properties during the flow of electric current through the nanotubes and considering these changes as the thermometers; they were able to estimate the energy of dissipation through various nodes of vibrational motion of nanotubes’s atom as well as the substrate beneath it.
During the study researcher were able to found the non thermal equilibrium between various nodes ranging from the temperature from 400C to 1000C and further they established that an efficient coupling mechanism between atomic lattice vibrations and charge carriers in carbon nanotube can significantly affect the electronic power transport or heat transport from nanotube to its substrate.
Ethical and social impacts of human enhancement conference
March 2nd, 2009A two days conference is being organized at the Western Michigan University during March 28-29 on the ethical and social impacts of human enhancement. The conference is funded by WMU (Western Michigan University) and US National Science Foundation and is being organized by Dartmouth College, Delaware University, California Polytechnic State University and Western Michigan University.
Although there are many applications of nanotechnology and nanoscience, there are also issues related to the ethical use of the new technology. The nanoethics group at the Western Michigan University thus provides an opportunity to discuss about the ethical issues involved during the upcoming conference. The nanoethics group believes that although the nanotechnology is a power tool to achieve the best results, however it equally open unforeseen results and harms associated with it.
The well known researchers from across the globe are expected to participate and share their thoughts in the conference. Researchers from well known organizations including Albany School of Medicine, IBM, Michigan State University, Trinity Colllege, General Dynamics and Arizona State University are expected to participate in the conference
Aerosol Jet System used for printing on Carbon Nanotube Transistors
February 27th, 2009The research was carried out by Optomec in collaboration with University of Massachusetts, Brewer Science, In. and researchers were able to fully print carbon nanotube based TFTs having high operating frequencies in the range over 5 gigahertz (GHz) with the help of Aerosol Jet System.
The new technique is a cost effective technique that can produce large area electronic circuits and the advantage of the technique is that with the help of Aerosol Jet System, we can print TFTs on flexible substrate and that too at room temperature and without using special lithography equipments. The technique is also able to print multi layers of TFTs including materials that have vide range of viscosities.
He advantage of carbon nanotubes for making TFT is that these carbon nanotubes have exceptional aspect ratio and great mechanical strength. Using an on-off-ratio of over 100, and solely using Jet Aerosol printing technology, researchers were able to print a TFT having ultra high frequency of over 5 gigahertz. The researchers claim that with aerosol jet systems, they were able to achieve sub micron layer thickness having 5 micron registration and less than 10 micron feature size.
Nanotechnology will help in detecting plant diseases
February 24th, 2009Researchers at Texas AgriLife Research are planning to use nanotechnology for detecting plant disease at an early stage so that ton’s of food is protected from the possible outbreak. U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided a grant of $1 million for the next three years and researchers are working to find a solution for protecting the food and agriculture from bacteria, fungus and viral agents.
At present the detection technique takes days to find the plant disease and researchers are focusing to find a short and possible detection system that can give results within a few hours. For achieving their goal, plant pathology experts are joining hands to the nanotechnology specialists so that the combined efforts could lead to a better detection system.
Researchers are looking for a simple system that is portable and accurate and does not require any complicated technique for operation so that even a simple farmer can use the portable system and can address the disease. The major problems with plants is that unlike humans, they do not have immune system and if any new plant pathogen is present in the area, plants are not able to protect themselves.
For the present project, researchers will make a kit and will evaluate and test the kit in real agricultural fields. Thereafter the team will also evaluate the kit for its user friendliness. The team will come out with a prototype in the next three years and is quite hopeful to achieve their aim.
Guideline for spending NSF’s $3 billion
February 23rd, 2009National Science Foundation (NSF) has been directed through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to spend $3 billion stimulus package. The National Science Board is meeting today to decide the areas in scientific and engineering sectors, where the amount will be invested in the current year.
The National Science Board through its Sustainable Energy Task Force will examine and address the funding issues in the area of science and engineering. The Sustainable Energy Task Force will also foresee the challenges in the renewable energy as well as other latest scientific areas and will provide its recommendation to the president and congress.
During the two days meetings, that has already been started today, the NSB will also announce the honorary 2009 award recipients for Vannevar Bush and Public Service. NSF will also simultaneously announce the winner of Alan T. Waterman and all the three awards will be given later the year.
NSB is a unique 25 member body selected from a variety of Science and Engineering disciplines from various Universities and Industries. The member belongs to a policy making body for National Science Foundation and act as advisor to the president and congress.
NanoBio Corp. plans to invest $12 Million
February 19th, 2009NanoBio Corp. is engaged in the development of various pharmaceutical products including dermatological products that has been manufactured from NanoStat technology. The major products from the company are used for treating cold sores (herpes), acne, cystic fibrosis, intranasal problems and nail fungus (onychomycosis). The company is primarily owned and is located at Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The company NanoBio Corp. has recently got $12 million from its investors and it is part of the series B funding and will be utilized for NanoStat technology platform. So far the company has invested more than $80 million for funding company’s Nanostat technology. Majority of the support comes from Perseus LLC and other investors.
The company has already developed many novel products and pre-clinical data on some of the products shows their superiority over conventional products. The new nano-emulsion technology used for treating cystic fibrosis is found to even kill highly resistant bacteria, which would haveotherwise been alive in presence of available products in the market. Similarly the intranasal vaccines is far better than currently approved vaccines available in the market.
Nanotechnology application in stem cells for patient’s benefit
February 16th, 2009Researcher’s at Northwestern University are looking for new approach to many health problems. Samuel I Stupp have developed a synthetic molecule peptide amphiphiles (PA), which the researchers took for the study. For present study researchers combine peptide amphiphiles with many other molecules and got many new structures that can be useful in treating a number of medical conditions including spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease and diabetes.
Capito, a postdoctoral fellow at the Northwestern University have recently combine peptide amphiphiles to hyaluronic acid and found that the combination produces a biopolymer that is found in joints and cartilage in humans. The product of the combination of peptide amphiphiles and hyaluronic acid is obtained in the form of a self assembling sacks membrane structures. These membrane structures self assemble to form nanoscale to microscale structures that can have unique physical properties.
The research team while creaing sack, carefully injected the hyaluronic acid solution into the peptide amphiphiles solution, which have smaller molecules. This forms a closed sack trapping hyaluronic acid inside the membrane. Now by allowing engulfing of stem cells inside the sacks by self-assembling process, the culture studies were carried out. Researchers were able to make tailor made bioactive regions in the sacks and therefore can incorporate a number of designs in these sacks structures, which will ultimately provide many new opportunities in the creation and delivery of stem-cells.
Nanotechnology programs in Finland
February 13th, 2009Finland is fast growing in the area of nanotechnology applications in various fields including chemical, information and communication and health. There is a plan to invest Euro 70 million for the period 2005 –2010 under Tekes FinNano program and the program is carried out under close collaboration with the Academy of Finland’s FinNano program.
During the last four years many new nanotechnology companies have come up in Finland and these companies either engaged in research areas or application. In the year 2008, 38 million euros were received from public under public funding and the industry has invested more than 56.6 million euros. The total investment including the funding received from capital venture increased by more than 33 percent in comparison to the year 2006.
The investment in nanotechnology is being made in priority areas including the chemical industry, material and forest industry and information and communication technology sectors only. Out of the total of more than 200 companies in the year 2008, 65 companies offer commercial products especially being offered to the above industries.
At present the nanotechnology industry in Finland hires 3000 people and has a revenue of approximately 300 million euros. With the current trend and growing investment in nanotechnology areas in specific sectors, it is expected that the commercial development in the nanotechnology field will strongly grow in the country and in a the year 2013, the industry will cross 1.2 billion euro and will hire more than 11,000 people.
Nanotechnology used for improving lithium battery technology
February 10th, 2009Researchers at Rice University have created new hybrid carbon nanotubes metal oxide arrays that can enhance the life and performance of existing lithium-ion batteries significantly. Lithium-ion batteries are currently being used in a number of applications including for electric car applications and demand for high performance long life batteries is continuously growing.
Researchers grown highly conductive nanotube core that act similar to a coaxial conducting lines consisting manganese oxide shell. The core of the nanotube being highly conductive and if you allow the core to absorb lithium and the manganese oxide, which are poor electricity conductors; you get a complete new thing. With the combinations of duo researchers believe that the charge or discharge cycles will be greatly enhanced.
Although researchers have studied a number of combinations of these materials, however the particular coaxial design was found to enhance the performance of the battery significantly. Further modifications in these coaxial nanotube are being tried and researchers are hopeful to achieve higher performance with thinner batteries.
The finding of the research paper jointly authored by Reddy, Shaijumon, Sanketh Gowda and Ajayan is appeared in the Nano Letters.
Nanotechnology for antibiotics effectiveness applications
February 7th, 2009Bacteria such as Golden Staph or MRSA are causing many health problems to the communities and it has been observed in the recent past that these bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics and therefore posing a major threat.
Now a group of scientists from London Center for Nanotechnology and University of Queenslands are working together for finding a suitable solution of the problem with the help of Nanotechnology. Researchers will use tiny nano-probes and will try to understand the mechanism of effectiveness of antibiotic on bacteria.
Researchers working on a $4 million Australian Fellowship will help in developing antibiotics and antifungals that are effective in killing and slowing down the growth of resistant bacteria. Researchers made nano-probes and coated these probes with molecules found in normal bacteria and antibiotic resistant bacteria. Once they added doses of antibiotic vancomycin to the system, they found that the probes from normal bacteria were stressed clearly indicating that the drug is effective in controlling the bacteria, howeverthe probes from resistant bacteria were weakly affected indicating that the bacteria is resistant to vancomycin.
Researchers found that there is a very small difference between resistant and non-resistant bacteria and with the help of these nano-probes, the difference can be identified within few minutes. With the help of these nano-probes, researchers are finding other antibiotic drugs those can weaken the structure of resistant bacteria so that novel antibiotics are developed.
Euro 22 million to be invested in Carbon Nanotube Plant
February 4th, 2009Bayer Material Science has an ambitious plan to invest Euro 22 million in planning, development and construction of the World’s largest carbon nanotube plant in Germany. The plant will be located at chempark Leverkusen and will have an annual capacity of 200 tons and the plant will create 20 new jobs.
Bayer Material Science is among the few companies who can produce carbon nanotubes and it’s pilot plant at Laufenburg having an annual capacity of 60 tons is already manufacturing carbon nanotubes since the year 2007. Bayer has already launched carbon nanotubes in the market with brand name Baytubes and these are used for making light weight strong materials that can ultimately be used in various applications including safety and construction, environment, energy etc.
The carbon nanotube market is growing at a steady pace and at present it’s annual growth is around 25 percent annually. By the next decade the annual sale of carbon nanotubes might cross US dollar 2 billion and keeping in mind the future demand, Bayer Material Science seems to have taken a right decision at right time.
Nanotubes and stem cells found to accelerate bone growth
February 1st, 2009Nanotechnology and stem cells are the main focus areas for researchers and researchers throughout the globe are investigating areas where these can make revolution in medical fields. In a recent publication, researchers from University of California, San Diego claims that nanotubes and stem cells can greatly enhance the bone growth.
Presently when one break his or her knee or leg, a titanium rod is implanted and the patient is required to stay on bed for three months and according to researchers, the three months time could be reduced to one month by implanting titanium oxide nanotubes and stem cells.
Researchers at University of California, San Diego used nanobiotechnology methods for treating bone injuries. Researchers from multi-discipline including bioengineering and material science has extracted Mesenchymal stem cells from patients own bone marrow and implanted these cells on very thin titanium oxide nanotubes and so that these help in bone building. Titanium oxide nanotube implants can reduce the loosening of bones and therefore help in quick recovery especially in old age people.
According to the researchers, differentiation, a technique used for growing a specific type of cell in this case bone cell is used for growing bone cells with the help of nanotechnology. The data indicate that larger diameter nanotubes help in growing elongated stem cells on their surface much more in comparison to a smaller diameter nanotube. Researchers believe that this research will help in many stem sell differentiations in the areas of regenerative medicine and people at large will benefit from it.
Online seminar on nanotechnology applications
January 29th, 2009Advance Energy Consortium (AEC) is one of the advance research consortium engaged in the development of nanotechnology applications that can be used in oil and gas industry. The multimillions dollar consortium’s primary aim is to design and develop the new generation micro and nano sensors. These nanosensors once injected into oil reservoir can help characterizing the dimensions of the reservoir so that the recovery of oil and gas is improved.
Advanced Energy Consortium (AEC) is organizing a free online seminar to provide the information about the work carried out at the research consortium on dated 19th February 2009 between 15.0 to 16.0 GMT and renowned speakers Jay Kipper and Sean Murphy will deliver the talks.
The funding for the consortium has crossed 5 million US dollar in first year and this is likely to increase in the coming years. The consortium was brought forward by Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG) at the University of Texas at Austin and he Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology (SINST), Rice University is the technical partner of the consortium. Many privately funded members include Petrobras, BP, Halliburton, Shell, TOTAL, Marathon, Baker Hughes and Conoco Phillips.
Recovery of oil is an issue especially with current technologies where up to 60 percent of oils remains underground even after primary, secondary or even tertiary recovery methods. The new nanosensors are being very small and are capable to provide information on pores and attached geological structure of the well bores of the reservoirs. The information can further be utilized for maximizing the exploration of the well.
Nanotechnology used for oral anticancer drug delivery
January 26th, 2009At present the anticancer drugs are administered through injections only and therefore the patients need to visit doctors for getting their treatments. The treatment causes inconvenience to hundreds of thousands of cancer patients across the globe and at the same time it is quite costly also.
Researchers at John Hopkins University School of Medicines, Department of Chemistry Delhi University India and University Medical Centre Utrecht, the Netherlands jointly have developed polymeric nanoparticles that can be used for delivering drug orally in future. Anirban Maitra of department of pathology, John Hopkins University School of Medicine and his colleagues have synthesized a polymeric nanoparticle composed of N-isopropylacrylamide, methylacrylate and acrylic acid in the molar ratio of 60:20:20.
The new nanoparticle that has been synthesized by researchers was found to have size distribution of less than 100 nanometer with low polydispersity and therefore the nanoparticles are useful in encapsulating a number of hydrophobic drugs. Once the nanoparticle encapsulates the drug, it can easily deliver the drug into blood stream through gastrointestinal treat cells.
Further toxicological studies on the polymeric nanoparticle were carried out on mice and there were no apparent toxicities were observed on as much as 500 mg/kg of the oral dosage of the polymeric nanoparticles for 4 weeks. The new nanoparticle was able to deliver the anticancer drug rapamycin to the human pancreatic tumors that was implanted in mice for carrying out the tests. The finding of the research is published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.
UK plans second Micro Precision Nanomanufacturing Event
January 18th, 2009UK has already conducted successfully first Micro Precision Nanomanufacturing event during October 2008, which was attended by more than 1000 visitors. This event has provided an opportunity to the industry throughout the globe to share their knowledge and concerns in nanomanufacturing. Visitors and exhibitors especially from UK and Europe, US, Canada, Japan and Israel find the event very useful and are expected to participate in larger numbers in future also.
Nine months from now, UK Micro Precision and Nanomanufacturing Event will held at the Ricoh Arena, during 20-21 October 1009. This time the number of exhibitors as well as the number of people visiting the event could go much higher and people from many countries are expected to visit the event. Many exhibitors are already in touch with the event organizers and even a few have already booked the space in advance.
With the kind of response, the organizers are getting from across the globe, Micro Precision Nanomanufacturing Event is set to become the leading annual event that could provide the necessary knowledge and support to micro manufacturing and precision components. Exhibitors from various fields including manufacturing techniques, inspection and measurements, handling and assembly etc., are participating in the event and this year the organizers have increased the floor space to 2000 square meters, which will provide better opportunity to showcase the technology.
Vietnamese researchers develops biodegradable plastic
January 15th, 2009The plastic available presently is made from oil and gas products and these are not biodegradable and it can take 1000 years to degrade naturally. New researchers in Vietnam have developed a new nanocomposite plastic that is biodegradable and at the cost of the plastic is also less. The new product was found very convenient and very useful for the purpose of packaging and at the same time it is water resistant comparable to the commercial plastic.
Researchers started study four years ago at the University of Sciences, Ho Chi Minh City and according to the Group’s leader Truong Phuoc Nghia, the material is fully biodegradable in land and it has several advantages over the imported plastic. The researchers claim that it is fully biodegradable between one and six months in landfill having microorganisms.
Researchers claim that they used nanotechnology for obtaining this cost effective and biodegradable plastic known as nanocomposite after mixing thermoplastic starch, food additives, a special polymer clay and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Using the above technology, researchers were able to make materials at much lower cost at around 30 percent of the imported plastic. Researchers carried out ductility and elasticity tests on the new products and found that the data are comparable to commercial one.
Researchers develop nanotechnology based synthetic version of HDL cholesterol
January 12th, 2009Cholesterol is an essential ingredient required by our cell and HDL do the transportation job and delivers cholesterol to the liver. High-density lipoprotein or HDL cholesterol can play an important role in reducing the high cholesterol levels. Therefore higher the levels of HDL cholesterol in our blood, lower is the risk of deadly heart disease, as the excess of cholesterol is deposited on our arteries and thereby reducing the normal blood flow.
There are medicines for reducing the bad cholesterol (LDL) or low-density lipoprotein, as well as you can control the LDL by your diet or exercise, however you can rarely find the medicines for increasing the good cholesterol or HDL and even if you find any medicine, these medicines have severe side effects.
Researchers now has published a research paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), where they claim that they have successfully developed a synthetic HDL cholesterol based on gold nanoparticles that resembles with natural HDL. The research was led by Dr. Shad Thexton, assistant professor of Urology, Northwestern’s Feinberh School of Medicine and researchers from Weinberg college of Art and Science also participated in the study.
Researchers took gold nanoparticle as core for the synthesis of HDL and after layering it through a lipid, further layer it with a protein called as APOAI, which occurs in natural HDL cholesterol. Researchers thus obtained a synthetic HDL cholesterol that has around 18 nm diamter and is much similar to the naturally occurring HDL cholesterol
New Research lead to discovery of new high efficiency solar power panels
January 9th, 2009Using nanotechnology, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed new technique that could lead to the more efficient solar power panels that can be used for wider solar power operations. Researchers lead by Shawn –Yu Lin have developed a new anti-reflective nanoengineered coating that absorbs high amount of sunlight that falls on these panels from entire solar spectrum of sunlight from nearly all angles.
At present the efficiency of solar panels is quite low and at the same time, the commercially available solar panels are very costly. Further you need to position the conventional solar arrays along the direction of sun so that their panels are aligned in direction of solar rays. These positioning are required to be carried out throughout the day by manual or automated arrangement.
The present research carried out by Shawn-Yu Lin will enhance the efficiency of these nanoengineered coated power panel and further as these can absorb sunlight from virtually all angles, there will be no need to manually or automatically adjust the solar panels. Lin’s nanoengineered coated power panel will lead to development of new generation, cost effective and stationary power arrays.
Israeli Researchers used carbon nanotube to detect lung cancer markers
January 7th, 2009The researchers from Israeli Institute of Technology lead by Dr. Hossam Haick claims to have developed a new diagnostic system that is able to detect lung cancer markers in a patient’s breathe. The research was carried out using different organic materials coated carbon nanotubes array devices and the research finding has been published in the Journal Nano Letters.
For coating carbon nanotube, Dr. Haick and his team took 10 different insulating nonpolymeric organic materials and formed different devices having random networks of single walled carbon nanotubes and for creating sensors, researchers used conventional microprocessor techniques. These different coated nonpolymeric organic materials when exposed to various volatile organic chemicals found in human breath provide unique response.
Researchers used GC-MS (Gas chromatograph-mass spectroscopy), a well known analytical technique to analyze the samples of breath of healthy as well as stage 4 lung cancer patients. Before analyzing the compounds present in breath, these volatile organic compounds were also concentrated using solid phase microextraction. Once the samples were allowed to pass through the array of sensors and the outcome was recorded and it was found that it is characteristics of the mixture of volatile organic compounds present in breath.
Scientists produce white and red blood cells from artificial bone marrow
January 3rd, 2009Researchers at University of Michigan, department of Biomedical Engineering and Material Science have created red and white blood cells from artificial bone marrow, which will lead to continuous blood supply for transfusion.
According to the researcher, Nicholas Kotov, professor at University of Michigan, the substance was grown on a 3-D scaffold, however like other 3-D biomedical scaffolds, the researcher didn’t implant marrow in the body. Actually it was designed for functioning in a test tube and the researchers were able to produce first artificial bone marrow.
The artificial bone marrow was found to have two important essential functions and it can produce white and red blood cells as well as it can replicate stem cells. The B cells especially white blood cells play an important role in fighting diseases and stem cells are essential for producing many other types of cells.
Many drugs especially chemotherapy drugs can significantly hinder bone marrow functions and therefore reduce the ability of body to fight against infections and diseases. The artificial bone marrow can provide an opportunity to test the drug and find out the affect of drug on efficiency of bone marrow and therefore it will significantly reduce the drug trial on humans and consequently reduce the severe side effects during trial.
