Nanotechnology News - July 2010 Archives

Empa grows 'sea urchin'-shaped structures (7/31/2010)

Empa researchers have succeeded in growing sea-urchin shaped nanostructures from minute balls of polystyrene beads using a simple electrochemical process. The spines of the sea urchin consist of zinc oxide nanowires. The structured surface should help increasing the efficiency of photovoltaic devices. ...> Full Article

Nanotechnology for water purification (7/30/2010)

Writing in the International Journal of Nuclear Desalination, researchers at the D.J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, in Mumbai, India, explain that there are several nanotechnology approaches to water purification currently being investigated and some already in use. ...> Full Article

Multifunctional nanoparticle enables new type of biological imaging (7/29/2010)

By combining a nanoparticle's magnetic and thermal properties, researchers have created a new technique that virtually eliminates the background noise from non-radioactive medical imaging. ...> Full Article

Nanowick at heart of new system to cool 'power electronics' (7/28/2010)

Researchers have shown that an advanced cooling technology being developed for high-power electronics in military and automotive systems is capable of handling roughly 10 times the heat generated by conventional computer chips. ...> Full Article

Graphene oxide gets green (7/27/2010)

Rice scientists have found a way to synthesize graphene oxide in bulk in an environmentally friendly way, eliminating toxic and explosive chemicals from the process. They have also found a class of common bacteria breaks down graphene oxide into environmentally benign graphene. ...> Full Article

Collaboration leads to simpler method for building varieties of nanocrystal superlattices (7/26/2010)

A University of Pennsylvania collaboration has created a simple and inexpensive method to rapidly grow centimeter-scale membranes of binary nanocrystal superlattices, or BNSLs, by crystallizing a mixture of nanocrystals on a liquid surface. ...> Full Article

Nanotech coatings produce 20 times more electricity from sewage (7/24/2010)

Engineers at Oregon State University have made a significant advance toward producing electricity from sewage, by the use of new coatings on the anodes of microbial electrochemical cells that increased the electricity production about 20 times. The findings bring the researchers one step closer to technology that could clean biowaste at the same time it produces useful levels of electricity -- a promising new innovation in wastewater treatment and renewable energy. ...> Full Article

Nanoribbons for graphene transistors (7/23/2010)

In the recent issue of Nature, scientists from Empa and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research report how they have managed for the first time to grow graphene ribbons that are just a few nanometers wide using a simple surface-based chemical method. Graphene ribbons are considered to be "hot candidates" for future electronics applications as their properties can be adjusted through width and edge shape. ...> Full Article

Engineering researchers simplify process to make world's tiniest wires (7/22/2010)

Surface tension isn't a very powerful force, but it matters for small things -- water bugs, paint, and, it turns out, nanowires. ...> Full Article

Scientists construct molecular 'knots' (7/21/2010)

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have constructed molecular "knots" with dimensions of around two nanometers -- around 30,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. ...> Full Article

Researchers find gene-silencing nanoparticles may put end to pesky summer pest (7/20/2010)

Summer just wouldn't be complete without mosquitoes nipping at exposed skin. Or would it? Research conducted by a Kansas State University team may help solve a problem that scientists and pest controllers have been itching to for years. ...> Full Article

Submarines could use new nanotube technology for sonar and stealth (7/16/2010)

Speakers made from carbon nanotube sheets that are a fraction of the width of a human hair can both generate sound and cancel out noise -- properties ideal for submarine sonar to probe the ocean depths and make subs invisible to enemies. That's the topic of a report on these "nanotube speakers," which appears in ACS' Nano Letters, a monthly journal. ...> Full Article

Researchers cut years from drug development with nanoscopic bead technology (7/16/2010)

New research accepted by the Journal of Molecular Recognition confirms that a revolutionary technology developed at Wake Forest University will slash years off the time it takes to develop drugs -- bringing vital new treatments to patients much more quickly. ...> Full Article

Nanotubes pass acid test (7/15/2010)

Rice University scientists have unveiled a new method for dissolving half-millimeter-long carbon nanotubes in solution, a critical step toward the spinning of fibers from ultralong nanotubes. The breakthrough, which was reported this month in the online journal ACS Nano, is a promising development on the road to scalable methods for making strong, ultralight, highly conductive materials like the "armchair quantum wire," a new type of cable that could revolutionize power distribution. ...> Full Article

Chemists make breakthrough in nanoscience research (7/14/2010)

A team of scientists led by Eugenia Kumacheva of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto has discovered a way to predict the organization of nanoparticles in larger forms by treating them much the same as ensembles of molecules formed from standard chemical reactions. ...> Full Article

National Nanotechnology Initiative's strategic planning stakeholder workshop (7/13/2010)

The NNI will host the Strategic Planning Stakeholder Workshop at the Hotel Palomar in Arlington, Va., on July 13-14, 2010. The goal of this workshop is to obtain input from stakeholders regarding the goals and objectives for an updated NNI Strategic Plan that is currently under development and scheduled for completion by December 2010. ...> Full Article

Nano Letters publishes Dr. Yong Shi's energy harvesting technology (7/13/2010)

Dr. Shi's research focuses on miniature energy harvesting technologies that could potentially power wireless electronics, portable devices, stretchable electronics and implantable biosensors. ...> Full Article

Magnets trump metallics (7/12/2010)

Rice physicist Junichiro Kono and his team have been studying the Aharonov-Bohm effect -- the interaction between electrically charged particles and magnetic fields -- and how it relates to carbon nanotubes. While doing so, they came to the unexpected conclusion that magnetic fields can turn highly conductive nanotubes into semiconductors. ...> Full Article

Pinpoint precision: Delivering a biochemical payload to 1 cell (7/10/2010)

Researchers use precise electrical "tweezers" to place nanowires on predetermined spots on single cells. The technique eventually could produce new ways to deliver medication. ...> Full Article

A pinch of light (7/10/2010)

A new tool developed by Tel Aviv University, holographic optical tweezers, use holographic technology to manipulate up to 300 nanoparticles at a time, such as beads of glass or polymer, that are too small and delicate to be handled with traditional laboratory instruments. The technology, also known as "optical tweezers," could form the basis for tomorrow's ultra-fast, light-powered communication devices and quantum computers, says Dr. Yael Roichman of TAU's School of Chemistry. ...> Full Article

Shocking results from diamond anvil cell experiments (7/9/2010)

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicists are using an ultra-fast laser-based technique they dubbed "nanoshocks" for something entirely different. In fact, the "nanoshocks" have such a small spatial scale that scientists can use them to study shock behavior in tiny samples such as thin films or other systems with microscopic dimensions (a few tens of micrometers). In particular they have used the technique to shock materials under high static pressure in a diamond anvil cell. ...> Full Article

Nano-sized light mill drives micro-sized disk (7/9/2010)

Berkeley Lab researchers have created a nano-sized light mill motor powerful enough to drive micro-sized disks. With rotational speed and direction controlled by the frequency of incident light waves, this new nanomotor should open the door to a broad range of applications in energy and biology as well as in nanoelectromechanical systems. ...> Full Article

Scientists advance in quantum computing and energy conversion tech (7/7/2010)

Using a unique hybrid nanostructure, University of Maryland researchers have shown a new type of light-matter interaction and also demonstrated the first full quantum control of qubit spin within very tiny colloidal nanostructures (a few nanometers), thus taking a key step forward in efforts to create a quantum computer. ...> Full Article

Graphene 2.0: A new approach to making a unique material (7/6/2010)

Since its discovery, graphene -- an unusual and versatile substance composed of a single-layer crystal lattice of carbon atoms -- has caused much excitement in the scientific community. Now, Nongjian Tao, a researcher at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University has hit on a new way of making graphene, maximizing the material's enormous potential, particularly for use in high-speed electronic devices. ...> Full Article

Nano-sized advance toward next big treatment era in dentistry (7/2/2010)

Scientists are reporting an advance toward the next big treatment revolution in dentistry -- the era in which root canal therapy brings diseased teeth back to life, rather than leaving a "non-vital" or dead tooth in the mouth. In a report in the monthly journal ACS Nano, they describe a first-of-its-kind, nano-sized dental film that shows early promise for achieving this long-sought goal. ...> Full Article