Nanotechnology News - October 2009 Archives

Study shows how carbon nanotubes can affect lining of the lungs (10/31/2009)

Carbon nanotubes are being considered for use in everything from sports equipment to medical applications, but a great deal remains unknown about whether these materials cause respiratory or other health problems. Now a collaborative study from North Carolina State University, the Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences shows that inhaling these nanotubes can affect the outer lining of the lung, though the effects of long-term exposure remain unclear. ...> Full Article

Rice University cuts deal to research graphene-infused drilling fluids (10/30/2009)

Rice University and Houston-based M-I SWACO, the world's largest producer of drilling fluids for the petrochemical industry, have signed an agreement for research funds to develop a graphene additive that will improve the productivity of wells. ...> Full Article

Knocking nanoparticles off the socks (10/29/2009)

Scientists in Switzerland are reporting results of one of the first studies on the release of silver nanoparticles from laundering those anti-odor, anti-bacterial socks now on the market. Their findings, scheduled for the Nov. 1 issue of ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology, may suggest ways that manufacturers and consumers can minimize the release of these particles to the environment, where they could harm fish and other wildlife. ...> Full Article

Scientists trap light and sound vibrations together in nanocrystal (10/28/2009)

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have created a nanoscale crystal device that, for the first time, allows scientists to confine both light and sound vibrations in the same tiny space. "This is a whole new concept," notes Oskar Painter, associate professor of applied physics at Caltech. Painter is the principal investigator on the paper describing the work, which was published in the online edition of the journal Nature. ...> Full Article

Researchers find new route to nano self-assembly (10/27/2009)

By adding select small molecules to mixtures of nanoparticles and polymers, Berkeley Lab researchers can direct the self-assembly of the nanoparticles into arrays of one, two and even three dimensions with no chemical modifications. ...> Full Article

Transforming nanowires into nano-tools using cation exchange reactions (10/26/2009)

A team of engineers from the University of Pennsylvania has transformed simple nanowires into reconfigurable materials and circuits, demonstrating a novel, self-assembling method for chemically creating nanoscale structures that are not possible to grow or obtain otherwise. ...> Full Article

Scientists solve decade-long mystery of nanopillar formations (10/26/2009)

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have uncovered the physical mechanism by which arrays of nanoscale pillars can be grown on polymer films with very high precision, in potentially limitless patterns. This nanofluidic process could someday replace conventional lithographic patterning techniques now used to build three-dimensional nano- and microscale structures for use in optical, photonic and biofluidic devices. ...> Full Article

Nanowire biocompatibility in the brain: So far so good (10/25/2009)

Scientists at Lund University have investigated this "worst case" by injecting nanowires in rat brains. The nanowires resemble in size and shape the registration nodes of electrodes of the future. The results show that the brain "clean-up cells," take care of the wires. After 12 weeks only minor differences were observed between the brains of the test group and the control group. The findings are published in Nano Letters. ...> Full Article

Nanosatellites expected to benefit from advanced propulsion technology (10/24/2009)

A University of Michigan professor is developing an electric rocket thruster, NanoFET, that uses nanoparticle electric propulsion and enables spacecraft to travel faster and with less propellant than previous technology allowed. ...> Full Article

Team uses self-assembly to make molecule-sized particles with patches of charge (10/23/2009)

Physicists, chemists and engineers have demonstrated a novel method for the controlled formation of patchy particles, using charged, self-assembling molecules that may one day serve as drug-delivery vehicles to combat disease and perhaps be used in small batteries that store and release charge. ...> Full Article

Scientists bend nanowires into 2-D and 3-D structures (10/22/2009)

Taking nanomaterials to a new level of structural complexity, scientists have determined how to introduce kinks into arrow-straight nanowires, transforming them into zigzagging two- and three-dimensional structures with correspondingly advanced functions. ...> Full Article

Smallest nanoantennas for high-speed data networks (10/21/2009)

More than 120 years after the discovery of the electromagnetic character of radiowaves by Heinrich Hertz, wireless data transmission dominates information technology. Higher and higher radio frequencies are applied to transmit more data. Some years ago, scientists found that light waves might also be used for radio transmission. So far, manufacture of the small antennas has required an enormous expenditure. KIT scientists have now succeeded in specifically and reproducibly manufacturing smallest optical nanoantennas from gold. ...> Full Article

New Singapore-France research alliance to develop state-of-the-art nanotechnologies (10/19/2009)

NTU, Singapore's leading science and technology university has formed a tripartite research alliance with France's National Center of Scientific Research and Thales the French electronics giant and a global technology leader. The alliance known as the CNRS International-NTU-Thales Research Alliance (CINTRA) will be setting up a joint laboratory at NTU. The CINTRA Laboratory aims to harness the latest in science and technology to develop innovations in nanotechnologies for future computing, sensing and communication applications. ...> Full Article

Tiny test tube experiment shows reaction of melting materials at the nano scale (10/18/2009)

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have conducted a basic chemistry experiment in what is perhaps the world's smallest test tube, measuring a thousandth the diameter of a human hair. ...> Full Article

Scientists to use artificial photosynthesis and nanotubes to generate hydrogen fuel with sunlight (10/18/2009)

A team of four chemists at the University of Rochester have begun work on a new kind of system to derive usable hydrogen fuel from water using only sunlight.The project has caught the attention of the US Department of Energy, which has just given the team nearly $1.7 million to pursue the design. ...> Full Article

Nanotech protection (10/17/2009)

Writing in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Nanotechnology, Canadian engineers suggest that research is needed into the risks associated with the growing field of nanotechnology manufacture so that appropriate protective equipment can be developed urgently. ...> Full Article

New nanotech sensor developed with medical, chemistry applications (10/16/2009)

Researchers at Oregon State University and other institutions have developed a new "plasmonic nanorod metamaterial" using extraordinarily tiny rods of gold that will have important applications in medical, biological and chemical sensors. ...> Full Article

24-carat gold 'snowflakes' improve graphene's electrical properties (10/15/2009)

In an effort to make graphene more useful in electronics applications, Kansas State University engineers made a golden discovery -- gold "snowflakes" on graphene. ...> Full Article

Growing geodesic carbon nanodomes (10/14/2009)

Tiny carbon islands bubble up at the center to form nanoscopic geodesic domes ...> Full Article

Researchers using nanotechnology in biofuel process to save money, environment (10/13/2009)

Dr. James Palmer, associate professor of chemical engineering at Louisiana Tech University, is collaborating with fellow professors Dr. Yuri Lvov, Dr. Dale Snow, and Dr. Hisham Hegab to capitalize on the environmental and financial benefits of "biofuels" by using nanotechnology to further improve the cellulosic ethanol processes. ...> Full Article

Engineers produce 'how-to' guide for controlling the structure of nanoparticles (10/8/2009)

Researchers from North Carolina State University have learned how to consistently create hollow, solid and amorphous nanoparticles of nickel phosphide, which has potential uses in the development of solar cells and as catalysts for removing sulfur from fuel. Their work can now serve as a "how-to" guide for other researchers to controllably create hollow, solid and amorphous nanoparticles -- in order to determine what special properties they may have. ...> Full Article

Silver nanoparticles give polymer solar cells a boost (10/7/2009)

Small bits of metal may play a new role in solar power. Researchers at Ohio State University are experimenting with polymer semiconductors that absorb the sun's energy and generate electricity. The goal: lighter, cheaper and more-flexible solar cells. They have now discovered that adding tiny bits of silver to the plastic boosts the materials' electrical current generation. ...> Full Article

Graphite mimics iron's magnetism (10/6/2009)

Researchers of Eindhoven University of Technology and the Radboud University Nijmegen in The Netherlands show for the first time why ordinary graphite is a permanent magnet at room temperature. The results are promising for new applications in nanotechnology, such as sensors and detectors. In particular graphite could be a promising candidate for a biosensor material. The results will appear online on Oct. 4 in Nature Physics. ...> Full Article

EPA announces research strategy to study nanomaterials (10/3/2009)

The US Environmental Protection Agency today outlined a new research strategy to better understand how manufactured nanomaterials may harm human health and the environment. The strategy outlines what research EPA will support over the next several years to generate information about the safe use of nanotechnology and products that contain nano-scale materials. ...> Full Article

Better control of carbon nanotube 'growth' promising for future electronics (10/2/2009)

Researchers have overcome a major obstacle in efforts to use tiny structures called carbon nanotubes to create a new class of electronics that would be faster and smaller than conventional silicon-based transistors. ...> Full Article

Step forward for nanotechnology: Controlled movement of molecules (10/1/2009)

Scientists in the United Kingdom are reporting an advance toward overcoming one of the key challenges in nanotechnology: Getting molecules to move quickly in a desired direction without help from outside forces. The study is scheduled for the October issue of ACS Nano, a monthly journal. ...> Full Article