Luna Innovations Inc. won a $3.9 million subcontract
from General Dynamics Information Technology
in support of the Air Force Research Laboratory
(AFRL) to continue work improving the performance
of nanomaterials for military applications.
In this program, Luna's product
development team will evaluate prototypes
using exclusive nanomaterials applied to real-world
conditions. Demonstrations of the commercial
viability of proposed nanotechnologies will
include diagnostics and therapeutics for military
medicine and alternative energy solutions
using organic solar cells.
"By manipulating the
properties of our proprietary nanomaterials,
we can tune the materials to fit desired applications,"
says Charles Gause, vice president of corporate
development at Luna Innovations. "To
date, we have produced 27 different species
of our Trimetasphere molecule and to maximize
the potential of this carbon nanomaterial
technology, proof-of-concept via application-specific
testing and prototyping is necessary."
Increasing efficiencies of
light conversion to electrical energy of organic
solar cells is required to make them commercially
viable. The company has made advances on a
key parameter, known as "open circuit
voltage," or Voc, that is essential for
improving organic solar cell efficiency. "Luna
has already increased Voc by 35 percent over
the standard reference devices," adds
Gause. "In this final phase of the program
we will continue working towards the achievement
of even higher efficiencies in order to make
organic solar cells commercially viable."
Trap and zap: Harnessing
the power of light to pattern surfaces on
the nanoscale
A
technique developed by Princeton engineers
allows the easy creation of nano-scale patterns
on uneven surfaces and without the normal
requirements of a vibration and oxygen-free
environment. The black bar next to the Princeton
shield is 2 microns long. Credit: Nature Nanotechnology/Princeton
University Princeton engineers have invented
an affordable technique that uses lasers and
plastic beads to create the ultrasmall features
that are needed for new generations of microchips.
The method, which creates
lines and dots that are 1,000 times narrower
than a human hair, may enable the creation
of biological computers as well as micromachines
with applications in medicine, optical communications,
computing and sensor technologies.
The technique, created by
mechanical and aerospace engineering assistant
professor Craig Arnold and graduate student
Euan McLeod, is similar to poising a magnifying
lens over a scrap of paper and angling the
lens to focus sunlight and ignite the paper.
In place of the lens, the researchers use
a microscopic plastic bead floating in water
to focus light from a powerful laser and burn
designs onto a blank microchip. Their findings
are reported online June 8 in the journal
Nature Nanotechnology.
While others have passed laser
light through various microscopic objects
to pattern surfaces, they have struggled to
maintain a consistent distance between the
bead and the surface of the microchip. If
this distance changes, the laser light is
focused in different ways across the surface
and the resulting pattern is inconsistent.
Arnold and McLeod established an innovative
way to ensure that the bead is always the
same distance from the microchip, which allows
them to draw on the surface with high levels
of precision.
"One of the biggest challenges
in probe-based nanopatterning is regulating
the distance between your probe and the surface
of the microchip," said Arnold. "We
used a special laser to trap the bead and
keep it close to the surface without touching
it."The key innovation is the use of
a second, highly focused laser, which points
directly down onto the bead. This intense
light exerts a physical force on the bead,
trapping it in the beam and pushing it down
toward the surface. The surface pushes back
with a constant force, and the bead settles
at a height that balances the opposing forces.
The original laser is then pulsed at the bead,
which focuses the light to "zap"
the surface directly below. By moving the
bead along a computer controlled trajectory
while repeating the laser pulse, a desired
pattern is created.
The technique offers particular
advantages on curved or irregular surfaces
because the bead tracks the surface, moving
up when there is a bump and dropping when
it moves over a dip. While other fabrication
techniques, such as electron-beam lithography,
can also be used to pattern uneven surfaces,
they are extremely expensive and must be performed
in a vibration- and oxygen-free environment.
The new Princeton technique can be performed
in a regular environment, making it accessible
for use with biological materials and other
systems that require the presence of oxygen.
"The technique provides
a very interesting new capability to expand
laser-assisted nanofabrication without involving
moving mechanical parts and related hardware
complications," said Costas Grigoropoulos,
mechanical engineering professor at University
of California-Berkeley. "I do expect
that this novel technique will advance nanopatterning
since it offers an elegant and highly effective
means for parallel, optically driven and controlled
nanofabrication."
In addition to burning away
parts of a chip, Arnold and McLeod's method
has the potential to deposit materials on
surfaces, rather like gold-plating. This could
provide a new means of creating three-dimensional
structures, including miniscule guides that
manipulate light and nanoscale electrical-mechanical
devices. Such devices have many potential
uses in ultrasmall sensor systems and low-power
computer processors.
"In the future, we imagine
the use of multiple beads of different shapes
and sizes -- in essence a nanopatterning toolkit
-- for researchers to pick and choose during
the course of fabrication," said Arnold.
He and McLeod are currently working to pattern
a surface using an array of many beads moving
in parallel, each trapped and controlled by
a different laser beam
Source: http://nanotechnology28.blogspot.com/2008/06/trap-and-zap-harnessing-power-of-light.html
Nanotechnology Institute
to undertake R&D
The Board of Investment (BOI)
has signed an agreement with the Sri Lanka
Institute of Nanotechnology to undertake research
and development in nanotechnology for value
addition and provide for export oriented manufacturing.
On behalf of the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology,
Ashroff Omar (Chief Executive Officer Brandix
Lanka) and Mr. A. N. R. Amaratunga (Secretary,
Ministry of Science and Technology) signed
the agreement.
This project is an investment
of US $ 4.2 million and is sponsored by National
Science Foundation, MAS Holdings, Dialog Telekom,
Hayleys PLC, Brandix Lanka and Loadstar. The
venture will be located at the Biyagama Export
Processing Zone. In a press release, the BOI
said six new agreements have been signed at
a total investment of US$ 15.5 million. They
include the agreement with New Medicare Hospitals
to establish a hospital with state of the
art medical equipment.
It will include two Operating
Theatres with the latest technology for Cardiology
and an Intensive Care/High Dependency Unit.
The hospital will be located in Colombo 10.
Resource Granite Lanka is a venture for mining
Granite rough blocks for the export market.
The project will export mined
Granite in Rough Form – Stage 2 to China
and Singapore. The investment is US $ 1.5
million and the venture will be located in
Dodampapitiya, Mathugama. MAS Active Trading
(Pvt) Ltd signed an agreement to set up an
Export Trading House. The venture will work
with all the manufactures of the MAS Active
to increase the competitiveness of the company.
It will be located in Colombo and create employment
oppotunities for a workforce of 660.
Watts Lanka (Pvt) Ltd is setting
up a project to manufacture solid tyres for
the export market for export to the US, Europe
and Middle East D K W – Aqua International
is setting up a venture to manufacture flexible
packaging for export. It will manufacture
flexible packing products such as Bags on
Roll, Fashion Bags and Lamination Film. Raw
materials used for the production will be
imported from the Middle East while the products
are expected to be exported to US, Europe
and Japan.
Source: http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080622/FinancialTimes/ft323.html
Innovation showcase
finalists named
A device that removes arsenic
from groundwater will compete against a nanotechnology-based
drug delivery system and eight other novel
technology innovations at the 2008 ASME Innovation
Showcase (ASME IShow) to be held Oct. 31,
in Boston.
ASME is sponsor of ASME IShow,
which recognizes inventive skill on the part
of engineering students who will become tomorrow’s
technical innovators and entrepreneurs. More
than a design contest, the Innovation Showcase
– in its second year – will focus
on the potential for new inventions to impact
commercial markets.
The ten contestants in the
2008 Innovation Showcase are Baylor University
(a technology that develops particle board
and other products from coconuts), Johns Hopkins
University (a vestibular system for audiologists
and other health providers), Johns Hopkins
Institute (a gastroenterological device that
eases abdominal surgery), Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (a robot that aids in medical
biopsies), Pennsylvania State University (a
communications system that links doctors and
other medical providers to people suffering
illness in developing countries), Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute (mine detection device),
University of California at Berkeley (solar
water heater and arsenic remediation device),
University of California at San Francisco
(nanotechnology-based drug delivery system),
and Virginia Military Institute (low-frequency
seismic detector).
In addition to demonstrating
technology capabilities, the contestants will
be required to submit business plans including
market analysis and other criteria. The judging
panel at IShow will include successful innovators,
venture capitalists, and intellectual property
specialists. In the time leading up to the
competition, the teams will be matched with
entrepreneurs and mentors, who will assist
the students in refining the products as well
as developing a strategic business plan. Awards
will be presented at the 2008 ASME International
Mechanical Engineering Congress, which will
be held Oct. 31 through Nov. 6 at the Sheraton
Boston.
ASME has developed ASME IShow
in collaboration with the National Collegiate
Inventors and Innovators Alliance and Idea
to Product competitions. ASME IShow aims to
nurture a new generation of innovators, while
supporting inventive undergraduate projects,
student programs, and faculty curriculum development.
Founded in 1880 as the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a
not-for-profit professional organization promoting
the art, science and practice of mechanical
and multidisciplinary engineering and allied
sciences. ASME develops codes and standards
that enhance public safety, and provides lifelong
learning and technical exchange opportunities
benefiting the engineering and technology
community.
Source: http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=6132.php
New method for successful
bone tissue engineering wins Kaye Award for
Hebrew U. researcher
A new and better method for
accelerating bone formation in cases of orthopedic
injuries and conditions, such as osteoporosis,
fractures and disc disorders, has been developed
by Nadav Kimelman at the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem's Faculty of Dental Medicine.
The method involves increasing oxygen availability
in scaffolds in order to accelerate bone formation.
The lack of such oxygen supply constitutes
a serious impairment to successful tissue
engineering. For his work, Kimelman, who is
a doctoral student under Prof. Dan Gazit,
was chosen as one of the winners of a Kaye
Innovation Award, which was presented on June
4 during the Hebrew University's 71st meeting
of the Board of Governors.
The term 'tissue engineering'
describes the development of biological replacements
for damaged tissues or organs. Biological
replacements could act as a solution for the
shortage in organ donations and also serve
as efficient substitutes for synthetic implants
that usually fail in the long run. For successful
engineering of an organ or tissue, the appropriate
cells, biological cues and a three-dimensional
scaffold should be combined. This is also
the case for bone tissue engineering in which
cells, genes and scaffolds are combined to
heal complex fractures that cannot be repaired
otherwise.
One of the major hurdles in
successful tissue engineering, however, is
the lack of oxygen supply to the newly forming
tissue – resulting in cell death and
less efficient tissue formation. Kimelman
decided to overcome this fundamental hurdle
by utilizing synthetic oxygen carriers as
a way to increase oxygen availability in scaffolds.
To validate their approach, they combined
adult stem cells, programmed to generate bone
tissue formation, with injectable scaffolds
(hydrogels) containing synthetic oxygen carriers.
They then tested the survival of the cells
and the amount of bone that was generated.
The results demonstrated significant
elevated bone formation and cell survival
in the hydrogels supplemented with synthetic
oxygen carriers compared to the control groups.
They even found that the addition of oxygen
carriers also led to more rapid bone formation
than the controls. His results show, for the
first time, that synthetic oxygen carriers
supplementation enhances and accelerates engineered
bone formation, which he believes is achieved
by elevating cell survival.
According to Kimelman, however,
the results could pave the way for novel therapeutic
strategies not only in orthopedics, but also
in other medical applications such as cardiology
and neurosurgery. The Kaye Innovation Awards
have been given annually since 1994. Isaac
Kaye of England, a prominent industrialist
in the pharmaceutical industry, established
the awards to encourage faculty, staff and
students of the Hebrew University to develop
innovative methods and inventions with good
commercial potential which would benefit the
university and society
Source: http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=6134.php
Using Nanotechnology
to Kill Cancer
Fighting cancer could someday
involve “cooking” cancer cells.
Biomedical scientists at University
of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center
and nanotechnology experts from UT Dallas
are testing a new way to kill cancer cells.
The procedure attaches cancer-seeking antibodies
to tiny carbon tubes that heat up when they’re
exposed to near-infrared light.
The researchers used monoclonal
antibodies – biological molecules that
bind to cancer cells – to target specific
sites on lymphoma cells to coat tiny structures
called carbon nanotubes. These are very small
cylinders of graphite carbon that heat up
when exposed to near-infrared light. The light
is invisible to the human eye, and is used
in TV remote controls to switch channels and
is detected by night-vision goggles.
In cultures of cancerous lymphoma
cells, the study shows the antibody-coated
nanotubes attached to the cells’ surfaces.
When the targeted cells were exposed to near-infrared
light, the nanotubes heated up, generating
enough heat to basically “cook”
the cells and kill them.
“Demonstrating this
specific killing was the objective of this
study,” senior author, Dr. Ellen Vitetta,
UT Southwestern, was quoted as saying. “We
have worked with targeted therapies for many
years, and even when this degree of specificity
can be demonstrated in a laboratory dish,
there are many hurdles to translating these
new therapies into clinical studies. We’re
just beginning to test this in mice, and although
there is no guarantee it will work, we are
optimistic.”
Biomedical applications of
nanoparticles are getting more attention from
scientists. However, there are still challenges
to successfully developing nanomedical reagents,
including the potential that a new nanomaterial
may damage healthy cells and organisms. More
research is needed to determine whether the
reagents are inherently toxic.
Source: http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=19059
Understanding the
Nature of Glass
Imagine
a plane that has wings made out of glass.
Thanks to a major breakthrough in understanding
the nature of glass by scientists at the University
of Bristol, this has just become a possibility.
Despite its solid appearance,
glass is actually a ‘jammed’ state
of matter that moves very slowly. Like cars
in a traffic jam, atoms in a glass can’t
reach their destination because the route
is blocked by their neighbours, so it never
quite becomes a ‘proper’ solid.
For more than 50 years most
scientists have tried to understand just what
glass is. Work so far has concentrated on
trying to understand the traffic jam, but
now Dr Paddy Royall from the University of
Bristol, with colleagues in Canberra and Tokyo,
has shown that the problem really lies with
the destination, not with the traffic jam.
Publishing today (22 June
2008) in Nature Materials, the team has revealed
that glass ‘fails’ to be a solid
due to the special atomic structures that
form in a glass when it cools (ie, when the
atoms arrive at their destination).
Royall explained: “Some
materials crystallize as they cool, arranging
their atoms into a highly regular pattern
called a lattice. But although glass ‘wants’
to be a crystal, as it cools the atoms become
jammed in a nearly random arrangement, preventing
it from forming a regular lattice."Back
in the 1950s, Sir Charles Frank in the Physics
Department at Bristol University suggested
that the arrangement of the ‘jam’
should form what is known as an icosahedron,
but at the time he was unable to provide experimental
proof. We set out to see if he was right.”
The problem is you can’t
watch what happens to atoms as they cool because
they are just too small. So using special
particles called colloids that mimic atoms,
but are just large enough to be visible using
state-of-the-art microscopy, Royall cooled
some down and watched what happened.What he
found was that the gel these particles formed
also ‘wants’ to be a crystal,
but it fails to become one due to the formation
of icosahedra-like structures – exactly
as Frank had predicted 50 years ago. It is
the formation of these structures that underlie
jammed materials and explains why a glass
is a glass and not a liquid – or a solid.
Knowing the structure formed
by atoms as a glass cools represents a major
breakthrough in our understanding of meta-stable
materials and will allow further development
of new materials such as metallic glasses.
Metals normally crystallize when they cool,
unfortunately stress builds up along the boundaries
between crystals, which leads to metal failure.
For example, the world’s first jetliner,
the British built De Havilland Comet, fell
out of the sky due to metal failure. If a
metal could be made to cool with the same
internal structure as a glass and without
crystal grain boundaries, it would be less
likely to fail. Metallic glasses could be
suitable for a whole range of products that
need to be flexible such as aircraft wings,
golf clubs and engine parts.
Source” http://www.azonano.com/news.asp?newsID=6637
State-of-the-Art Lecture: Aptomers
Of Nanotechnology - Reported From The Annual
Meeting Of The American Urological Association
Dr. Omid Farokhzad from Harvard
addressed nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is
the assembly of particles < 100nm. In 2004
the NCI formed the Alliance for Nanotech,
which was followed by large government investments
in this field. Nanotechnology can be used
across the spectrum of medicine to include
prevention, diagnostics and therapeutics.
Nano-drugs are in the form of liposomes, polymeric
platforms and other platforms. Polymer nanoparticles
or liposome-polymers have a core that encapsulates
a drug to protect it from the immune system.
On the surface are ligands to recognize the
target tissue. For example, perhaps siRNA
could be delivered to tissues using nanoparticles.
Nanoparticles leave the vascular space to
deliver drugs to the target. The drug can
then be released in cells at higher concentrations
than via system means.
The complexity of designing,
developing and manufacturing of nanoparticles
is immense. There are 18 naked ligands that
are presently approved, but no nanoparticle
conjugates are presently approved. He showed
examples of targeting approaches with aptamers.
A PSMA aptamer was developed as a bioconjugate
that could mark specific cells. They went
on to alter the amount of ligand on the surface
and found that increased targeting ligand
results in greater recognition by the immune
system. Thus ligand density is critical to
nanoparticle formulation. Aptamers can be
delivered to prostate cancer cells and they
become internalized in 30 minutes time. He
showed an example of combining therapeutic
and imaging particles in one complex with
quantum dot expression providing measurable
information on drug delivery. He reports that
a first test of therapy will be in HRPC patients
in 2009.
Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/112356.php
Nanotechnology breakthrough:
a carbon nanotube so small that it has the
highest curvature on earth
A chemistry professor in the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and his
graduate students have published new results
in Nature Nanotechnology showing how they
isolated a particular type of carbon nanotube
from a sample and manipulated it in a way
that could have broad applicability in drug
and gene delivery, electronic devices, and
nanotechnology research.
Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos
and his graduate students found a way for
a biological molecule, a form of vitamin B2,
to wrap around a single-walled carbon nanotube
– a tube so small that it has the highest
curvature on earth. Wrapping a carbon nanotube
was a difficult achievement and instrumental
to their research, since it was a step that
eventually enabled them to isolate a particular
type of nanotube from a sample that contained
50 different kinds.
Papadimitrakopoulos has spent
seven years investigating how to efficiently
separate the various nanotubes in a sample
into like types. Nanotubes that are alike
can be interlocked to create a material that
is extremely strong, even if each nanotube
is as small as one micron. Homogenous nanotubes
also have the same electrical and optical
properties, and they form a material that
is extremely pure. The research opens the
possibility of wrapping nanotubes with proteins
or other molecules, which would be useful
in a variety of applications.
“We have learned how
to manipulate this molecule,” says Papadimitrakopoulos.
The lead author of the Nature
Nanotechnology paper is Sang-Young Ju, a polymer
science Ph.D. candidate in his fifth year
of study. Other authors are Jonathan Doll,
a fourth-year polymer science Ph.D. student,
and Ity Sharma, a second-year chemistry Ph.D.
candidate. Two undergraduates, William Kopcha,
CLAS ’08, a chemistry major, and Christopher
Badalucco, a junior majoring in physiology
and neurobiology, also were involved in the
research. The researchers worked with single-walled
carbon nanotubes formed from graphene. If
you drag a pencil across paper, Papadimitrakopoulos
says, you leave thousands of graphene “seeds”
behind, a deposit from the friction of the
graphite pencil tip against the paper.
At the molecular level, graphene
seeds look like a honeycomb. If you form these
graphene sheets into a tube, they can become
the basis of single-walled carbon nanotubes.
Getting another material to
wrap around them was the next challenge.
The researchers discovered
that the vitamin B2 molecule stitches itself
into a ribbon, using soft hydrogen bonds,
and seamlessly wraps itself around the carbon
nanotube. The ribbon, in a sense, acted as
a detergent, dispersing the oil-loving nanotube
in water.
“Nobody has shown this
before,” says Papadimitrakopoulos.
By introducing a second detergent,
they managed to destabilize the ribbon, breaking
its hydrogen bonds and leaving the second
detergent in its place. Varying the concentration
of the second detergent allowed them to separate
nanotubes that had a given chirality, or pitch.
Identifying carbon nanotubes of like chirality,
or pitch, has important implications. If the
chirality is the same, the nanotubes have
the potential to interlock themselves in a
hexagonal pattern and create an extremely
strong material, even if the nanotubes are
not very long.
Papadimitrakopoulos says that
this is an important step toward minimizing
the potential negative health impact of carbon
nanotubes, which recently were associated
with asbestos-like contamination in the lung
linings of laboratory animals. In that recent
study, it was shown that carbon nanotubes
larger than 20 microns behaved like asbestos,
while those smaller than 20 microns could
be cleared out of the lungs, much like pollen.
The carbon nanotubes that his research group
works on are far smaller, at approximately
one-micron in length. Carbon nanotubes began
to receive widespread attention in 1991, but
it is only in the past 10 years or so that
research on their applications has heated
up.
Nanotubes are small, strong,
and special because of their potential for
use in drug delivery and electronics applications.
Some have described carbon nanotubes as the
reigning celebrities of the advanced materials
world. Papadimitrakopoulos describes them
as the “Cinderella” molecules
of nanotechnology. Hydrocarbons can be burned
and still be used to make strong materials,
he notes. Carbon is inexpensive, and carbon
nanotubes can transform products, making stronger
tennis rackets or bullet-proof vests, for
example.
The Air Force, which funds
his research, is interested in advanced materials
that are light, strong, and can withstand
high temperatures, he says. In the future,
he predicts, planes will be made from carbon
nano-fibers. Papadimitrakopoulos is a chemistry
professor in CLAS, but his work is interdisciplinary,
involving physics as well. He also serves
as the associate director of the Institute
of Materials Science and is a member of the
Polymer Program. Papadimitrakopoulos says
his research could not have proceeded without
the use of a high resolution transmission
electron microscope, which allowed his research
group to confirm and verify visually that
the B2 molecule was wrapping around the carbon
nanotube.
Source: http://nanotechnologyfan.com/2008/06/23/nanotechnology-breakthrough-a-carbon-nanotube-so-small-that-it-has-the-highest-curvature-on-earth/
Tethered molecules
act as light-driven reversible nanoswitches
Our ability to see is
based on molecules in the eye that flip from
one conformation to another when exposed to
visible light. Now, a new technique for attaching
light-sensitive organic molecules to metal surfaces
allows the molecules to be switched between
two different configurations in response to
exposure to different wavelengths of light.
Because the configuration changes are reversible
and can be controlled without direct contact,
this technique could enable applications that
can be controlled at the molecular scale.
The technology has been suggested
as a possible basis for molecular motors,
artificial muscles, and molecular electronics.
The research results, obtained by a team led
by Paul S. Weiss, distinguished professor
of chemistry and physics at Penn State University
and James M. Tour, Chao professor of chemistry
at Rice University, are reported in the June
2008 issue of the journal Nano Letters.
Illustration of the light-activated
switch made by the Paul Weiss lab at Penn
State. A bridge within the azobenzene molecule,
made by two double-bonded nitrogen atoms,
each also bound to a benzene ring, reconfigures
when the molecule absorbs light. The two benzene
rings move to the same side of the molecule
(cis configuration) when exposed to ultraviolet
light, and to opposite sides (trans configuration)
when exposed to visible light. (Image: Paul
Weiss lab, Penn State)
Until now, progress was impeded
because, when such molecules were attached
to surfaces, they no longer could be switched
back and forth, as they could be when they
were in solution. The new technique uses a
change in the shape of an azobenzene molecule
in response to light to provide two different
states. The azobenzene molecule consists of
a bridge of two nitrogen atoms attached to
one another by a double bond, with each nitrogen
atom also bound to a benzene ring. The two
benzene rings can be on the same side of the
molecule (cis configuration) or on opposite
sides (trans configuration). When the molecule
absorbs energy, in the form of light, it can
change between cis and trans configurations
in a process called photoisomerization. "This
mechanism is essentially the same that we
use in our eyes for vision," said Weiss.
"The molecule responds to light by making
a change that can be harnessed. In the eye,
the change causes a neural impulse."
The photoisomerization of
azobenzene is understood well in solution,
but the molecule must be attached to a surface
in order to provide a useful molecular switch
or component of a motor. Previous attempts
to accomplish the switching with attached
molecules were unsuccessful, either due to
interactions between the molecule and the
surface to which it was attached or to interferences
between adjacent molecules. "To overcome
the difficulty of reversible photoisomerization
of molecules on surfaces, we used a carefully
designed 'tether' to isolate the functional
molecules from one another and from the metal
surface," said Weiss. "We isolated
the tethered molecules in the surrounding
matrix on a self-assembled monolayer and confirmed
this isolation using molecular-resolution
scanning tunneling microscopy."
When the tethered molecules
were exposed to ultraviolet light in a specially
built scanning tunneling microscope, they
switched from the trans to the more-compact
cis state. This switch was confirmed by an
apparent decrease in height of the molecule
above the surrounding surface. The researchers
further found that exposure to visible light
caused a transition back to the more-extended
trans state.
Weiss points out that this
research advance is just the first step in
designing a device that can be driven or actuated
by such molecular change. In order to perform
useful work as a switch or nanoscale-drive
motor, it will be necessary to coordinate
the motion of multiple molecules and to build
moving parts into some sort of assembly. According
to Weiss, further research by the team already
has found some surprises when the molecules
are lined up to work in unison, like a chorus
line
Source:
http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=6150.php
Joint nanotechnology
forum to focus on electronics, photonics,
renewable energy
Applications of nanotechnology
to electronics, photonics and renewable energy
will be the focus of a joint forum to be held
from August 10 to 14, 2009 at McMaster University
in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. An innovation
workshop will also be presented in conjunction
with the event.
The 4th Nano and Giga Challenges
Symposium and Summer School (NGC2009) and
the 14th Canadian Semiconductor Technology
Conference (CSTC2009) will bring together
two well-established conference series to
address grand challenges in nanotechnology.
The forum is co-chaired by professors Peter
Mascher and John Preston of the Faculty of
Engineering at McMaster University, Stephen
Goodnick, associate vice-president of Arizona
State University, and Anatoli Korkin, president
of Nano and Giga Solutions, Inc.
More than 500 delegates from
over 40 countries are expected to participate.
Some 60 renowned technical leaders from top
U.S., Canadian and international research
centers have already accepted invitations
to present their research. Among them are
leading scientists from Corning, IBM T.J.
Watson Research Center, Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory,
McGill University, McMaster University, National
Renewable Energy Laboratory, Purdue University,
Technical University Munich, University of
Cambridge, University of Hong Kong, University
of Manchester, University of Tokyo and many
other leading national, academic and industrial
research centers.
"The natural synergy
of scientific and technological problems of
electronics, photonics and renewable energy
based on commonly used materials, such as
semiconductors, ceramics and organic polymers
will stimulate cross-disciplinary exchanges
of ideas and potential solutions," said
Dr. Mascher. "Technology and business
leaders will be able to accelerate the transfer
of ideas from 'lab to fab' and to use the
meeting as a convenient way to review new
developments and innovations."
The conferences will include
tutorial lectures, plenary reviews, group
sessions, exhibitions, and satellite workshops.
A diversified social program will provide
multiple opportunities for information exchange
and networking at McMaster University, which
borders on Lake Ontario, the Royal Botanical
Gardens and the Niagara Escarpment.
Innovation at the Edges, a
summit workshop for investors and entrepreneurs
looking to develop breakthrough technologies,
will be led by Rafik Loutfy, director of the
Xerox Centre for Engineering Entrepreneurship
and Innovation at McMaster University and
Raouf Loutfy, President of MERC Corporation
in Arizona. The workshop will discuss opportunities
to commercialize technology, emerging trends
and future research directions, moving nanotechnology
innovation from the research lab to market,
and moving nanotechnology across borders.
Source:
http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=6138.php
Environmental TEM
for Performing Chemical Research at the Atomic
Level
FEI Company, a leading provider
of high-resolution imaging and analysis systems,
today announced the release of the Titan™
80-300 environmental transmission electron
microscope (ETEM). The Titan ETEM is the premier
solution for chemical research at the atomic
scale, and is a significant advance for studying
materials and processes of importance in the
fields of energy and environment. The ETEM
is the newest member of FEI’s Titan
TEM family, the world’s most powerful
commercially-available microscopes for direct
observation with sub-Ångstrom resolution.
“The ETEM lets us look
directly at the fundamental, atomic scale
mechanisms of our catalytic processes,”
said Dr. Alfons M. Molenbroek, head of the
Characterization Department, R&D Division,
Haldor Topsoe, of Lyngby, Denmark, one of
the world’s leading suppliers of heterogeneous
catalysts and catalytic processes, and an
early adopter of ETEM technology for industrial
research. “Heterogeneous catalysts are
typically solid particles that catalyze reactions
between gas or liquid phase reactants. Conventional
TEM can give us high-resolution images of
the particles in a vacuum, but only ETEM lets
us look at the catalytic process itself, with
the particle immersed in a gaseous environment.
We expect to achieve dramatic advances in
our fundamental understanding of our core
catalyst technologies.”
The Titan ETEM’s ability
to image the sample in a controlled gaseous
environment allows scientists to investigate
the fundamental atomic mechanisms of gas-solid
reactions, such as carbon nanotube growth,
crystal nucleation and growth, heterogeneous
catalysis and many other economically-significant
processes. Catalysts, for instance, are important
in production of fuels, reduction of environmentally-harmful
combustion products, and generally throughout
the chemical industry for applications concerning
energy and the environment.
FEI’s Dominique Hubert,
vice president and general manager, Research
Division, adds, “The Titan is the first
and only ETEM solution for studying nanoscale
processes with atomic detail in a spherical
aberration-corrected S/TEM. Users may be chemists,
concerned with the reaction itself; materials
scientists, interested in the effects of a
gaseous environment; or they may be involved
in a myriad other disciplines. The world looks
to FEI as the technological leader across
the board in electron microscope technologies
that enable groundbreaking discoveries. The
new Titan ETEM is just one example of FEI’s
ongoing commitment to deliver on this promise,
and to connect to societal problem-driven
research: harnessing materials for energy
and sustainability.”
At the core of Titan ETEM’s
capabilities is its ability to deliver high-resolution
imaging with gas pressures in the sample chamber
as high as a few percent of atmospheric pressure.
Conventional TEMs require high-vacuum conditions
with pressure levels a thousand to a million
times lower. A gas controller permits precise
control of composition as well as pressure.
Heating and cooling holders provide control
over a range of temperatures. The ability
to select electron beam voltages anywhere
between 80 and 300 kilovolts (kV) accommodates
a wide range of material and imaging conditions.
As a member of the Titan family, the Titan
ETEM benefits from all of the extraordinary
technological developments that have made
it the world’s most powerful TEM, and
the first choice of premier researchers and
institutions.
Source: http://www.azonano.com/news.asp?newsID=6641
