Graphene research on the cusp of new energy capabilities (Phys. org) There remains a lot to learn on the frontiers of solar power research particularly
Under the guidance of Canada Research Chair in Materials science with Synchrotron radiation Dr. Alexander Moewes University of Saskatchewan researcher Adrian Hunt spent his Phd investigating graphene oxide a cutting-edge material that he hopes will shape the future
To understand graphene oxide it is best to start with pure graphene which is a single-layer sheet of carbon atoms in a honeycomb lattice that was made first in 2004 by Andre Geim
All of this makes graphene a great candidate for solar cells. In particular its transparency and conductivity mean that it solves two problems of solar cells:
whereas graphene could be very cheap. Carbon is said abundant Hunt. Although graphene is a great conductor it is not very good at collecting the electrical current produced inside the solar cell
which is why researchers like Hunt are investigating ways to modify graphene to make it more useful.
Graphene oxide the focus of Hunt's Phd work has forced oxygen into the carbon lattice which makes it much less conductive but more transparent and a better charge collector.
Whether or not it will solve the solar panel problem is yet to be seen and researchers in the field are building up their understanding of how the new material works.
and SGM beamlines at the Canadian Light source as well as a Beamline 8. 0. 1 at the Advanced Light source Hunt set out to learn more about how oxide groups attached to the graphene lattice changed it
and how in particular they interacted with charge-carrying graphene atoms. Graphene oxide is fairly chaotic. You don't get a nice simple structure that you can model really easily but
I wanted to model graphene oxide and understand the interplay of these parts. Previous models had seemed simplistic to Hunt
and he wanted a model that would reflect graphene oxide's true complexity. Each different part of the graphene oxide has a unique electronic signature.
Using the synchrotron Hunt could measure where electrons were on the graphene and how the different oxide groups modified that.
He showed that previous models were incorrect which he hopes will help improve understanding of the effects of small shifts in oxidization.
Moreover he studied how graphene oxide decays. Some of the oxide groups are not stable and can group together to tear the lattice;
others can react to make water. If graphene oxide device has water in it and it is heated up the water can actually burn the graphene oxide and produce carbon dioxide.
It's a pitfall that could be important to understand in the development of long-lasting solar cells where sun could provide risky heat into the equation.
More research like this will be the key to harnessing graphene for solar power as Hunt explains.
There's this complicated chain of interreactions that can happen over time and each one of those steps needs to be addressed
Super-stretchable yarn is made of graphene More information: Hunt Adrian Ernst Z. Kurmaev and Alex Moewes.
A Re evaluation of How Functional Groups Modify the Electronic Structure of Graphene oxide. Advanced Materials (2014.
Monolayer materials may make it possible. These atom-thin sheets including the famed super material graphene feature exceptional and untapped mechanical and electronic properties.
But to fully exploit these atomically tailored wonder materials scientists must pry free the secrets of how
Fortunately researchers have pinpointed now the breaking mechanism of several monolayer materials hundreds of times stronger than steel with exotic properties that could revolutionize everything from armor to electronics.
Surprisingly the phenomenon persisted across several different materials with disparate electronic properties suggesting that monolayers may have intrinsic instabilities to be either overcome or exploited.
The results were published in the journal Physical Review B. Our calculations exposed these monolayer materials'fundamental shifts in structure
The team virtually examined this exotic phase transition in graphene boron nitride molybdenum disulfide and graphane all promising monolayer materials.
Monolayer materials experience strain on atomic scales demanding different investigative expertise than that of the average demolition crew.
Without the highly parallel supercomputing resources and expertise at Brookhaven it would have been nearly impossible to pinpoint this transition in strained monolayers.
Monolayer materials it turns out play by very different rules. Within the honeycomb-like lattices of monolayers like graphene boron nitride and graphane the atoms rapidly vibrate in place.
Different vibrational states which dictate many of the mechanical properties of the material are called modes.
As the perfect hexagonal structures of such monolayers are strained they enter a subtle soft mode the vibrating atoms slip free of their original configurations
The researchers found that this vibrational soft mode caused lingering unstable distortions in most of the known monolayer materials.
In the case of graphene boron nitride and graphane the backbone of the perfect crystalline lattice distorted toward isolated hexagonal rings.
The soft mode distortion ended up breaking graphene boron nitride and molybdenum disulfide. As the monolayers were strained the energetic cost of changing the bond lengths became significantly weaker in other words under enough stress the emergent soft mode encourages the atoms to rearrange themselves into unstable configurations.
This in turn dictates how one might control that strain and tune monolayer performance. Our work demonstrates that the soft mode failure mechanism is not unique to graphene
and suggests it might be an intrinsic feature of monolayer materials Isaacs said. Armed with this knowledge researchers may now be able to figure out how to delay the onset of the newly characterized instabilities
and improve the strength of existing monolayers. Beyond that scientists may even be able to engineer new ultra-strong materials that anticipate
and overcome the soft mode weakness. Beyond the thrill of the discovery this work is immediately useful to a large community of researchers excited to learn about
and exploit graphene and its cousins Isaacs said. For example we've been working with Columbia experimentalists who use a technique called'nanoindentation'to experimentally measure some of
what we simulated. Explore further: Engineers envision an electronic switch just three atoms thick More information:
Eric B. Isaacs and Chris A. Marianetti. Ideal strength and phonon instability of strained monolayer materials.
Phys. Rev. B 89 184111#Published 28 may 2014. journals. aps. org/prb/abstract/3/Physrevb. 89.18411 1
#Shrinky Dinks close the gap for nanowires How do you put a puzzle together when the pieces are too tiny to pick up?
to close the gap between nanowires in an array to make them useful for high-performance electronics applications.
Nanowires are extremely fast, efficient semiconductors, but to be useful for electronics applications, they need to be packed together in dense arrays.
Researchers have struggled to find a way to put large numbers of nanowires together so that they are aligned in the same direction and only one layer thick."
"Chemists have done already a brilliant job in making nanowires exhibit very high performance. We just don't have a way to put them into a material that we can handle,
people can make nanowires and nanotubes using any method they like and use the shrinking action to compact them into a higher density."
"The researchers place the nanowires on the Shrinky Dinks plastic as they would for any other substrate,
but then shrink it to bring the wires much closer together. This allows them to create very dense arrays of nanowires in a simple, flexible and very controllable way.
The shrinking method has added the bonus of bringing the nanowires into alignment as they increase in density.
Nam's group demonstrated how even wires more than 30 degrees off-kilter can be brought into perfect alignment with their neighbors after shrinking."
Nam first had the idea for using Shrinky Dinks plastic to assemble nanomaterials after seeing a microfluidics device that used channels made of shrinking plastic.
and the low cost of plastic could have a huge impact on nanowire assembly and processing for applications."
"I'm interested in this concept of synthesizing new materials that are assembled from nanoscale building blocks, "Nam said."
For example, experiments have shown that film made of packed nanowires has properties that differ quite a bit from a crystal thin film."
made of densely packed nanowires, that could harvest energy from light much more efficiently than traditional thin-film solar cells s
#Eco-friendly versatile nanocapsules developed The Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has announced that the Centre for Self-assembly
and Complexity have succeeded in developing a new technology that introduces metal nanoparticles on the surface of polymer nanocapsules made of cucurbit 6 uril.
The researchers have found that using polymer nanocapsules made of cucurbit 6 uril and metal salts can serve as a versatile platform where equal sized metal nanoparticles can be distributed evenly on the surface of the polymer nanocapsules.
Cucurbit 6 uril has properties which strongly and selectively recognize organic and inorganic chemical species. This makes it possible to use it as a protecting agent
which can stabilize metal nanoparticles by preventing them from clustering together. The metal nanoparticle-decorated polymer nanocapsules exhibit the following properties in water:
high stability for up to 6 months; high dispersibility; excellent catalytic activity; and reusability in carbon-carbon and carbon-nitrogen bond-forming reactions with 100%conversion efficiency.
Even though metal nanoparticles are used variously in industrial, pharmaceutical and agricultural (fertilizer) applications as a catalyst, toxic liquids such as toluene and hexane are used usually as solvents in the carbon-carbon
and carbon-nitrogen bond-forming reactions. These toxic liquid solvents raise many issues for concern including environmental pollution, high cost of disposal, health problems and poisoning during the disposal process.
However, this new technology is able to replace those toxic liquids as it allows carbon-carbon and carbon-nitrogen bond-formation with the use of metal nanoparticles as a catalyst
"The research results demonstrated that this new technology shows high stability, dispersibility, catalytic activity, and reusability in water, which other existing metal nanoparticles on solid supports have not been able to do,
"says Kimoon Kim, director of the Center for Self-assembly and Complexity at IBS.""It is important as it presents new possible applications in green solvents or bioimaging and nanomedicine fields
#MEMS nanoinjector for genetic modification of cells The ability to transfer a gene or DNA sequence from one animal into the genome of another plays a critical role in a wide range of medical researchncluding cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and diabetes.
Self Cleaning Clothing With Hydrophobic Nanotechnology as the Kickstarter says might be a vague enough claim to cause some concern
I'd rather just use nanotech to keep the body i have right now alive for eternity!!!
Nanoengineers at the University of California, San diego have made a splash in trying to overcome this obstacle.
form new nanocrystals that are attached loosely to the seed surface. Fluids, used in the process, shear the weakly tethered new crystals from the seed crystal surface allowing the surfaces to be further available for a repeat process
#Researchers Reveal Why Black Phosphorus May Surpass Graphene In a newly published study, researchers from the Pohang University of Science and Technology detail how they were able to turn black phosphorus into a superior conductor that can be mass produced for electronic and optoelectronics devices.
a layered form of carbon atoms constructed to resemble honeycomb, called graphene. Graphene was heralded globally as a wonder-material thanks to the work of two British scientists who won the Nobel prize for Physics for their research on it.
Graphene is extremely thin and has remarkable attributes. It is stronger than steel yet many times lighter
more conductive than copper and more flexible than rubber. All these properties combined make it a tremendous conductor of heat and electricity.
graphene has no band gap. Stepping stones to a Unique Statea material band gap is fundamental to determining its electrical conductivity.
Graphene has a band gap of zero in its natural state, however, and so acts like a conductor;
Like graphene, BP is a semiconductor and also cheap to mass produce. The one big difference between the two is BP natural band gap
therefore we tuned BP band gap to resemble the natural state of graphene, a unique state of matter that is different from conventional semiconductors. he potential for this new improved form of black phosphorus is beyond anything the Korean team hoped for,
Instead, silicon nanopillars are arranged precisely into a honeycomb pattern to create a etasurfacethat can control the paths and properties of passing light waves.
a microdevices engineer at JPL and co-author of a new Nature Nanotechnology study describing the devices. urrently,
The device nanofabrication was performed in the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech. JPL is a division of Caltech.
Dielectric metasurfaces for complete control of phase and polarization with subwavelength spatial resolution and high transmission, Nature Nanotechnology (2015;
#Bioadhesive Nanoparticles Help Protect Your Skin From the Sun Dermatologists from Yale university have developed a new sunscreen made with bioadhesive nanoparticles that doesn penetrate the skin,
made with bioadhesive nanoparticles, that stays on the surface of the skin. Results of the research will appear in the September 28 online edition of the journal Nature Materials. e found that
and our nanoparticles are so adhesive that they don even go into hair follicles, which are relatively open. sing mouse models,
the researchers developed a nanoparticle with a surface coating rich in aldehyde groups, which stick tenaciously to the outer skin layer.
The nanoparticle hydrophilic layer essentially locks in the active ingredient, a hydrophobic chemical called padimate O. Some sunscreen solutions that use larger particles of inorganic compounds, such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide,
By using a nanoparticle to encase padimate O, an organic chemical used in many commercial sunscreens,
Until now, the only experimental TFET to meet the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) goal of average subthreshold swing below 60 millivolts per decade over four decades of current was a transistor that used nanowires.
#Graphene 3d files patent for low-cost, toxic-free process for producing high grade graphene for 3d printing Sep 29,
2015 By Kiragraphene 3d Lab has filed a non-provisionary patent pertaining to a new method for the preparation and separation of atomic layers of graphene nanoplatlets (GNP),
which would dramatically increase the potential for large scale production of high grade graphene, one of the most groundbreaking and highly-sought out materials in 3d printing manufacturing.
and separating GNP. 3d printed graphene battery by Graphene 3d Labdiscovered in 2004, graphene is considered a sort of oly grailin 3d printing and manufacturing materials.
Made from carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal sheet only one atom thick, graphene offers extraordinary properties:
it has the highest strength of any isolated material (200x stronger than steel), is very light and flexible, an efficient conductor of heat and electricity,
however, the manufacture of high quality graphene has been restricted to manually intensive, high-energy and toxic chemical processes, limiting its use to certain R&d labs. Graphene 3d new process,
however, promises to make the material more accessible and affordable for mainstream manufacturers, including 3d printing services.
The honeycomb structure of graphene"The business implications associated with this filing are significant and near term.
The extraordinary qualities of graphene has positioned it as one of the most sought after materials in research and development
since its discovery in 2004,"said Elena Polyakova, Co-Chief executive officer of Graphene 3d Lab."However up to now,
and to others who will now utilize graphene into mainstream manufacturing"."The Calverton, New york-based Graphene 3d Lab is already well-known for the development of proprietary graphene-based nanocomposite materials for 3d printing,
including their Conductive Graphene Filamentwhich was released commercially earlier this year. The company is a worldwide leader in the manufacurting and retailing of graphene and other advanced materials, with clients such as NASA, Ford motor, Apple, Samsung, Harvard and Stanford.
Accompanying the patent application, Graphene 3d has produced a bench-top working prototype of their manufacturing and classification technology. ver the next 12 months we intend to manufacture
and put in place a scaled-up operation, said Daniel Stolyarov, Co-Chief executive Office. e expect our unique combination of high-quality,
low-cost graphene will significantly impact the commercial marketplace, and will allow an ever widening variety of manufacturers to consider incorporating the extraordinary qualities of graphene in wide range of materials from batteries to consumer electronics to plastics. s the most sought-after and groundbreaking material,
the widespread commercial availability of high grade graphene is sure to impact 3d printing manufacturers, allowing more and more companies to innovate
and experiment with its properties, potentially leading to new scientific advancements and discoveries across all sectors.
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#3d Printed Micro-Fish to Explore the Oceans of Our Bodies In the exponentially vital industry of nanoengineering,
Two professors of nanoengineering from the University of California San diego are utilizing advanced 3d printing technology to produce icrofish fish-shaped microrobotic devices geared towards traveling
The nanoengineering team was then able to modify the microfish body with various nanoparticles, using platinum in the tail section to interact with the hydrogen peroxide used to propel the fish forward,
Chen and Wang have conducted demonstrations to show the great potential of combining 3d printing with nanoengineering, installing polydiacetylene (PDA) nanoparticles within the microfish.
when nanoparticles are introduced to the particular toxins. This project offers boundless potential for the way that we locate
Cornell researchers examined these special nylon sheets replete with applied nanoscale iron oxide particles to see
The study evaluated the nanoparticle treatment uniformity and particle retention of the nylon membranes as they were processed
and chemically grafted nanomembranes loaded with iron oxide nanoparticles, in the Journal of Applied Polymer Science, July 14.
Adhering nanoparticles of iron oxide to nylon fiber is done in three ways: electrospraying, which facilitates uniform nanoparticle placement in the fibers;
layer-by-layer assembly, where particles are coated on the fiber electrostatically; or chemical bonding. or the membrane, it important to evaluate particle retention and stability,
Trejo explained. ou would want the nanoparticles to stay on the Nylon 6 membranes so the material can have function throughout the life use.
Cornell Nanobiotechnology Center and the Cornell Nutrient Analysis Laboratory supported this research. Can nanofiber save your life?
Researchers in professor Margaret Frey lab create fibers hundreds of times thinner than a human hair that can capture toxic chemicals and pathogens.
Frey and her colleagues are replacing that cost by making the devices with nanofibers from plastics,
Using nanofibers, processes done in a medical testing lab for example, purifying samples, mixing ingredients, capturing bacteria can be done with material about the size of a deck of cards.
Frey and her students have encapsulated pesticides into biodegradable nanofibers. This keeps them intact until needed
these nanofibers just might save a life, she said. Source: http://www. cornell. ed
#Nanoporous Gold Sponge Detects Pathogens Faster This novel technique enables sensitive DNA detection in compound biological samples e g.,
an explosion in research in micro and nanotechnologies has led to the development of a variety of techniques that allows control of matter at microscopic levels never before seen,
and Noel Elman, with the Massachusetts institute of technology Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. The research was published recently in the journal Green Chemistry
#New Nanoparticles Clean the Environment, Drinking water Nanoparticles are between 1 and 100 nanometers in size.
With the help of nanoparticles and UV LIGHT removal of these toxins could be less expensive and time-consuming than current methods.
How it worksthe nanoparticles are prepared from molecules (synthetic macromolecules commonly called plastics) that have a protective,
When this happens on a nanoparticle, its protecting corona is removed and only the hydrophobic core remains.
with more than 95 percent of the nanoparticles removed from the water. When the nanoparticle loses its protective layer,
polymers are released into the water. While the polymer released (polyethylene glycol) is recognized as safe and used in various food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics products,
Bertrand nanoparticles have compared benefits with current purification processes. Some current techniques rely on chemical degradation of pollutants,
the nanoparticles float passively in the fluid until we precipitate them. Current water purification infrastructures have UV irradiation systems optimized to kill bacteria,
this irradiation is more than sufficient to precipitate our nanoparticles, Bertrand explained. Bertrand told Laboutlook that one fundamental observation from this work is that small molecules passively absorb on the surface of the nanoparticle,
and that the amounts absorbed correlate with the surface-to-volume ratio, meaning more absorption occurs on small nanoparticles. his is an important consideration for drug delivery
because it could explain what happens with nanoparticles with high drug encapsulation and extensive burst release. arnessing nanoparticles in Africatheresa Dankovich uses nanotechnology to purify drinking water in Africa.
By filtering water through paper embedded with silver or copper nanoparticles, 99.9 percent water purity is achievable.
She calls it he Drinkable Book. Silver nanoparticles eliminate a wide variety of microorganisms, including bacteria and some viruses
. While some silver and copper will seep from the nanoparticle-coated paper, the amount is said minimal,
Dankovich, and is well below limits for metals put in place by the Environmental protection agency and World health organization.
Dankovich nonprofit company page Drinking Paper, works together with the nonprofit WATERISLIFE, to produce a book of this nanoparticle-embedded paper
which is put in a special holding device that water is filtered then through. One page can filter 26 gallons of drinking water;
Drug delivery and beyondthe power of nanoparticles is also being harnessed to fight life-threatening lung diseases, such as cystic fibrosis.
Researchers at Johns hopkins university School of medicine, Johns hopkins university Department of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering and Federal University of Rio de janeiro in Brazil conducted a proof-of-concept study that found DNA-loaded nanoparticles could successfully pass through the hard-to-breach mucus barrier
Other attempts to penetrate the barrier with nanoparticles were unsuccessful because they possessed a positive charge that caused them to be tickyand adhere to the negatively charged mucus covering the airways.
To circumvent this problem the team developed a simple method to densely coat the nanoparticles with a nonsticky polymer called PEG,
or drugs inside a man-made biodegradable nanoparticle rapperthat patients inhale could penetrate the mucus barrier
a biomedical engineer and faculty member at the Center for Nanomedicine at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. Researchers funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering meanwhile,
stopped brain cancer in rats by delivering gene therapy through nanoparticles. The nanoparticles deliver genes for an enzyme that converts a prodrug called ganciclovir into a glioma cell killer.
There is no reliable treatment for glioma which has a 5-year survival rate of 12 percent.
Although their nanoparticle technology is solid, some challenges remain before it can be implemented in an industrial application.
Nanoengineers at the University of California, San diego, have designed enzyme-functionalized micromotors that rapidly zoom around in water,
led by distinguished nanoengineering professor and chair Joseph Wang, published the work this month in the journal Angewandte Chemie."
In their experiments, nanoengineers demonstrated that the micromotors rapidly decarbonated water solutions that were saturated with carbon dioxide.
much like that suggested for use in certain shape-shifting nanoprobes. After the TE has been used in the initial diagnosis of the stomach
Each magnet within the new metamaterial is shaped like a grain of rice and roughly 63 nanometers in length.
1 billion of these nanomagnets were placed in a honeycomb pattern on a flat substrate. In total
the nanomagnets covered an area spanning five-by-five millimeters. Initially, the scientists studied the material and its magnetic properties at room temperature.
which uses muon beams acting as magnetic probes to reveal magnetic properties on a nanoscale.
and arrangement of the nanomagnets. This could allow for the creation of new states of matter,
#Black phosphorus surges ahead of graphene A Korean team of scientists tune black phosphorus band gap to form a superior conductor,
a layered form of carbon atoms constructed to resemble honeycomb, called graphene. Graphene was heralded globally as a wonder-material thanks to the work of two British scientists who won the Nobel prize for Physics for their research on it.
Graphene is extremely thin and has remarkable attributes. It is stronger than steel yet many times lighter, more conductive than copper and more flexible than rubber.
All these properties combined make it a tremendous conductor of heat and electricity. A defectree layer is also impermeable to all atoms and molecules.
graphene has no band gap. Stepping stones to a Unique Statea material band gap is fundamental to determining its electrical conductivity.
Graphene has a band gap of zero in its natural state, however, and so acts like a conductor;
Like graphene, BP is a semiconductor and also cheap to mass produce. The one big difference between the two is BP natural band gap
therefore we tuned BP band gap to resemble the natural state of graphene, a unique state of matter that is different from conventional semiconductors. he potential for this new improved form of black phosphorus is beyond anything the Korean team hoped for,
Phosphorene The natural successor to Graphene? Credit: Institute for Basic Sciencesource: http://www. ibs. re. kr
#Sandcastles inspire new nanoparticle binding technique Abstract:""Nanocapillary-mediated magnetic assembly of nanoparticles into ultraflexible filaments and reconfigurable networks"Authors:
Bhuvensh Bharti and Orlin D. Velev, North carolina State university; Anne-Laure Fameau, National Institute of French Agricultural research;
Here, we show that capillarity-mediated binding between magnetic nanoparticles coated with a liquid lipid shell can be used for the assembly of ultraflexible microfilaments and network structures.
These filaments can be regenerated magnetically on mechanical damage, owing to the fluidity of the capillary bridges between nanoparticles and their reversible binding on contact.
If you want to form very flexible chains of nanoparticles in liquid in order to build tiny robots with flexible joints or make magnetically self-healing gels,
researchers from North carolina State university and the University of North carolina-Chapel hill show that magnetic nanoparticles encased in oily liquid shells can bind together in water,
"We then add a magnetic field to arrange the nanoparticle chains and provide directionality, "said Bhuvnesh Bharti,
and makes the bridges fragile, leading to breaking and fragmentation of the nanoparticle chains. Yet the broken nanoparticles chains will reform
if the temperature is raised, the oil liquefies and an external magnetic field is applied to the particles."
'919-513-4318copyright North carolina State Universityissuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Aluminum could give a big boost to capacity and power of lithium-ion batteries August 5th, 2015arrowhead to Present at Jefferies 2015 Hepatitis b Summit August 5th, 2015robotics UT Dallas nanotechnology research
2015molecular Nanotechnology New computer model could explain how simple molecules took first step toward life: Two Brookhaven researchers developed theoretical model to explain the origins of self-replicating molecules July 28th, 2015rare form:
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