Graphene was one of the most exciting materials to work with in nanotechnology because its two-dimensional structure and unique chemical properties made it a promising candidate for new applications such as energy storage material composites as well as computing
Ever since the discovery of graphene in 2004 scientists have been looking for potential applications in nanochemistry he said.
Using powerful supercomputers researchers at UWA discovered that graphene nanoflakes can significantly enhance the rates of a range of chemical reactions.
and extend the scope of the study to'infinite'graphene sheets rather than graphene nanoflakes he said d
#Researchers patent a nanofluid that improves heat conductivity Researchers at the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) have developed
and patented a nanofluid improving thermal conductivity at temperatures up to 400°C without assuming an increase in costs
The nanofluid developed by the Multiphase Fluids research group at the UJI is the first capable of working at high temperatures (up to 400°C
The cost of this new nanofluid (to which nanoparticles are added in order to enhance and improve heat conductivity) is similar to that of the base fluid,
since both the nanoparticles and the stabilizers used are inexpensive. All these features make it suitable for industrial applications that employ heat transmission/exchange systems.
after testing the thermal properties of the nanofluid and patenting this new technology, the research group has started the phase of searching industrial partners
either to transfer the nanofluid over to them or with whom applications can be researched jointly and developed.
and increases the thermal conductivity by adding an exact proportion of nanoparticles consisting on carbon and other additives to the base fluid (diphenyl/diphenyl oxide),
which means that it does not give rise to any problems with pumping, the precipitation of nanoparticles or the obstruction of conduits.
Finally, Juliá notes that the method employed to produce the nanofluid is easily scalable to the industrial level,
the nanofluid developed is based on a heat transfer oil (diphenyl/diphenyl oxide) that is widely used in industry,
because both the nanoparticles and the stabilizers used are abundant, readily accessible and inexpensive e
The graphene sensors are electrically conductive but only 4 atoms thick less than 1 nanometer and hundreds of times thinner than current contacts.
#Materials for the next generation of electronics and photovoltaics One of the longstanding problems of working with nanomaterials substances at the molecular and atomic scale is controlling their size.
Hersam a professor of materials science engineering chemistry and medicine at Northwestern University has developed a method to separate nanomaterials by size
which drives the nanotubes through the gradient. The nanotubes move through the gradient until their density matches that of the gradient.
The result is that the nanotubes form separated bands in the centrifuge tube by density.
Since the density of the nanotube is a function of its diameter this method allows separation by diameter.
One property that distinguishes these materials from traditional semiconductors like silicon is that they are mechanically flexible.
It turns out that carbon nanomaterials are hydrophobic so water will roll right off of them he says.
Materials at the nanometer scale now can realize new properties and combinations of properties that are unprecedented he adds.
Breakthrough for carbon nanotube solar cell l
#See-through one-atom-thick carbon electrodes powerful tool to study brain disorders Researchers from the Perelman School of medicine and School of engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have used graphene
The Center for Neuroengineering and Therapeutics (CNT) under the leadership of senior author Brian Litt Phd has solved this problem with the development of a completely transparent graphene microelectrode that allows for simultaneous optical imaging
Kuzum emphasizes that the transparent graphene microelectrode technology was achieved through an interdisciplinary effort of CNT and the departments of Neuroscience Pediatrics and Materials science at Penn and the division of Neurology at CHOP.
The combination of nanocarbon and sulfur is effective at overcoming the insulating nature of sulfur for lithium sulfur batteries."
"Due to excellent electrical conductivity, mechanical strength and chemical stability, nanocarbon materials have played an essential role in the area of advanced energy storage,
Recently, scientists from Tsinghua University have created a freestanding carbon nanotube paper electrode with high sulfur loading for lithium-sulfur batteries.
"We select carbon nanotube (CNT) as the building block",Qiang told Phys. org, "CNTS are one of the most efficient and effective conductive fillers for electrode.
We selected short multi-walled CNTS (MWCNTS) with lengths of 10-50 m as the shortrange electrical conductive network to support sulfur,
as well as super long CNTS with lengths of 1000-2000 m from vertically aligned CNTS (VACNTS) as both long-range conductive networks and inter-penetrated binders for the hierarchical freestanding paper electrode.""
""We develop a bottom-up routine in which sulfur was dispersed firstly well into the MWCNT network to obtain MWCNT@S building blocks
and then MWCNT@S and VACNTS were assembled into macro-CNT-S films via the dispersion in ethanol followed by vacuum filtration",Zhe Yuan,
"Such sulfur electrodes with hierarchical CNT scaffolds can accommodate over 5 to 10 times the sulfur species compared with conventional electrodes on metal foil current collectors
"The areal capacity can be increased further to 15.1 mah cm-2 by stacking three CNT-S paper electrodes, with an areal sulfur loading of 17.3 mg cm-2 as the cathode in a Li
which is also favorable for graphene, CNT-graphene, CNTMETAL oxide based flexible electrodes, "Qiang said."
and edge configurations scientists have theorized that nanoribbons with zigzag edges are the most magnetic making them suitable for spintronics applications.
This allows the scientists to control the nanoribbons'length edge configuration and location on the substrate.
Paul Weiss distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry and a member of UCLA's California Nanosystems Institute developed the method for producing the nanoribbons with Patrick Han and Taro Hitosugi professors at the Advanced Institute
While we have demonstrated only the construction of graphene-based structures in this study we strongly believe that the new technique will be able to serve as a general method for the assembly of a much wider range of nanomaterials concluded Franklin Kim the principal investigator of the study y
UC Irvine engineers can continue developing this type of nanotechnology device and potentially many others using a more wide-scale manufacturing process.
Nanotechnologies such as this sensor depend on extremely small nanometer scale building blocks. A nanometer is about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
Fabricating on this tiny scale poses huge challenges, since most of the current methods that achieve a high level of precision are too costly and slow to be viable for manufacturing."
"With support from the NSF and input from industry, our goal is to help nanoscale manufacturing processes leave the laboratory where they've been confined
and become usable in widespread commercial applications, "said Ragan, associate professor of chemical engineering & materials science and principal investigator on the project.
This grant highlights the strength of our faculty in both nanosciences and advanced manufacturing,"said Gregory Washington, dean of The Henry Samueli School of engineering."
Electronics based on carbon especially carbon nanotubes (CNTS) are emerging as successors to silicon for making semiconductor materials.
and optimization of the device which is based on a phosphor screen and single-walled carbon nanotubes as electrodes in a diode structure.
They assembled the device from a mixture liquid containing highly crystalline single-walled carbon nanotubes dispersed in an organic solvent mixed with a soap-like chemical known as a surfactant.
Under a strong electric field the cathode emits tight high-speed beams of electrons through its sharp nanotube tips a phenomenon called field emission.
We have found that a cathode with highly crystalline single-walled carbon nanotubes and an anode with the improved phosphor screen in our diode structure obtained no flicker field emission current and good brightness homogeneity Shimoi said.
In recent years carbon nanotubes have emerged as a promising material of electron field emitters owing to their nanoscale needle shape and extraordinary properties of chemical stability thermal conductivity and mechanical strength.
Highly crystalline single-walled carbon nanotubes (HCSWCNT) have nearly zero defects in the carbon network on the surface Shimoi explained.
The resistance of cathode electrode with highly crystalline single-walled carbon nanotube is very low. Thus the new flat-panel device has compared smaller energy loss with other current lighting devices
%The two findings have been published simultaneously today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. For quantum computing to become a reality we need to operate the bits with very low error rates says Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak who is Director of the Australian National Fabrication Facility at UNSW where the devices were made.
Storing quantum information for 30 seconds in a nanoelectronic device Nature Nanotechnology DOI: 10.1038/nnano. 2014.211 An addressable quantum dot qubit with fault-tolerant control-fidelity Nature Nanotechnology DOI:
10.1038/nnano. 2014.21 1
#DNA nanofoundries cast custom-shaped 3-D metal nanoparticles Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard university have unveiled a new method to form tiny 3d metal nanoparticles
in prescribed shapes and dimensions using DNA Nature's building block as a construction mold. The ability to mold inorganic nanoparticles out of materials such as gold and silver in precisely designed 3-D shapes is a significant breakthrough that has the potential to advance laser technology microscopy solar cells electronics environmental testing
disease detection and more. We built tiny foundries made of stiff DNA to fabricate metal nanoparticles in exact three-dimensional shapes that we digitally planned
and designed said Peng Yin senior author of the paper Wyss core faculty member and Assistant professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical school.
The paper's findings describe a significant advance in DNA NANOTECHNOLOGY as well as in inorganic nanoparticle synthesis Yin said.
For the very first time a general strategy to manufacture inorganic nanoparticles with user-specified 3d shapes has been achieved to produce particles as small as 25 nanometers or less with remarkable precision (less than 5 nanometers.
A sheet of paper is approximately 100000 nanometers thick. The 3d inorganic nanoparticles are conceived first and meticulously planned using computer design software.
Using the software the researchers design three-dimensional frameworks of the desired size and shape built from linear DNA sequences
It is this ability to design arbitrary nanostructures using DNA manipulation that inspired the Wyss team to envision using these DNA structures as practical foundries or molds for inorganic substances.
and expanded to fill all existing space within the DNA framework resulting in a cuboid nanoparticle with the same dimensions as its mold. with the length width
Next researchers fabricated varied 3d polygonal shapes spheres and more ambitious structures such as a 3d Y-shaped nanoparticle and another structure comprising a cuboid shape sandwiched between two spheres proving that structurally-diverse
nanoparticles could be shaped using complex DNA mold designs. Given their unthinkably small size it may come as a surprise that stiff DNA molds are proportionally quite robust and strong able to withstand the pressures of expanding inorganic materials.
Although the team selected gold seedlings to cast their nanoparticles there is a wide range of inorganic nanoparticles that can be shaped forcibly through this process of DNA nanocasting.
A very useful property is that once cast these nanoparticles can retain the framework of the DNA mold as an outer coating enabling additional surface modification with impressive nanoscale precision.
For particles that would better serve their purpose by being as electrically conducive as possible such as in very small nanocomputers
and re-imagined for the nanomanufacturing of inorganic materials said Don Ingber Wyss Institute founding director.
#Nanoparticle research could enhance drug delivery through skin Scientists at the University of Southampton have identified key characteristics that enhance a nanoparticle's ability to penetrate skin in a milestone study which could have major implications for the delivery of drugs.
Nanoparticles are up to 100000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair and drugs delivered using them as a platform can be concentrated more targeted
Although previous studies have shown that nanoparticles interact with the skin conditions in these experiments have not been controlled sufficiently to establish design rules that enhance penetration.
and functionality (controlled through surrounding molecules) of gold nanoparticles to see how these factors affect skin penetration.
By creating nanoparticles with different physicochemical characteristics and testing them on skin we have shown that positively charged nanorod shaped nanoparticles are two to six times more effective at penetrating skin than others says lead author Dr Antonios Kanaras.
When the nanoparticles are coated with cell penetrating peptides the penetration is enhanced further by up to ten times with many particles making their way into the deeper layers of the skin (such as the dermis.
Establishing which characteristics contribute to penetration is also important in discovering ways to prevent potentially toxic nanoparticles in other materials such as cosmetics from entering the skin.
The research which has been published in the journal Small drew on the medical expertise of Dr Neil Smyth and Dr Michael Ardern-Jones as well as contributions from physicist Professor Otto Muskens.
Our interest is focused now on incorporating these findings into the design of new nanotechnological drugs for transdermal therapy says Dr Kanaras.
#Drug-infused nanoparticle is right for sore eyes For the millions of sufferers of dry eye syndrome their only recourse to easing the painful condition is to use drug-laced eye drops three times a day.
Now researchers from the University of Waterloo have developed a topical solution containing nanoparticles that will combat dry eye syndrome with only one application a week.
The eye drops progressively deliver the right amount of drug-infused nanoparticles to the surface of the eyeball over a period of five days before the body absorbs them.
The nanoparticles about 1/1000th the width of a human hair stick harmlessly to the eye's surface and use only five per cent of the drug normally required.
You can't tell the difference between these nanoparticle eye drops and water said Shengyan (Sandy) Liu a Phd candidate at Waterloo's Faculty of engineering who led the team of researchers from the Department of Chemical engineering and the Centre for Contact lens Research.
if we focused on infusing biocompatible nanoparticles with Cyclosporine A the drug in the eye drops
The research team is now focusing on preparing the nanoparticle eye drops for clinical trials with the hope that this nanoparticle therapy could reach the shelves of drugstores within five years.
and Lyndon Jones from Waterloo recently appeared in Nano Research the leading publication on nanotechnology and nanoscience e
#'Endless possibilities'for bionanotechnology Scientists from the University of Leeds have taken a crucial step forward in bionanotechnology,
Importantly, the new technique can use these lipid membranes to'draw'akin to using them like a biological ink with a resolution of 6 nanometres (6 billionths of a meter),
which is an imaging process that has a resolution down to only a fraction of a nanometer
in order to create nanostructures and to'draw'substances onto nano-sized regions. The latter is called'nanolithography 'and was used the technique by Professor Evans and his team in this research.
The ability to controllably'write 'and'position'lipid membrane fragments with such high precision was achieved by Mr George Heath,
#Targeted nanoparticles that combine imaging with two different therapies could attack cancer other conditions Nanosystems that are'theranostic'they combine both therapeutic and diagnostic functions present an exciting new opportunity for delivering drugs
and Engineering and colleagues at the National University of Singapore have created nanoparticles with two distinct anticancer functions
The nanoparticles also include the cell-targeting property essential for treating and imaging in the correct locations.
The natural fluorescence of the polymer assists with diagnosis and monitoring of therapy as it shows where nanoparticles have accumulated.
This is the first nanoplatform that can offer on-demand and imaging-guided photodynamic therapy and chemotherapy with triggered drug release through one light switch explains Liu emphasizing the significance of the system.
of which overexpressed a surface protein that could bind to the targeting peptide on the nanoparticles.
Fluorescence imaging indicated that the nanoparticles were taken up by the target cells and that ROS and doxorubicin were released within these cells all at significantly higher levels than in cells used as controls.
Introducing the multitasking nanoparticle More information: Yuan Y. Liu J. & Liu B. Conjugated-polyelectrolyte-based polyprodrug:
#Nanoparticles break the symmetry of light How can a beam of light tell the difference between left and right?
Gold nanoparticles on Glass fibres When a particle absorbs and emits light, this light is emitted not just into one direction."
His team has succeeded now in breaking this symmetry of emission using gold nanoparticles coupled to ultra-thin glass fibres.
This effect has now been demonstrated using a single gold nanoparticle on a glass fibre. The fibre is 250 times thinner than a human hair;
A group of researchers from the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) of A*STAR has taken the health benefits of green tea to the next level by using one of its ingredients to develop a drug delivery system
Using EGCG IBN researchers have engineered successfully nanocarriers that can deliver drugs and kill cancer cells more efficiently.
Their work was published recently in the leading journal Nature Nanotechnology. The numerous health benefits of green tea have inspired us to utilize it in drug delivery systems.
Our green tea nanocarrier not only delivered protein drugs more effectively to the cancer cells, the combination of carrier and drug also dramatically reduced tumor growth compared with the drug alone.
This is an exciting breakthrough in nanomedicine said IBN Executive director Professor Jackie Y. Ying. A key challenge in chemotherapy is ensuring that the drugs are delivered only to the tumor
To solve this problem IBN has designed a therapeutic nanocarrier for drug delivery using novel compounds derived from EGCG.
Micellar nanocomplexes of less than 100 nanometers in dimension are formed from the OEGCG core and PEG-EGCG shell protecting the protein drug from rapid proteolysis
Using the new nanocarrier twice as much drug accumulated in the cancer cells indicating an improved tumor targeting ability.
IBN has filed a patent on their green tea nanocarrier and is developing this technology for clinical applications.
#Arrays of tiny conical tips that eject ionized materials could fabricate nanoscale devices cheaply Luis Fernando Velsquez-Garca's group at MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL) develops dense arrays
depositing or etching features onto nanoscale mechanical devices; spinning out nanofibers for use in water filters body armor and smart textiles;
or propulsion systems for fist-sized nanosatellites. In the latest issue of the IEEE Journal of Microelectromechanical systems Velsquez-Garca his graduate students Eric Heubel and Philip Ponce de Leon and Frances Hill a postdoc in his group describe a new prototype
array that generates 10 times the ion current per emitter that previous arrays did. Ion current is a measure of the charge carried by moving ions
and height of the nanotubes the researchers were able to achieve a fluid flow that enabled an operating ion current at very near the theoretical limit.
That's crucial for nanofabrication applications in which the depth of an etch or the height of deposits must be consistent across an entire chip.
To control the nanotubes'growth the researchers first cover the emitter array with an ultrathin catalyst film
The nanotubes grow up under the catalyst particles which sit atop them until the catalyst degrades.
The emitters like most nanoscale silicon devices were produced through photolithography a process in which patterns are transferred optically to layers of materials deposited on silicon wafers;
Velsquez-Garca believes that using arrays of emitters to produce nanodevices could have several advantages over photolithography the technique that produces the arrays themselves.
and don't require a vacuum chamber the arrays could deposit materials that can't withstand the extreme conditions of many micro-and nanomanufacturing processes.
In my opinion the best nanosystems are going to be done by 3-D printing because it would bypass the problems of standard microfabrication Velsquez-Garca says.
Using their nanotube forest they're able to get the devices to operate in pure ion mode
#Creating nanostructures using simple stamps Nanostructures of virtually any possible shape can now be made using a combination of techniques developed by the MESA+Institute for Nanotechnology of the University of Twente.
Research has been done within the Inorganic Materials science group part of the MESA+Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Twente.
#Researcher develops optically traceable smart 2-D nanosheet that responds to ph Nanoparticles have the potential to revolutionize the medical industry
Finally they need to perform their function at the right moment ideally in response to a stimulus. The Nanoparticles By design Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science
when he experimented with a new type of nanomaterial: the nanosheet. Specifically he designed a strong stable
and optically traceable smart 2-D material that responds to ph or the acidity or basicity of its surrounding environment.
Nanosheets are unusual amongst nanotechnology because they do not exactly conform to nanoscale. The sheets that Kim produced are just a few nanometers thick thin enough to earn the nano prefix.
But their length and width can be measured in microns sometimes with surface areas that can be measured in centimeters;
much larger than typical nanostructures.##Nanosheets'structure gives them the ability to change shape from a flat surface to a scroll.
Unfortunately most nanosheets roll and unroll spontaneously. If researchers can design a nanosheet to change form in response to a stimulus they can use it for a number of new applications.
Kim tried adding different polymers to his nanosheets to make them responsive. For this experiment he incorporated a relatively simple polymer that responds to ph. He found that the resulting nanosheet would always curl in basic high ph conditions
and always flatten in acidic low ph conditions. Kim also made his nanosheets responsive to near-infrared light a wavelength of light that is harmless to humans.
Depending on the shape of the nanosheet the near-infrared radiation bounces back with a different wavelength.
In this way Kim can noninvasively track the nanosheets even though he can't see them. Using these optical properties to characterize the nanosheets Kim determined that he could approximate ph. Kim envisions biomedical engineers wrapping drugs inside of scrolled nanosheets
so that when the sheet unrolls it releases the medicine. PH responsive nanosheets for example could prove useful for targeting different parts of the human digestive tract
which changes ph between the acidic stomach and basic intestines. Yet this is only the beginning;
creating a responsive nanosheet is just a matter of adding the right polymer. A nanosheet is like pizza dough Kim said.
Whatever you like to put on it#one topping two toppings anything#you can. A nanosheet with a heat-sensitive polymer could burn surrounding tumors to destroy them functioning as a kind of super-specific chemotherapy.
It's easy to get the nanosheets to the cancer cells explains Kim. Targeting specific tissues is simply a matter of adding the appropriate biomarker
so that the body sends the nanosheet where it belongs. The advantage of the rolling means that this nanosheet can entrap many markers
or drugs securely inside the body said Kim. By encapsulating a dangerous substance such as a cancer-treating drug into a nanosheet doctors can attack very specific parts of the body.
This would decrease the amount of the drug necessary and minimize side effects. There are tons of smart polymers
and metals Kim said explaining the many properties he hopes to incorporate into nanotechnology. This new structure is composite
which means it allows us to mix all different kinds of components. Now Kim just needs to build the right nanosheet for each purpose.
Explore further: Like cling wrap new biomaterial can coat tricky burn wounds and block out infection More information:
Smart Composite Nanosheets with Adaptive Optical Properties Jeong-Hwan Kim Murtaza Bohra Vidyadhar Singh Cathal Cassidy and Mukhles Sowwan Applied materials & Interfaces2014.
American Chemical Society DOI: 10.1021/am504170
#New nanomaterial introduced into electrical machines Lappeenranta University of Technology in Finland has constructed the world's first prototype electrical motor using carbon nanotube yarn in the motor windings.
The new technology may significantly enhance the performance. Engineers of LUT have constructed the world's first electrical motor applying a textile material;
carbon nanotube yarn. The presently most electrically conductive carbon nanotube yarn replaces usual copper wires in the windings.
The motor prototype is built by the LUT Electrical engineering group as a start towards lightweight efficient electric drives.
The test motor output power is 40 W it rotates at 15000 rpm and has almost a 70%efficiency.
In the near future carbon nanotube fibers have potential to significantly enhance the performance and energy efficiency of electrical machines.
The new technology may revolutionize the whole industry. Researchers are constantly searching for opportunities to upgrade the performance of electrical machines;
to this end one of the objectives is to find higher-conductivity wires for the windings.
The best carbon nanotubes (CNTS) have demonstrated conductivities far beyond those of the best metals. Thus future windings made of CNTS may have a double conductivity compared with the present-day copper windings.
In order to make CNTS easy to manipulate they are spun to form multifiber yarn. If we keep the electrical machine design parameters unchanged and only replace copper with future carbon nanotube wires it is possible to reduce the Joule losses in the windings to half of the present-day machine losses.
Carbon nanotube wires are significantly lighter than copper and also environmentally friendlier. Therefore replacing copper with nanotube wires should significantly reduce the CO2 EMISSIONS related to the manufacturing
and operating of electrical machines. Furthermore the machine dimensions and masses could be reduced. The motors could also be operated in significantly higher temperatures than the present ones says Professor Juha Pyrh nen who has led the design of the prototype at LUT.
No definite upper limit for the conductivity Traditionally the windings in electrical machines are made of copper which has the second best conductivity of metals at room temperature.
Despite the high conductivity of copper a large proportion of the electrical machine losses occur in the copper windings.
The carbon nanotube yarn does not have a definite upper limit for conductivity (e g. values of 100 MS/m have already been measured.
The prototype motor uses carbon nanotube yarns spun and converted into an isolated tape by a Japanese-Dutch company Teijin Aramid
We expect that in the future the conductivity of carbon nanotube yarns could be even three times the practical conductivity of copper in electrical machines.
Carbon nanotube fibers outperform coppe e
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