Nanotechblog

Now, Physicists of the University of Pennsylvania are developing nanostructure metal, not more than 10 nanometers. Physicists at the University of Pennsylvania are using a new technique to craft some of the tiniest metal nanostructures ever created, none larger than 10 nanometers.

They are using new technology to create nanostructure metal. The technology uses transmission electron beam ablation lithography or TEBAL to carve nanostructures from thin sheets of gold, silver, silver, aluminum and other metals. Drndić and Michael Fischbein of Penn’s Department of Physics in the School of Arts and Sciences has conducted the study.

TEBAL provides reliable method to produce quality version of these microscopic devices, which are studied for their novel mechanical properties and it can be used in next generation sensors and electronics. The method allows real time imaging of the devices as they are made.

Traditional techniques, which are used for building nanodevices requires electron beam lithography and also require the use of polymers and chemicals, in which meatl can be evaporated. In addition, the TEBAL method also creates a resistance free connection between the nanostructure and an electrical lead, which can provide power to the device. Additionally, structures made from bottom-up techniques need to be firstly placed on a chip and then connected to larger circuitry.

The team uses the superior control of the electron beam to reproduce multiple, which is similar copies of each structure. The research may lead to computer-based creation of such devices with more intricacy. Penn physicists has also proposed a rapid method of DNA sequencing, which can be developed from this process, by threading DNA strands through an electronic “nanoport” that could read the base pairs that constitute a species’ genetic code.

Image Credit: ND Edu

Via: Physorg

Nano materials are emerging as popular insulation material since they are an improvement over the traditional insulation materials and even cost less. Now nanotechnology is being used in the arena of refrigeration as an insulating material and this can help in bringing down the energy consumption of refrigerators by as much as twenty percent.

A micro thickness film called Nanoskin has been developed by General Applications and it offers a thermal protection layer by using small cells consisting of vacuum. This film will be embedded in the inner wall of the fridge during the manufacturing process for offering effective layer of insulation.

This has resulted in strong interest among a number of companies and a number of European fridge manufacturers are willing to apply this technology to their fridges. It looks like this film will replace the traditional insulating material due to the advantages it offers and the obviously the cost factor too.

Via acr-news

Chip manufacturers are facing the problem of power and heat in devices embedding their chips. Companies are facing the problem of thermal management as they continue to churn out smaller devices. Now nanotechnology comes into the picture and carbon nanotubes can be integrated for solving this problem. Heat has been found out to cause reduced product life, increasing building costs, poor performance and lack of consumer acceptance.

In order to bring down temperatures researchers have found out that nnaotubes could be used for dissipating chip heat as effectively as copper. Nanotubes were found out to be more resilient, flexible and ten times lighter as compared to other cooling materials available in the market. A team of U.S. and Finnish researchers have developed nanotube heat sinks which can be manufactured cost effectively. It is expected that there would be a tough competition among research groups around the globe for developing one of the most effective and efficient CNT coolers.

Via nanowerk

If we consider the views of materials scientists then viruses can be termed as organic nanoparticles and since their surface has specific tools it can cross the barriers of the host cells. As a result viruses are implemented in materials sciences as scaffolds for covalently linked surface modifications. This technique is emerging as a basis for engineering approaches for nanomaterials and has also opened up a number of applications beyond medicine and biology.

Since viruses can be multiplied in appropriate tissue and cell cultures despite the fact that they don’t have any metabolic activity of their own still nature viral particles can be used as a durable building block for composite material. Along with a combination of molecular biology approaches it provides a new possibility for production and engineering of hybrid composite materials from nanoparticles. Professor Donath along with Martin Fischlechner have become the first people to publish a review on the merging uses of viruses as building blocks in nanotechnology. Though it’s still in its infancy but promising growth is expected in this arena.

Via nanowerk

Indians too are realizing the benefits of nanotechnology. Researchers at IIT Madras have developed a water purifier which uses nanotechnology. This can be regarded as the world’s first nanoparticle based water filter. This water purifier will be launched by Eureka Forbes in the market and cleans pesticide from the water by using metal nanoparticles. Department of Science and Technology had funded this project and in a country where water quality is quite poor it should work as a blessing in disguise.

With the water purifier hitting the market soon it is expected that there would lesser water contamination diseases in the country. I was just wondering will this technology only reach the rich or efforts would be made for bringing it to the masses.

I believe the benefits should also reach the poor who don’t have access to quality water and this will surely help in improving the health standards in the country and also bring down the death rate as a result.

Via businessline

For all those speed freaks who want to live life in the fast lane, here is a nanotechnology battery powered motorcycle which can reach 0 to 60 mph in just under 1.5 seconds. This is KillaCycle which regarded as the quickest electric motorcycle in the world and this time it created a speed record with the help of lithium-ion batteries developed using highly active nanoscale materials.

Bill Dube, Designer, Builder and Owner of The KillaCycle had to say something on the nanotechnology propelled bike:

We continue to be thrilled with the superior performance of these cells, which we first started using last year. The improvements we’ve made to the bike in the past three months paid off and we improved our time by over 0.6 seconds, a huge performance increase in such a short time. With these batteries, we know that we will be able to continue to improve our performance and establish new records.

These lithium ion batteries created using nanophosphate cells offer enhanced performance, life and safety. With KillaCycke nanotechnology has proved that how batteries could enable automotive applications to experience a higher level of battery performance.

Via nanowerk

Counterfeiting can be really disastrous and it is responsible for millions of dollars of losses world wide each year. Now nanotechnology will be taking care of fake art pieces in the world of art. At times it becomes really difficult to figure out whether it is a genuine or a fake product by some of the best experts too. Now nanoentonography will take care of the trouble as this process can protect brands and products from counterfeiting. In this case microscopic layers of covert markers are incorporated for creating brand owner specific information into products.

As of now there are eight different layers of security which can be applied to the covert markers which are mere microns wide. This makes it really difficult to duplicate the product since it offers fool proof coding.

This process has been developed by ARmark Authentication Technologies for using it across a wide range of brand owner applications. It can be used across a number of sectors such as food, apparel, pharma, documents and currency and lot more. Now get ready to say goodbye to fake products.

Via nanowerk

Now one can easily detect specific sequences of DNA as Purdue researchers have found out that nanopore channels can emerge as an instrument for genomic applications in environmental monitoring, medicine and homeland security. Created using silicon, these channels are ten to twenty diameter in size and a few hundred nanometers long. This is for the first time that researchers have attached specific strands of DNA inside silicon based channels and used it for detection of specific DNA molecules found in liquid bath.

Fabrication of channels was done in thin silicon membrane and bathed in fluids having DNA. Since DNA is charged negatively therefore application of voltage across membrane caused the genetic material in bath to flow through the channel. As a result the single strands of DNA flowed faster and were transported in high numbers across the pores.

Detection of translocation of specific types of DNA strands can be measured with electrical current across the channel and as a result specific signature pulses can be measured due to specific DNA movement. This will certainly help scientists involved in the study of DNA.

Via nanotechwire

Cell biology is set to gain from nanotechnology as researchers of College of Engineering have successfully created a carbon nanotube tipped pipette which can contribute towards study in DNA sequencing and organelle-targeted drug delivery. This is being considered an important development since now it would be possible to probe the fluid not only inside the cell but also in specific regions in the cells. Up till now there was a vacuum in the existing microscale technologies and nanoscale interactions but now it would be very much possible to transfer carbon nanotubes in and out of the pipette.

Developed by Dr.Adam Fontecchio and Gennady Friedman it can help in enhancing in-situ DNA sequencing. Since with this pipette DNA can be examined inside the living cell therefore the tissue is neither damaged nor cultured. As it has tips which are smaller as compared to other cells therefore small quantities of drugs can be injected in certain regions organelles within a cell. Now the researchers are looking towards improving the pipette fabrication process for increasing the yield and demonstration of magnetic deflection of CNTs. Certainly an important development for cell biology.

Via nanowerk

How about composite films inspired from mollusk shells? University of Michigan and Northwestern University researchers have created a high performance composite film which has been inspired from natural nanostructure of nacre. Let me tell you this is the strongest and toughest internal layer of mollusk shells and mussels. In this case layer by layer or LBL assembly technique has been used for preparing the nanostructured analogue from inorganic sheets of clay and polyelectrolyte. Here the properties and structure were found out to be similar to that of lamellar bones and natural nacre.

Since it is a simple technique it produced better results for combining multiple functions in a single composite. Also in order to improve upon the mechanical properties of the nanocomposite a synthetic polymer was also developed by the researchers which retained the hardening and binding properties of protein based adhesive material which is secreted by mussels. Nature can inspire a thousand things and researchers have probably tried to gain the best out of it using nanotechnology.

Via merid