Nanotechblog

How about getting invisible, probably this was always a childhood dream of mine. Nanotechnology has gone ahead to realize this dream of a lot of us by creating an optical cloaking device which can make objects invisible by moving light around whatever is placed inside this cloak. In this case engineers from Purdue University have created a theoretical design for use in a range of tiny needles radiating outwards from a central spoke.

The designing is similar to a round hairbrush bends light around the object being cloaked and in this case one can see the background object but not the objects surrounded by cylindrical array of nano needles. Keep one thing in mind that the design can work just for the single wavelength and not for the whole frequency range of the visible spectrum. Objects could be rendered invisible in a wavelength of 632.8 nanometers corresponding to the red color. This design could also be used for cloaking other single wavelength in a visible spectrum. The device is expected to be created from non magnetic meta materials. So now get ready for invisible game.

Via nanowerk

Up till now people of New Zealand had been generating electricity from silicon based photo electric solar cells but now Massey University researchers have developed a solar cell technology which can generate electricity at one tenth of the cost. The researchers have developed various color dyes including some natural ones in order to sensitize solar cells. It can work during cloudy condition and the dye can even be used in tinted glasses for electricity generation.

These green solar cells are considered to be environment friendly since they have been developed from titanium oxide which is environment friendly. Since the cost is one tenth of a silicon based panel therefore it can emerge as an attractive device for households. The researchers even plan to use the dyes in wall panels and roofing materials. They have been using nanotechnology since it can assist in developing better solar cells and can generate much more electricity from sunlight as compared to the traditional solar panels. I would love to get one since electricity can prove to be a costly affair and it will surely bring down my monthly electricity bills without upsetting the budget.

Via nanowerk

Knauf, a German building manufacturer is creating a villa on the Greek mountainside and the best thing about this villa is that it is earthquake resistant and is being constructed using nanotechnology based seal healing walls. The walls of the villa are not being constructed using cement but new load bearing steel frames along with high strength gypsum board consisting of nanopolymer particles which liquidizes when subjected to pressure, fills up the cracks and reconstitutes as solid material.

Besides the villa will also be having monitors for the purpose of keeping a tab on the building along with the temperatures, stresses, vibrations, gas levels and humidity it is subjected to. In case some problem erupts the sensor will automatically issue an alert to the household so that they get ample time to escape.

If this particular villa produces encouraging results then we will be able to save hundreds of lives from being trapped in their destroyed houses in case an earthquake occurs. The project is called Intelligent Safe and Secure Buildings and will be completed by 2010.

Via merid

Nanoparticles containing iron could be toxic for nerve cells and may even interfere with signal transmitting extensions formation. Iron is considered healthy for human beings and even iron oxide nanoparticles were thought to be good for human health but some recent reports have pointed out that nanoparticles might be turn out to be toxic for some cell types. If this turns out to be true then progress of nanotechnology could suffer a serious setback.

As a part of the studies UCSD researchers exposed PC12 cells to high concentrations of iron oxide nanoparticles along with nerve growth factor and found out that a number of cells died and the ones which survived showed reduced ability for producing neurites.

This research will surely result in a heated debate as to whether nanotechnology is safe enough and why enough studies aren’t being conducted before adopting it wholly.

Via nanowerk

This discovery would surely help in churning out better drugs for treatment of diseases. U.S researchers have found out that string like nanoparticles equal to viruses which move in the blood for up to ten times longer as compared to spherical nanoparticles, the shape could help in creating better drug delivery vehicles for cancer treatment. This may turn out to be really beneficial for researchers involved in creating cancer drugs.

Soft filamentous polymers have been found to circulate for more than a week in the case of rats but this is a fairly long time as compared to spherical nanoparticles which get cleared from the body within hours. The circulation time has been found out to depend upon how the filaments fragment as a result of liquid flow and interaction with the cells and therefore this research has found a place in the Nature Nanotechnology journal issue of April.

Via scienceahead

In the field of space rocket engines are dependant on chemical propulsion and almost all of the spacecrafts are using some kind of chemical rocket for launching and attitude control. Researchers have been studying electric propulsion and EP systems have been found out to being down the required propellant mass as compared to traditional chemical rockets.

Researchers are working on a new EP system which utilizes electrostatically charged and accelerated nanoparticles as propellant. Fitting into one square cm of space these micron sized nanoparticle enable fabrication of highly scaleable thruster arrays.

University of Michigan researchers are utilizing nanoparticles as propellant with micro and nano-electromechanical systems. The technology is named nanoparticle field extraction thruster or nanoFET and as per this concept the highly efficient and variable specific engine type can be scaled for a number of space and exploration missions. If this experiment turned out to be successful then nanotechnology would adorn the world of space exploration.

Via nanowerk

Up till now fabrication of small features was quite difficult and expensive too but now researchers have come up with a nanotechnology fabrication method under which production of 3 D polymer line structures has become easier with two new photon absorbing molecules responsive to laser light at shorter wavelengths. Fabrication was quite expensive due to the requirement of costly electronic beam or UV lithography equipment but now researchers have figured out a technique known as 3D multi-photon lithography which leads to simplification of the overall process and brings down the costs. This technique could offer competition to the existing processes.

Under this technique a laser beam is canned across a substrate coated with polymer resin having a unique dye which leads to creation of the desired hardened polymer structure and since the absorption rate of two photon comes down drastically therefore just molecules at the focal point get light for absorption of two photons.

Via nanowerk

The idea that measuring nanomechanical oscillations, that of the tiny vibrating silicon strips, only a few hundred atoms thick is not that easy, is no more true. Researchers at the Cornell University have designed a solution - defining as ‘reach out and touch them.’

The tiny oscillators’ vibration can be measured by “tapping” with an atomic force microscope (AFM). Nanomechanical oscillators are capable of replacing bulky quartz crystals in electronic circuits or even detecting and identifying bacteria and viruses. And it will be doing so commercially someday, perhaps soon.

Rob Ilic, research associate in the Cornell NanoScale Facility and lead author on the paper about the research said,

AFMs are all over the place. So this offers a simple way to study these structures.

The paper on these findings is published in the Feb. 23 online edition of the Journal of Applied Physics.

Image courtesy: Cornell University

This can be termed as a breakthrough invention in the field of nanotechnology. A protein sensor has been developed by U.S researchers which are ultra sensitive and can detect changes in concentration which are more than five orders of magnitude. In a number of biosensors there is an increased dependency on changes in intensity of fluorescence emitted which is difficult to measure and therefore University of Michigan researchers headed by Nicholas Kotov have come up with a device in which case the wavelength of the emitted light shifts reversibly.

The device has been created using gold nanoparticles which are attached to nanowires with the aid of molecular springs which carry protein binding antibodies. When the target protein attaches to the antibody it leads to the extension of the molecular spring and moves the nanospheres away from nanowires which leads to the reduction of interaction between sphere and wire. As a result a significant change in the wavelength of light emitted from nanowire was witnessed which could be deployed as molecule specific biosensor.

Via monstersandcritics

Scientists have grown metal crystal configurations that have never been seen before! These new configurations of crystal pour in promises in the field of biosensors, biological imaging, drug delivery and catalytic converters.

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists have crystallized cellulose fibers from cotton after appropriating them. The uniform size of the metal crystals must be between 2 and 200 nanometers, depending on the metal, Yongsoon Shin, a staff scientist at the Department of Energy laboratory in Richland, Wash reported.

He introduced this success on Monday at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Thanks to PNNL laboratory fellow Gregory Exarhos for leading the research.

Defining Shin’s experimental work, Exarhos said,

The first report of the efficacy of nanocrystalline cellulose templates in driving the formation of ordered metal and metal oxide nanoparticles at surfaces.

Exarhos has dubbed these cellulose nanocrystals as - ‘molecular factories.’

Photo Credit: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory