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Archive for the ‘Nano Revolution’ Category.
Energy now lost as heat during the production of electricity could be harnessed through the use of silicon nanowires synthesized via a technique developed by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) at Berkeley.
Continue reading ‘Researchers Make Thermoelectric Breakthrough In Silicon Nanowires’ »
Graphene enhanced plastics
Comparison of xGnP (graphene additive) to other nanocomposite additives.
Michigan state University is using the recent discovery that graphene is the strongest material ever and using graphene additives to make stiffer, stronger and lighter plastics.
The material – xGnP Exfoliated Graphite NanoPlatelets - can an either be used as an additive to plastics or by itself it can make a transformational change in the performance of many advanced electronic and energy devices,” Drzal said. “It can do so because it’s a nanoparticle with a unique shape made from environmentally benign carbon, and it can be made at a very reasonable cost.”
The recent energy crisis and soaring oil prices have compelled the human race to look for alternate energy sources, such solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear and bio fuels. Harnessing of nuclear power is getting new impetus.
Nanophotonics is living up to the hype. The study of light on the nanoscale might have been a ‘buzzword’ within optics circles a couple of years ago, but this tiny science is now moving away from the world of theoretical science and new research facilities are popping up in laboratories around the world.
And, with it, nanophotonics brings a myriad of new nano-prefixed buzzwords, including nanocapacitors, nanoforests, nanorice and nanoshells. But the real buzz is around the applications that using light as a tool on the submicron scale could open up.
Continue reading ‘NSTT – A Promising Tool for Properties Enhancement of Heat-Treated Steels’ »
Researchers at Northwestern University and Princeton University have created a new kind of polymer that, because of its extraordinary thermal and mechanical properties, could be used in everything from airplanes to solar cells.
The polymer, a nanocomposite that incorporates functionalized, exfoliated graphene sheets, even conducts electricity, and researchers hope to use that property to eventually create thermally stable, optically transparent conducting polymers.
Continue reading ‘By Adding Graphene, Researchers Create Superior Polymer’ »
Gnat-sized robots, microscopic gyroscopes, television beamed directly onto your retina. This may sound like a grocery list for a crazed sci-fi visionary. But all these projects are in the works today, thanks to an emerging chip technology known as microelectromechanical systems. While magical microbots may still be a few years away, MEMS are already a multibillion-dollar business in the car, printer, and display-projection industries.
Traditional chips are flat, static structures. MEMS, by contrast, are silicon wafers packed with kinetic, three-dimensional gizmos: laboratories, laser-guided mirrors, canals flowing with chemicals. An offshoot of the semiconductor industry, MEMS benefit from the well-known peculiarities of the silicon universe - every year chips get tinier, cheaper, and faster.
Continue reading ‘As the MEMS Revolution Takes Off, Small Is Getting Bigger Every Day’ »
Future nanomanufacturing processes will rely on two basic principles: a combination of chemical synthesis and self-assembly on one hand and robotic nanofabrication on the other. While the former is a controlled ‘natural’ process relying on chemistry and self-organization principles of nature (read more: How falling spaghettis could lead to more complex nanotechnology self-assembly), the latter will be an industrial process similar in concept to today’s automated manufacturing assembly lines.
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Color coding: This prototype of a new paper diagnostic test from Harvard University analyzes the glucose (left well) and protein (right well) content of urine; the top well is a control for the glucose assay. The beige part of the test paper has been treated with a hydrophobic polymer that channels the liquid into the wells. In this test, the paper was dipped in an artificial urine solution that contained glucose and a protein extracted from cow blood.
By taking advantage of the natural movement of liquid through paper, researchers at Harvard’s Whitesides Research Group may have found a way to make microfluidics technology much cheaper. The result could be disposable diagnostic tests simple and abundant enough for use in the developing world.
The field of microfluidics deals with the precise manipulation of tiny quantities of liquid. One of its most promising applications is the so-called lab-on-a-chip, which can work with much smaller fluid samples than larger devices require, potentially allowing for more portable diagnostic tools. But existing microfluidic chips are generally made from comparatively expensive materials like silicon, glass, or plastic and have tiny pumps and valves that can be difficult to manufacture.
Silicon Carbide: Material Platform for Harsh Environment Solutions Silicon carbide (SiC) has been used for many conventional applications that require mechanical and chemical stability at high temperatures. Mechanical stability is defined as the ability of a particular material to preserve its mechanical properties – elasticity, fracture toughness, hardness – at temperatures below and above room temperature.
Chemical stability is similarly defined as the ability of a particular material to preserve its composition at temperatures below and above room temperature. For high temperature applications, mechanical properties tend to deteriorate and chemical stability is compromised as corrosion processes occur.
Any material that can overcome these mechanical and chemical limitations becomes a candidate for what are called “harsh environment” applications. Harsh environment means a combination of media properties that can interact with the exposed material and alter its originally intended behavior. Harsh environments can be classified in three broad categories: 1) mechanically aggressive: high loads, vibration, shock; 2) thermally aggressive: high temperature; and 3) chemically aggressive: corrosive media.
Continue reading ‘SiC MEMS Pressure Sensors: Technology, Applications and Markets’ »
