Church Window Purifies Air

August 27, 2008

Here's a strange little tidbit. Scientists at Queensland University of Technology have found that stained glass windows common in medieval churches helped purify the congregational air -- and I'm not talking spiritually.

Window glaziers used gold particles in the paint. When sunlight shines on the window, the electromagnetic field of the protons couples with the electrons in the gold particles and creates a resonance. That breaks apart airborne pollutants, such as methanol, carbon monoxide and those volatile organic molecules from new furniture, carpets and paint.

The scientist, associate professor Zhu Huai Yong (right), calls the stained glass windows "photocatalytic air purifiers with nanostructured gold catalyst." I think you could buy the windows at Ye Olde Nano Shoppe.

Photo: Queensland University of Technology

Online Inventory of Nanotech-Based Consumer Products

August 25, 2008

Although nanotech seems like one of those future areas that won't be realized for years, consumer products based on this area of research are already entering the marketplace. You can find nanosized materials in electronics, automotive, medical and cosmetic products. But what are they?

The Project on Emerging Nanotechnology has published the first public, online inventory designed to help answer that question. While not comprehensive, this inventory lists more than 500 nanotechnology-based consumer items for sale. PEN is keeping a running list (and making it available to you) because they don't feel entirely confident that researchers and policymakers understand how nanosized materials may affect the environment or the people that come into contact with the materials (either in the factory or on the store shelf).

The categories are:

• Appliances
• Automotive
• Coatings
• Electronics
• Food and Beverages (REALLY??)
• Goods for Children
• Health and Fitness
• Home and Garden

Take a look to see if any products you have around the house contain nanosized materials.

Photo: Getty Images

Battery Made from Viruses

August 22, 2008

A couple of years ago, MIT researchers announced that they had found a way to use viruses to assemble tiny components of a battery. Basically, they altered the viruses' genetic makeup so that it would produce proteins that attracted molecules of cobalt. When the colbalt built up on the stringy virus, vóila, you had an ultrathin wire. Such batteries could one day power miniature devices and sensors.

Now those scientists are saying they have a developed a method to fabricate and then position some of the battery components  (two opposite electrodes — an anode and cathode — separated by an electrolyte) onto a variety of surfaces.

 
First, the scientists create a particular pattern into a clear rubbery material (right). Then, they spread over it several layers of a solution containing two polymers. As they solidify, one solution acts like a battery electrolyte. On top of that, the scientists deposit the genetically altered viruses, which self-assemble into neat formation. They become the anode. (The team is still working to create the cathode.)

With the parts assembled on the rubbery material, the scientists then turn into arts and crafts majors and use that as a stamp. They turn the stamp over and transfer the electrolyte and anode to a platinum structure. You could imagine that eventually, if all of the planets align, such a process could be scaled up to a factory setting, where little virus batteries are stamped out at hundreds or thousands per hour.

If this battery were ever used in an iPod or an electric car, would it catch a cold ?

Photo courtesy / Belcher Laboratory, MIT

Shameless Use of Olympics to Promote Nano

August 21, 2008

Researchers at Northwestern University have mass-produced the Olympic logo on a miniature scale to demonstrate a printing method called polymer pen lithography. The technique is similar to an old-fashioned quill pen. Pressing light produces a fine dot of ink, but pressing down harder causes the tip to flatten out a bit and produce a fatter line.

I think it's a flagrant piggyback ride on the back of Olympic hype, but here I am writing about. The reason is that I think it's a good example of scale. Nanostuff is so small that sometimes it's difficult (sometimes? how about all of the times) to imagine just how big or small we're talking.

In this case, the Olympic logos are so small that 2,500 of them would fit on a single grain of rice. Just pause for a second and consider that. A grain of rice. Pretty small. Then 2,500 logos on it. For comparison, I was thinking of other tiny things and how (or whether) they'd fit on a grain of rice. Sugar crystals, for example. But those are way too big. There are 20,000 grains of sugar in teaspoon. The logos on the rice are much smaller. The whole thing rings of "Horton Hears a Who!" You know, speck on speck. Mind-boggling, really.

Photo: Chad Mirkin/Northwestern University

Worried that the United States Lacks Future Scientists?

August 20, 2008

Kids these days. Playing Wii. Eating cheetos. Messing up their rooms. Scoring low in math and science. How will they ever buck up, grow up and run the country?

Well, take a chill pill. After coming across this little nugget, I'm gonna hunker down in front of the Wii myself with a bowl full of cheese that goes crunch.

The link is to the Davidson Institute for Talent Development and every year they award scholarships to "profoundly gifted" young people under 18. I get a little narrow-eyed whenever I hear the words "gifted child." Everyone thinks their kid is super smart and needs special attention. But, seriously, these kids are no joke, winning $10,000 to $50,000 scholarships for their brainy ideas. Some examples:

• In his project, “Translation – Invariant Binary Representations,” Akhil Matthew worked on a problem involving the encoding of real numbers into zero-one sequences without reference to an origin.
• In her project, “Investigating an Allosteric Binding Site for a New Class of HIV-1 Protease Inhibitors,” Christine Shrock developed an approach to finding a more effective HIV treatment.
• In his project, “High Efficient 3-Dimensional Nanotube Solar Cell for Visible and UV Light,” Williaminvented a novel solar panel that enables light absorption from visible to ultraviolet light.   
• In his project, “Novel Herd Immunity Threshold Analysis Incorporating Population Dynamics and Gradual Immunization,” Nathan Georgette developed a novel mathematical model intended to reduce the costs of stopping viral disease outbreaks in impoverished nations.

Wowsers. Disease, energy, algorithms for signal processing....I think we're going to be okay. 

Photo: Paul Taylor

Rock Out to Snake Robot Vid

August 15, 2008

Every once in a while, a snake robot video with a techno beat background is in order. For more see Howie Choset's snake video page at Carnegie Mellon University.

Sheet of Tiny Antennae Harvest Sunlight and Heat

August 14, 2008

When you think of harvesting solar energy, most likely you think of solar cells, which convert sunlight into electricity.

But the sun is made up of a wide spectrum of light, and solar cells typically capitalize on only the visible light. Now researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory have found a way to collect mid-infrared rays, which the planet radiates as heat. This kind of energy is not only produced constantly by the Earth after it absorbs sunlight during the day, but it's also generated by factories and coal-fired plants.

The researchers developed a thin plastic sheet containing billions of tiny nanoantennas that can harvest the mid-infrared rays. In addition to potentially harvesting energy radiating from the planet, the sheets could also work to absorb waste  heat and cool down buildings or electronic devices without air-conditioners and fans.

The nanoantennas are made from gold and set in a specially treated form of polyethylene, a material used in plastic bags. One square (at right) contains roughly 260 million antennae.

Modifying the antennae in size and shape allows them to pick up other wavelengths of light. This means that the sheets could be manufactured to have two sides -- each side harvesting energy from a different part of the sun's spectrum.

The plastic sheets could also be stamped with the gold antenna, the way newspapers are stamped with ink in a large printing press. That could make it cheap to manufacture large sheets that cover the roof of a building or form the skin of consumer gadget.

Photo courtesy Steven Novack, Idaho National Laboratory

Prize Competition Carrots Could Spark Nano Innovation

August 13, 2008

You've heard of the X Prize competitions, right? $10 mill to the first team who can develop a plane for space or a 100 mpg car. We may soon have one for nanotech. According to an article in Small Times, congressman Dan Lipinski (D-IL) and congressman (R-MO) Todd Akin have introduced H.R. 6661, which if passed, could establish a Nanotechnology Innovation and Prize Competition Act.

The bill's one-liner: "To require the Secretary of Commerce to establish an award program to honor achievements in nanotechnology, and for other purposes."

The financial prize amount has not yet been established, but the bill identifies five areas of application for which someone could win:

environment
alternative energy
human health
nanoelectronics
consumer products

Previous X prizes have accelerated innovation, created jobs and stimulated the economy not to mention the excitement surrounding a particular area of science. I think the new wave of offering a prize puts inventiveness under a new light. Instead of those at the top of an organization laying out a mandate, it encourages solutions from the bottom. Here's the carrot, you do what it takes to get there. I love it.

Photo: Digital Vision

A Balloon Just One Atom Thick

August 12, 2008

You hear a lot these days about carbon nanotubes. But lately there's been even more buzz about nanotubes' cousing, graphene -- a layer of graphite just one atom thick. It's chemically stable and electrically conducting, two characteristics that make it (and carbon nanotubes) appealing for use in future electronics.

This week, researchers report an interesting use for graphene: an atomic membrane that is impermeable to gas molecules and can be easily incorporated into other devices.

The researchers from Cornell are calling their membrane the world's thinnest balloon and are saying that it could have a range of applications from hyper-sensitive pressure, light and chemical sensors to filters able to produce ultrapure solutions. They report their work in the August 13 issue of ACS' Nano Letters.

Photo: American Chemical Society
 

"Stretchtronics" from Carbon Nanotubes

August 08, 2008

This is pretty cool. Imagine being able to roll up your computer monitor or stretch a thin solar panel over a curved facade or wrap electronic sensors around the arm of a robot. You can't do that today because most electronics are built on rigid semiconductor surfaces.

But a team of Japanese researchers have designed a super-stretchy, rubbery material that could make way for all of those things I mentioned above. Their material is made from a carbon nanotube-elastomer composite material that incorporates an array of organic transistors.

The sheet can be stretched in several different directions more than 70 percent more than its original shape without any damage occurring to the electronics.

The team report their work in this week's issue of Science.

Photo: Courtesy of Science/AAAS