Nano racing Car: Vienna University

This racing car is the size of a grain of sand. Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology used a 3D printer with nano precision to break the world record for fastest two-photon lithography.

The technique sees liquid resin hardened by a laser beam.

The focal point of the laser beam is guided through the resin by movable mirrors, and leaves behind a line of solid polymer, just a few hundred nanometres wide.

This high resolution enables the creation of intricately structured sculptures as tiny as a grain of sand...Picture: TU Wien / Rex Features

Smart paint uses Fly Ash to revolutionize structural safety - Scottish Research

Dr. Mohamed Saafi, University of Strathclyde. Credit: University of Strathclyde

An innovative low-cost smart paint that can detect microscopic faults in wind turbines, mines and bridges before structural damage occurs is being developed by researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

The environmentally-friendly paint uses nanotechnology to detect movement in large structures, and could shape the future of safety monitoring.

Traditional methods of assessing large structures are complex, time consuming and use expensive instrumentation, with costs spiraling into millions of pounds each year.

However, the smart paint costs just a fraction of the cost and can be simply sprayed onto any surface, with electrodes attached to detect structural damage long before failure occurs.

Dr Mohamed Saafi, of the Strathclyde University's Department of Civil Engineering, said: "The development of this smart paint technology could have far-reaching implications for the way we monitor the safety of large structures all over the world.

"There are no limitations as to where it could be used and the low-cost nature gives it a significant advantage over the current options available in the industry. The process of producing and applying the paint also gives it an advantage as no expertise is required and monitoring itself is straightforward."

The paint is formed using a recycled waste product known as fly ash and highly aligned carbon nanotubes. When mixed it has a cement-like property which makes it particularly useful in harsh environments.

Dr Saafi explained: "The process of monitoring involves in effect a wireless sensor network. The paint is interfaced with wireless communication nodes with power harvesting and warning capability to remotely detect any unseen damage such as micro-cracks in a wind turbine concrete foundation.

"Wind turbine foundations are currently being monitored through visual inspections. The developed paint with the wireless monitoring system would significantly reduce the maintenance costs and improve the safety of these large structures.

"Current technology is restricted to looking at specific areas of a structure at any given time, however, smart paint covers the whole structure which is particularly useful to maximise the opportunity of preventing significant damage."

The research has been carried out at Strathclyde with Dr Saafi working alongside David McGahon, who initiated the work as part of his PhD project.

With fly ash being the main material used to make the paint, it costs just one percent of the alternative widely used inspection methods.

A prototype has been developed and tests have shown the paint to be highly effective. It is hoped further tests will be carried out in Glasgow in the near future.

Dr Saafi added: "We are able to carry out the end-to-end process at the University and we are hoping that we can now demonstrate its effectiveness on a large structure.

"The properties of the fly ash give the paint a durability that will allow it to be used in any environment which will be a massive advantage in areas where the weather can make safety monitoring particularly difficult.

"The smart paint represents a significant development and is one that has possibly been overlooked as a viable solution because research tends to focus on high-tech options that look to eliminate human control. Our research shows that by maintaining the human element the costs can be vastly reduced without an impact on effectiveness."

Nanotube Springs Stretch Skin-Like Sensor - YouTube

Using carbon nanotubes bent to act as springs, Stanford researchers have developed a stretchable, transparent skin-like sensor.

The sensor can be stretched to more than twice its original length and bounce back perfectly to its original shape.

It can sense pressure from a firm pinch to thousands of pounds. The sensor could have applications in prosthetic limbs, robotics and touch-sensitive computer displays.

Stanford University:
http://www.stanford.edu/

European Strategy for Nanometrology: National Physical Laboratory

The current global measurement infrastructure is rapidly extending into the nanoscale and beyond, to bring nanotechnology based products or manufacturing processes successfully and safely into the marketplace.

It must provide the ability to measure in three dimensions with atomic resolution over large areas.

For industrial application this must also be achieved at a suitable speed/throughput.

European Nanometrology 2020 – provides a common strategy for European nanometrology so that future development can be built on current strengths.

The document contains the vision for European nanometrology; future goals and research needs, based on the status of science and technology in 2010.

It incorporates concepts for the acceleration of European nanometrology, in support of the effective commercial exploitation of emerging nanotechnologies.

European Nanometrology 2020 produced by Co-Nanomet which co-ordinates a programme of activities addressing the need within Europe to develop the required measurement frame to successfully support the development and economic exploitation of nanotechnology.

Find out more about NPL's Nanoscience - Contact: Richard Leach

One box of Girl Scout cookies worth $15 billion - YouTube

In a paper published in the journal ACS Nano, scientists  described how graphene, a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon, can be made from just about any carbon source, including food, insects, and waste.

Read the original study: DOI: 10.1021/nn202625c

“I said we could grow it from any carbon source, for example, a Girl Scout cookie, because Girl Scout cookies were being served at the time,” says James Tour, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and of computer science at Rice University. “So one of the people in the room said, ‘Yes, please do it. … Let’s see that happen.’”

A sheet of graphene is so thin that one sheet made from one box of shortbread cookies would cover nearly three football fields.

The scientists say the experiment is a whimsical way to make a serious point: that graphene, touted as a miracle material for its toughness and conductivity since its discovery in 2004, can be drawn from many sources.

Tour and graduate students Gedeng Ruan, lead author of the paper, and Zhengzong Sun, also tested other materials, including chocolate, grass, polystyrene plastic, insects (a cockroach leg) and even dog faeces.

In every case, the researchers were able to make high-quality graphene via carbon deposition on copper foil.

In this process, the graphene forms on the opposite side of the foil as solid carbon sources decompose; the other residues are left on the original side. Typically, this happens in about 15 minutes in a furnace flowing with argon and hydrogen gas and turned up to 1,050 degrees Celsius.

Tour expects the cost of graphene to drop quickly as commercial interests develop methods to manufacture it in bulk. In earlier research, Tour  described a long-sought way to make graphene-based transparent electrodes by combining graphene with a fine aluminum mesh.

The material could possibly replace expensive indium tin oxide as a basic element in flat-panel and touch-screen displays, solar cells, and LED lighting.

The new findings have “a lot to do with current research topics in academia and in industry,” Tour says. “Carbon—or any element—in one form can be inexpensive and in another form can be very expensive.”

Diamonds are a good example., he says. “You could probably get a very large diamond out of a box of Girl Scout cookies.”

Sandia National Laboratory, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Office of Naval Research MURI program funded the research.

More news from Rice University: www.media.rice.edu/media/

Researchers create smallest nanowire battery ever

Rice University scientists announced they figured out how to squish all three parts of a lithium storage device onto one nanowire with all key parts: anode, cathode, and electrolyte.

Keep in mind, the battery is so small, you can barely see it with your eyes when you look at it from a certain angle because its diameter is that of a human hair.

But the device has thousands of nanowires that work together as a battery and could one day power nanoscale electronics, according to researchers.
Rice engineer Pulickel Ajayan told PhysOrg.com:

“We have demonstrated the working of a nanowire array device planted over a geometric area of about 0.5 cm². Devices at this scale could be used to power several MEMS devices. Ultimately, individual nanowire batteries could each power a few nanowire semiconductor devices, for example.”

The researchers showed that the battery has good charge and discharge abilities, all things that would make it perform well as a battery. The main components include a nickel-tin anode, polyethylene oxide (PEO) electrolyte and polyaniline cathode.

Also, the scientists showed that lithium ions could move through the battery and store the ions. Anjayan explained that by putting the cathode inside the nanowire, the device was designed not only to store energy but could also act as an insulator.

The team had been working towards building the single-nanowire device for a while. Last fall, they created three-dimensional nanobatteries.

For now, the researchers are working on improving the battery’s efficiency and will worry about the real applications in the future.

The main focus now is to improve the performance of the battery by fiddling with the types of materials in the system.

via Rice University

First self-powered device can transmit data wirelessly over long distances

Recent advancements in sensor technology and electronics have allowed electronics to generate enough energy from movements.

According to a new study, scientists have developed the first self-powered nano-device that can transmit data wirelessly.

The device has a nanogenerator that generates electricity from mechanical vibrations. There’s also a capacitor that can store the extra energy and a Bluetooth-like communication system that transmits data wirelessly over distances of more than 30 feet.

It’s not far-fetched to think that surveillance cameras could travel in the air and be powered by the wind, wearable personal electronics could be powered by the person’s strides and implantable medical sensors could be powered by the patient’s blood flow.

It’s feasible that in the future, sources like airflow, solar or chemical energy could power devices so batteries don’t have to.

Source: American Chemical Society

Non-Bees Stinging Tumours

They're called "nanobees," and they're not insects -- they're tiny particles designed to destroy cancer cells by delivering a synthesized version of toxin called melittin that is found in bees.

"Melittin, which would otherwise result in substantial destruction of your red blood cells and other normal tissues if it were delivered intravenously alone, is completely safe when it's on a nanoparticle," said Dr. Samuel Wickline, director of the Siteman Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Nanobees are one of the latest examples of how nanotechnology may change the way diseases are treated.

Nanotechnology encompasses a wide array of innovations that make use of structures that are 100 nanometers or smaller. That means they generally cannot be seen under a regular microscope, but are larger than individual atoms. For example, a nanobee is less than 10 times diameter of a red blood cell, Wickline said.

Particles on the nanoscale are small enough to enter cells, but big enough to carry large doses of drugs, said Robert Langer, Institute professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a leader in the nanotech field. Watch MIT researchers talk about nanotechnology

"We are gradually forming a pipeline of nanotechnology-based products," said Piotr Grodzinski, director of the National Cancer Institute's Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, a program that funds eight Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence in the U.S., including Wickline's and Langer's research initiatives. "These things are happening as we speak."

There have already been two approved cancer treatments on the market that make use of nanoparticles: ovarian cancer drug Doxil, approved in 1995, and breast cancer drug Abraxane, approved in 2005. Both of these involve medication bound with nanoparticles that circulate in the bloodstream for longer than conventional drugs and are expected to migrate to the tumor site, Grodzinski said. These drugs are being tested in some of the eight clinical trials associated with the NCI nano program.