2010 Outlook - 2009 Recap DETAILS

2009 was not a great year for Nanotechnology. Maybe 2010 will be better. Let's explore the 2009 highlights. (Tim Harper of Cientifica published a December white paper on this subject that I urge you to read. Tim and I have similar views. My recommended strategies are somewhat different. ) One major change occurred in 2009 - "Green" completely replaced "Nanotech" as the hot "next big technology" arena - despite all agreeing that the road to green runs through the nanotech space.

Nanotechnology commercialization, or what disperately passes for a nanotechnology industry, lost momentum in 2009. There were no major nanotech "blockbuster" product breakthroughs nor across the board economic triumphs. Only one significant IPO - A123 Systems - occurred. Environmental and health scare pressures, loudly and inaccurately voiced, put the fear of regulation on every nanotech funding source's radar further slowing down an almost dead financing market. Established nanocompanies with good technology were almost destroyed by third party IP suits (ironically with little or no revenue to share) or shut down because they just ran out of money and couldn't raise more. Finally, little progress was made in the key challenge in nanotech… scaling up production to macro sized usability consistently in volume without difficult or major losses. In short, nanoscience worldwide continued reasonable funded and reasonably successfully; commercial nanotechnology was hard pressed to show significant progress toward large production and profitability and was dollar short the entire year.

During 2009, potential nanotech markets turned soft. Not only was the general economy dangerously depressed and unemployment growing each month, but all levels of markets for new technologies like nanotech - especially new applications of newer technologies - dried up. Businesses hunkered down, concentrating their reduced resources on core businesses, trying to survive the economic mess. Nanotechnology treaded water, barely staying afloat and barely visible within the green fog hype Then there was the nanotech hype.

Ridiculous reports were issued showing $30 plus billion of domestic nanotechnology sales touting the outstanding growth of nanotech product sales … terribly deceiving numbers. Removing semiconductors markets where natural "Mooore's Law" evolution has led semiconductor designs into nanotechnology sized elements, leaves insignificant growth in "all else" nanotech product sales during 2009. Most of the products in those cited billions of market dollars estimates used miniscule amounts of nanotechnology sized materials and under most original definitions, couldn't be classified as "nanotechnology" products. Such products are established " nanotechnology enhanced" products, not nanotech products. Clearly, these billions of sales were not new because of Nanotech and shouldn't be counted as nanotechnology product sales. I won't venture to estimate the size of the 2009 "nanotechnology market presence" but if it was 15 % of the quoted study markets, I would deem that a generous estimate. (excluding unknown black military sales where nano coating sales alone are in the millions)

Clearly, there was no "blockbuster" product design that could capture the imagination of the customers. Financially, as in most other industries, losses and negative cash flow permeated the Nanotech. There was progress in three specific marketplaces and these bode well for further progress in 2010. The healthcare, pharmaceutical and diagnostic markets were ripe with product possibilities and entres. The trends toward personalized medicine and the new health care legislation will further enhance nanotechnologies core functions in these market. The second market is energy. Progress in nanotechnology based solar energy technologies was dramatic, driving cost per watt install down near the magic cost of a $1/watt. Last there were water purification markets. Other promising areas with near term product possibilities are sensors and coatings. It is difficult however to construct profitable business models for these promising areas.

Last, a 2010 observation from 2009 on how a nanotechnology company can forge a path to profitability. First, no company involved solely in nanomaterials will ever be sustainably profitable. These products become commodities and remain the long term province of large well estabilished already profitable companies. Rule 1 is that a smaller nanotechnology company has to have products that reach up the value chain to capture some of the upstream profitability. Rule 2 is that no nanotech company with a single product or product line will gain stable profitability. To win, small companies have to combine with at least two other product lines and groupings to obtain volume potential and market diversity. Look at NVE as an example of a very profitable nanotech company with three different product technologies and lines. Whether you like it or not, you have to merge together and consolidate for success. And the 3 rule is that your financing has to have three specific legs. First private or venture money. Second, some form of public or quasi public financing and last a piece of the government nanotechnology money, state money or of the stimulus plan. Look at A 123 and NVE as models. Notice their funding sources. Pay attention and prosper.

If you pay attention and restructure around these 2009 lessons, you can win. If not you may be out of business at the end of 2010.

Nano twin boundaries for that extra strength and stretch

Defects and boundaries are often created intentionally within materials to provide extra strength. However, this process comes at a price. Although the material is now stronger, it is also more brittle and its ability to stretch and deform is drastically reduced. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in China have devised strategies to overcome this loss of ductility and the answer comes in the form of nanoscale twin boundaries

Defects and boundaries are often created intentionally within materials to provide extra strength. However, this process comes at a price. Although the material is now stronger, it is also more brittle and its ability to stretch and deform is drastically reduced. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in China have devised strategies to overcome this loss of ductility and the answer comes in the form of nanoscale twin boundaries (TBs) [Lu, et al., Science (2009) 324, 349].

The team has identified three structural characteristics of boundaries that are essential for improving strength and ductility, namely TBs that are coherent with their surrounding matrix, are thermally and mechanically stable, and have feature sizes less than 100 nm.

The problem with traditional methods used to create boundaries at crystallographic planes or in atomic vacancies is that a mismatch is created between two regions such that the arrangements of atoms do not mirror each other on each side of the boundary. This is why the material becomes brittle. However, nanoscale TBs can be engineered to ensure coherent internal interfaces. These TBs have high thermal and mechanical stability and act as slip planes at which internal stress is released. Introducing nanoscale TBs into pure Cu increases the metal's mechanical strength by an order of magnitude but only marginally affects its conductivity. If the TB is 15 nm thick, it gives 14% elongation to failure which can be reduced further with finer TBs.

Making coherent nanoscale TBs is of course, a technical challenge. They can be fabricated through physical and chemical processes such as pulsed electrodeposition, sputter deposition, phase deformation, phase transformation, and recrystallization.

Electrodeposition can create a high density of nanoscale TBs, up to 100 nm in thickness, which nucleate at the material's grain boundaries, decreasing the total interfacial energy through orientation differences. Their formation is kinetically driven and can be engineered by changing deposition conditions. On the other hand, nanoscale TBs can be fabricated at a high deposition rate by sputter deposition. In this case, thin films can be grown that have coherent TBs parallel to the surface.

Whereas both these deposition methods are ideal for creating thin foils, plastic deformation is a process that is better adapted to bulk metals and alloys as it gives rise to very thin TBs inside materials that have low stacking fault energies, such as steels.

International Conference on Nano Science and Technology

The 2010 International Conference on Nano Science and Technology (ICONSAT) will be held in Bombay, Mumbai, India from February 17-20, 2010. The conference is the 4th in a series and is sponsored by the Nano Mission, Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the Government of India. The purpose of ICONSAT is to provide students, researchers, technologists and entrepreneurs with the opportunity to interact regarding current developments and future trends in the areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The following topics will be deliberated: novel synthetic methods; fabrication and devices; functional materials; materials for food and environment; electronics, magnetics and photonics; materials for energy; hybrids; and, technology for medicine. The full program and registration information can be found online at the link below.

Nanotechnology with Carbon Nanotubes

Columns, pipes, bearings and springs are a few common ways that engineers have made use of the geometric shape known as a 'cylinder.' The utility of this shape is apparent in architecture, plumbing and mechanical devices. Carbon nanotubes are molecular cylinders that are rapidly extending our ability to fabricate nanoscale devices by providing molecular probes, pipes, wires, bearings and springs.

Their strength as structural supports comes from their sturdy molecular structure, which looks like what one would get if one could roll a two dimensional sheet of graphite into a three dimensional cylinder. The limit to how long they can be is unknown, thus aerospace scientists are seriously considering using them as cables extending into space, an idea that is not possible with traditional ropes since they would break under their own weight. Furthermore, carbon nanotubes can easily be cut into sections as small as a few nanometers . One of the first important applications of carbon nanotubes has been in the fabrication of sharp, strong and functionalized AFM probe tips.

The hollow nature of nanotubes allow them to function as pipes for transporting and molding atoms and molecules. Furthermore, the tubes come in insulating, semiconducting and conducting form, meaning that they can also be used as molecular wires and circuits . Whats more, capillary induced filling of the nanotubes with other materials further extends the diversity of nanowires that can be fabricated. The electronic properties of carbon nanotubes are directly related to their shape, making them an important Nano-Electromechanical System (NEMS). For example, the feasibility of a nanotube-based random access memory device with a memory density around 100 gigabytes/cm2 and an operation frequency around 100 gigahertz has recently been developed at Harvard University.

In addition to their high aspect ratio (meaning long and thin) and particle transport capabilities, carbon nanotubes can also function as durable bearings and springs. Nanotubes can be fabricated in two forms: single-wall nanotubes (SWNT) or multi-wall nanotubes (MWNT). While a SWNT consists of only a single cylinder, a MWNT consists of several (between 2 and 30) concentric tubes, each with a specific diameter. Physicists at the University of California, Berkeley have recently demonstrated that a MWNT can act as a molecular bearing when one of the inner tubes rotates, or as a molecular spring when an inner tube is pulled out, causing the MWNT to stretch in a way similar to a telescope .

A waterproof gas nanosensor

There is increasing demand for low-cost gas sensors that can discriminate between low concentrations of analytes.

There is increasing demand for low-cost gas sensors that can discriminate between low concentrations of analytes. Nanotechnology offers the promise of improved gas sensors with low-power consumption, fast response time which will enable portability for a wide range of applications. It is well documentated that nanostructured materials such as nanotubes and nanowires are suitable for sensing a number of different gases.

In most cases, these sensors were subject to cross interference by other analytes. While arraying of nanostructured gas sensing materials combined with advanced numerical methods such as pattern recognition has the potential to filter out some of these interferences, the development of more analyte specific sensors is highly desirable.

A group of scientists from the states [Zhang et al., Nanotechnology (2009) 20 255501] have successfully manufactured a nanostructured materials sensor for ammonia gas which can be tuned to eliminate the interference of water vapour. By precisely functionalising single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) networks with camphorsulphonic acid doped polyaniline (PANI(CSA)), the opposite electrical response toward humid air of CSA doped PANI and SWNTs effectively cancelled the humidity interference.

The morphology of the PANI(CSA) coated SWNT networks was characterized using Atomic force microscope, AFM images and diameter histograms of PANI(CSA) coated SWNTs revealed nodular polymer deposits on the SWNTs.

Temperature dependent I-V curves showed a nonlinear “S” shape, with a nonlinearlity decreasing with increasing temperature. The electrical resistence decreased sharply with the increasing temperature indicating that the PANI(CSA)-SWNT network behaved as a typical semiconductor.

CSA-doped PANI was precisely electro polymerized onto SWNTs with controlled thickness by Zhang and his colleagues. The resulting sensors showed excellent sensitivity toward NH3 at room temperature with minimum interference from H2O vapor. Overall, these results demonstrate that short comings of conventional sensors can be over come by designing novel nano engineered materials. The approach of using nanostructures with opposite electrical responses to interferences should be generally applicable to the development of analyte specific nano sensors.The approach paves the way for the development of more selective gas nano sensors.

Real World Applications of Nanotechnology

The consumer world is exploding with “nanotechnology enhanced” products. Consumer products is an area where the experts are saying the most immediate nanotechnology impacts will be made and recognized by the majority of people in the world. Currently there are numerous products on the market that are the result of nanotechnology.

For the sporting enthusiast, we have tennis balls that last longer, tennis rackets that are stronger, golf balls that fly straighter, nano ski wax that is easier to apply and more effective than standard wax, and bowling balls that are harder; and these products are just scratching the surface. These products all use nanostructured materials to give them enhanced performance.

Speaking of scratching the surface, we also have nano car wax that fills in those tiny cracks more effectively and gives you a shinier vehicle. There are also nano products available to keep your eyewear and other optical devices cleaner, dryer, and more durable.

In the clothing world, we have pants that repel water and won’t stain shirts and shoe inserts that keep you cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and nano socks that don’t “stink” due to the inclusion of nanotech materials (nanosized sliver particles). Nano-ceramic coatings are being utilized on photo quality picture paper to deliver sharper, higher quality “homemade” digital photo reproductions on your ink jet printer. How about that DVD you watched last night? Any idea how big the features on that now ubiquitous product are? DVD “bumps” to store information at 320 nanometers wide/

The world of electronics has been using many of the key methods shared by other nanotechnology disciplines for many years. As an example, think of the evolution of the video game. Nanotechnology has enabled arcade size video games of yesteryear like Pong, Frogger, and PacMan to be replaced with very sophisticated home Playstations, X-Boxes, and Game Cubes that play “life like” Madden 2005, Grand Theft Auto, and Halo 2 video games.

There are also a tremendous amount of other electronic applications out there that are effecting our every day lives. Just take a trip to your local electronics mega-store and you will see a multitude of these including: faster and more powerful computers, palm pilots (blackberries), flash drives, digital cameras and displays, cell phones, LCDs, LEDs, MP3’s, electronic ink displays, thin film batteries, and flexible electronics to name a few. All of these applications are possible and affordable due to the ability to work effectively and efficiently at the nano-scale.

The biotech world also has many real world applications currently in use or under development that are, or will be, affecting our quality of life. Bandages embedded with silver nanoparticles are coming of age in the wound healing arena. And We now have drug delivery via a patch. A variety of time release thin films are now utilized on implantations into the human body (for example screws, joints, and stents) and these films are affecting the long term effectiveness of these devices,. Respiration monitors utilizing nano-materials have been developed that are many times more sensitive than previous state of the art technology. Man-made skin is a nanofabricated network and is presently in use for skin graft applications. Some other nanotechnology applications which are currently under development in the biotech world are diabetic insulin biocapsules, pharmaceuticals utilizing “bucky ball” technology to selectively deliver drugs, and cancer therapies using targeted radioactive biocapsules.

The world around us is filled with applications that nanotechnology makes possible. Don’t believe it? Look around! You won’t have to look far before these applications become evident to you. Nanotechnology is influencing the development of a wide variety of very diverse fields; among these are electronics, biotechnology, and consumer applications. From tennis balls to bandages to palm pilots, nanotechnology is making a significant impact on the jobs we work at and the products that we enjoy.

Carbon nanotube tips for AFM

The impact of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) over the past 20 years has been dramatic: its invention was, for example recently rated the second most important advance in materials science of the past 50 years.

The impact of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) over the past 20 years has been dramatic: its invention was, for example recently rated the second most important advance in materials science of the past 50 years. SPM techniques share a common feature, the use of a probe to detect a spatially localized signal. In most cases it is the probe that limits the spatial resolution of the technique.

The most common form of SPM is atomic force microscopy (AFM), where the probe is a sharp tip, usually mounted on a microscale cantilever that acts to transduce the tip–sample force (the localized signal). A map of surface topography is constructed by scanning the tip across the substrate. The resultant image is a convolution of the tip geometry with the surface topography. Commercial AFMs can have sub-Ångström noise levels, but the realizable lateral spatial resolution is limited by the tip geometry and is typically around two orders of magnitude larger. For an ideal AFM tip, the exact tip geometry and chemistry should be known, the tip dimensions should be as small as possible without sacrificing rigidity, and the probe should be capable of imaging over a long lifetime, while aintaining a constant geometry.

Attempts have been made to create ‘ideal’ tips using methodologies such as focused ion-beam structuring of the tip apex. However, the above requirements are perhaps best met by carbon nanotubes: cylindrical shells of graphene with diameters as small as 1 nm. Indeed, carbon nanotubes show great promise as AFM tips despite the substantial challenges involved in their fabrication. [Wilson and Macpherson doi: 10.1038/nnano.2009.154 ]present a review article that looks at the progress in the production and application of carbon nanotube AFM tips since their arrival onthe SPM scene in 1996.

A readily available source of nanotube tips would further open up the AFM imaging world, increasing tip longevity, reducing tip imaging artefacts, increasing resolution and decreasing tip–surface forces. It would also have a significant impact in key research areas such as structural biology, biotechnology, metrology and nanoelectronics.

The question then remains, why are nanotube tips not being used routinely for AFM imaging and characterization? The answer lies in the fabrication. Progress in this area is being made, but obstacles still remain. However, the significant rewards waiting will ensure that this remains an active area for the foreseeable future.

Top Nano Products Of 2005

Finally, we are living in a nanotech age. There are a lot of real products being produced with this new science of the small, and this year's annual Nanotech Product Guide is chock full of exciting and useful consumer products.

Click here for Josh Wolfe’s top nanotechnology picks for 2006 in the Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report.
As always, we were careful to exclude products using nanotechnology as little more than marketing fluff. We focused on items where nanotechnology is significantly improving a process or product.

Like last year's guide, Top 10 Nanotech Products of 2004, our 2005 guide shows significant new developments in the sports, cosmetics and textile industries.

Thanks to nano-encapsulation, the food industry is also developing a taste for nanotechnology, as you will see in the slide show, including a chocolate-flavored chewing gum as well as a wide array of fat-free products.

From apparel to armor, nanotechnology is already bearing fruit as a viable commercial science. The impact of nanotechnology is continuing to grow in small-molecule drug development at biotech companies. With the help of research universities and continued advances in science, next year's list of top nano products promises to be even harder to pick.

Nanoparticles and living cells

New approaches and standardized test procedures to study the impact of nanoparticles on living cells are urgently needed for the evaluation of potential hazards relating human exposure to nanoparticles.

New approaches and standardized test procedures to study the impact of nanoparticles on living cells are urgently needed for the evaluation of potential hazards relating human exposure to nanoparticles. An important aspect of nanoparticle toxicity, in contrast to molecular toxicity, is the fact that the preparation and way of administration of the nanoparticles plays a crucial role. The importance of nanoparticle characterization before conducting experiments for in vitro toxicity assessments is well known.

The fascinating properties of nanoparticles in part triggered the rapid development of nanotechnology and its commercial application. Nevertheless, its widespread use in food products, sunscreens, toothpastes, skin care products, antibacterial silver coatings and paints continues to raise concerns about its potential toxicity and long term environmental effects. There are first studies that investigate the toxicity of prototype NPs such as TiO3 , C60, quantum dots, carbon nanotubes and gold

It is well known that toxic effects brought about by exposure to nanoparticles are related to the ability of these nanoparticles to catalyze the production of reactive oxygen species and to bind irreversibly to membranes or DNA. This causes interference at multiple levels of cellular metabolism, signalling and genetic alterations. Studies, so far, point towards a majority of intracellular rather than extracellular interferences, posing the question of how nanoparticles enter the cells of utmost importance.

The scientists measured the fraction of QDs taken up by the cells by automated fluorescence microscopy z-scans. The results showed that nanoparticles aggregate during the uptake process, forming clusters inside cells that are able to enter the cell nucleus. Nanoparticle uptake is dependent on surface functionalization and can be hindered by increasing the strength of the adhesion force between nanoparticles and the surface. Studying time dependent uptake the scientists were able to show that particles are able to exit cells.

Results might also help in the development of drug and gene delivery systems, since understanding cellular uptake within and from the extra-cellular matrix is a key aspect in developing efficient vectors.

Rock Roll nanotubes

Nanotubes and nanowires are not as amenable to manipulation as macroscopic commodities, however, their promise as building blocks for future electronics, sensors, and electromechanical devices, means that researchers are keen to find ways to handle these tiny entities easily.

Nanotubes and nanowires are not as amenable to manipulation as macroscopic commodities, however, their promise as building blocks for future electronics, sensors, and electromechanical devices, means that researchers are keen to find ways to handle these tiny entities easily.

Now, an international team has measured the different frictional forces experienced by carbon nanotubes as they slide across a surface both in the direction of their long axis or perpendicular to it. [Lucas et al. Nature Mater. (2009) DOI: 10.1038/NMAT2529]. The study not only explains the so-called soft lateral distortions that nanotubes can undergo but could offer a practical solution to controlling and assembling nanotubes into devices.

At the fundamental level, studying these forces also reveals information about the handedness, or chirality, of the nanotubes, which cannot be obtained easily using other techniques.

Marcel Lucas of the Georgia Institute of Technology and colleagues there and in Italy and Germany used an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip to scan transversely across a multi-walled carbon nanotube deposited on a flat silicon substrate as well as molecular dynamics calculations to simulate these scans. The nanotubes are held stationary on the surface by van der Waal’s forces. The team then compared the forces measured with a transverse scan with the results of a longitudinal AFM scan.

They found that, surprisingly, the transverse friction is twice the magnitude of the friction seen with a longitudinal scan. This, they explain, is due to “hindered rolling” as the nanotube has a tendency to roll as the AFM tip strokes across it rather than along its length and this distorts its cross section.

This study provides the first detailed information about the frictional forces at work when an AFM tip interacts with a nanotube. The significant difference in energy needed to move a nanotube with an AFM tip, suggests a possible way to control the assembly of carbon nanotubes for nanoelectronics, sensors and other applications.

The computer models also suggested that it might be possible to discern chiral as opposed to non-chiral nanotubes, whether the nanotube has a clockwise or anticlockwise thread depending on the forces experienced by the AFM tip as it scans in different directions. This could allow researchers to develop a way to sort chiral and non-chiral nanotubes as well as controlling the large-scale self-assembly of these entities into sophisticated composite materials and architectures.

Nanostart increases investment in cleantech company Namos GmbH

Nanostart AG, the leading nanotechnology investment company, is raising its shareholding in Namos GmbH, the pioneering cleantech developer based in the eastern German city of Dresden, from 15 to 26 percent. The ERP Start Fund, which is a joint program of the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the German government-owned development bank, and the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, is likewise increasing its shareholding.

Marco Beckmann, CEO of Nanostart AG, commented on the investment increase: "The technology from Namos is nothing short of revolutionary. It substantially reduces the consumption of precious metals, thus saving enormous costs in the production of catalytic converters. With more than one quarter of this company now belonging to Nanostart, we are in an extremely favorable position."

The new technology developed by Namos should enable the savings of about one half of all precious metals currently required for the production of automotive catalytic converters. The proprietary process from Namos is based on a bionanotechnological coating which is applied to the ceramic substrate used in catalytic converters. Approx. 230 metric tons of "new," non-recycled precious metals are currently consumed each year to produce automotive catalytic converters, corresponding to an annual value of USD 8.3 billion. Roughly half of this amount, more than USD 4 billion, could be saved through the new technology from Namos.

The additive used in the process can be produced at minimal cost using bionanotechnology. Because it does not remain in the finished catalytic converters, it cannot have any negative long-term effects. It contains no harmful chemicals and has a shelf life of several years.

Researchers Develop “Nano Cocktail”

"This study represents the first example of the benefits of employing a cooperative nanosystem to fight cancer," said Michael Sailor, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego and the primary author of a paper describing the results, which is being published in a forthcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. An early online version of the paper appeared last week.

In their study, the UC San Diego chemists, bioengineers at MIT and cell biologists at UC Santa Barbara developed a system containing two different nanomaterials the size of only a few nanometers, or a thousand times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, that can be injected into the bloodstream. One nanomaterial was designed to find and adhere to tumors in mice, while the second nanomaterial was fabricated to kill those tumors.

These scientists and others had previously designed nanometer-sized devices to attach to diseased cells or deliver drugs specifically to the diseased cells while ignoring healthy cells. But the functions of those devices, the researchers discovered, often conflicted with one another.

"For example, a nanoparticle that is engineered to circulate through a cancer patient's body for a long period of time is more likely to encounter a tumor," said Sangeeta Bhatia, a physician, bioengineer and a professor of Health Sciences and Technology at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT and a coauthor of the study. "However, that nanoparticle may not be able to stick to tumor cells once it finds them. Likewise, a particle that is engineered to adhere tightly to tumors may not be able to circulate in the body long enough to encounter one in the first place."

When a single drug does not work in a patient, a doctor will commonly administer a cocktail containing several drug molecules. That strategy can be very effective in the treatment of cancer, where the rationale is to attack the disease on as many fronts as possible. Drugs may sometimes work together on a single aspect of the disease, or they may attack separate functions. In either case, drug combinations can provide a greater effect than either drug alone.

Treating tumors with nanoparticles has been challenging because immune cells called mononuclear phagocytes identify them and yank them from circulation, preventing the nanomaterials from reaching their target.

Ji-Ho Park, a graduate student in Sailor's UC San Diego laboratory, and Geoffrey von Maltzahn, a graduate student in Bhatia's MIT laboratory, headed the effort to develop two distinct nanomaterials that would work in concert to overcome that obstacle and others. The first particle is a gold nanorod "activator' that accumulates in tumors by seeping through its leaky blood vessels. The gold particles cover the whole tumor and behave like an antenna by absorbing otherwise benign infrared laser irradiation, which then heats up the tumor.

After the nanorods had circulated in the bloodstream of mice that had epithelial tumors for three days, the researchers used a weak laser beam to heat the rods that attached to the tumors. This sensitized the tumors, and the researchers then sent in a second nanoparticle type, composed of either iron oxide nanoworms or doxorubicin-loaded liposomes. This "responder" nanoparticle was coated with a special targeting molecule specific for the heat-treated tumor. Much of that work was done in the laboratory of Erkki Ruoslahti, a cell biologist and professor at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research at UC Santa Barbara, and another co-author of the study.

"Think of them like soldiers attacking an enemy base," said Sailor. "The gold nanorods are the Special Forces, who come in first to mark the target. Then the Air Force flies in to deliver the laser-guided bomb. The devices are designed to minimize collateral damage to the rest of the body."

While one type of nanoparticle improves detection of the tumor, he said, the other is designed to kill the tumor. The researchers designed one type of responder particle with strings of iron oxide, which they called "nanoworms," that show up brightly in a medical magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, system. The second type is a hollow nanoparticle loaded with the anti-cancer drug doxorubicin. With the drug-loaded responder, the scientists demonstrated in their experiments that a tumor growing in a mouse can be arrested and then shrunk. "The nanoworms would be useful to help the medical team identify the size and shape of a tumor in a patient before surgery, while the hollow nanoparticles might be used to kill the tumor without the need for surgery," .

"This study is important because it is the first example of a combined, two-part nanosystem that can produce sustained reduction in tumor volume in live animals,".

The project was funded by grants from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Bhatia is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.

Nanotechnology and the apparel industry - Aarkstore Enterprise

While nanotechnology is only in its earliest stages of development and application within the apparel industry, experts agree that nano-enhanced garments will likely become as expected and commonplace as attributes such as stretch, breathability and comfort.

One thing is clear, if investment by other industries is any indication of market potential, apparel is on track to reap many benefits.

The first in a series of timely Executive Briefings, provides a completely fresh look at how nanotechnology - by enhancing the functionality of fashion at all levels, from athletic wear to luxury - is set to completely revolutionise the apparel sector.

Ceres Nanosciences Launches New Product: Nanotrap ESP

The Nanotrap™ ESP product targets end users working with a variety of sample types that require a more efficient and powerful method of sample preparation for downstream detection and analysis.

Nanotrap™ ESP Particles improve the sensitivity of any gel electrophoresis protein detection method including silver staining, Coomassie Blue, Western Blotting and mass spectroscopy analysis.

The ability to rapidly harvest multiple proteins and peptides from a single sample makes Nanotrap™ ESP particles an ideal tool for researchers interested in rapid sample processing of low abundance proteins or for the discovery of unknown proteins and peptides present in samples containing high-abundance interfering proteins.

The use of this technology for these applications has recently been published by Dr. Lance Liotta and Dr. Emanuel Petricoin in the journals Nano Research and Nano Letters in 2008 and 2009. "Currently, the single largest barrier to biomarker measurement is the inherent lack of sensitivity of most proteomics platforms" said Emanuel Petricoin, Ph. D., co-director of the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine at George Mason University. "The Nanotrap ESP technology provides a powerful new sample preparation approach that tremendously increases the concentration of the biomarker, and greatly aids our own disease biomarker research."

Quantum age edges closer

Quantum computing relies on controlling and observing the behaviour of quantum particles - for instance individual electrons - to deliver enormous processing power.

In the two breakthroughs, written up in the international journals Nano Letters and Applied Physics Letters, researchers have for the first time demonstrated two ways to deliberately place an electron in a nano-sized device on a silicon chip.

The achievements set the stage for the next crucial steps of being able to observe and then control the electron's quantum state or "spin", to create a quantum bit.

Multiple quantum bits coupled together make up the processor of a quantum computer.

Professor Andrew Dzurak, the NSW Node Director of the Australian National Fabrication Facility at UNSW and Dr Andrea Morello, Manager of the Quantum Measurement and Control Chip Program at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computer Technology, were leaders in the breakthrough work.

In research just published in Applied Physics Letters, the team, including PhD student Wee Han Lim, were able to accurately localise a single electron in silicon without it being attached to an atom. This "artificial atom" is known as a "quantum dot".

Dr Morello said the quantum dot avoided the difficulty of having to introduce single atoms in precise positions in a silicon chip.

In a separate project, published in the journal Nano Letters, the researchers, including PhD student Kuan Yen Tan, used "nature's own way" to localise electrons, by binding them to single atoms.

Quantum computing's power comes from the fact that electrons can have a "spin" pointing in one of two directions. The spin position can be used in the same way that zeroes and ones represent data in today's computers.

However electrons can also hold intermediate spin positions, or quantum states, which is what gives quantum computing its power.

While today's computers increase their power linearly with the number of bits added, quantum bits, when coupled together, can deliver an exponential increase in their ability to represent data.

The other leaders of the research team are Professor David Jamieson at the University of Melbourne, and Dr Mikko Möttönen at the Helsinki University of Technology. Students Wee Han Lim and Kuan Yen Tan have just completed their PhD degrees in the UNSW School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications.

World’s First Mandatory National Nanotech Requirement Pending

Canada is reportedly planning in February to become the first nation in the world to require companies to detail their use of engineered nanomaterials. The information gathered under the requirement will be used to evaluate the risks of engineered nanomaterials and will help to develop appropriate safety measures to protect human health and the environment.

The one-time request will gather information that will be used towards the development of a regulatory framework and will target companies and institutions that manufactured or imported a total quantity greater than 1kg of a nanomaterial during the 2008 calendar year, according to a spokesperson for Environment Canada. The upcoming requirement is not a regulation or rule that will require users to submit information on a continual basis

Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) experts have been urging increased oversight of nanotechnologies in recent years, and note the move by the Canadian government is a significant step for consumer and environmental protection.

“Nanotechnology is developing rapidly. People and the environment are being increasingly exposed to new nanomaterials. Yet governments lack information on the type, quantity and possible risks of nanoscale materials being manufactured and used in products today. This is information that is vital to ensuring the safe use of nanotechnology,” according to Andrew Maynard, chief science advisor for PEN. “This decision by Canada to establish the world’s first national mandatory nanoscale materials reporting requirement for companies is an important step toward ensuring that nanotechnology regulation is driven by accurate information and high-quality science.”

Canada’s action comes shortly after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an interim report on its Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program, a voluntary information submission program that has received limited industry participation. The EPA report notes the lack of data the program garnered and says the agency will consider how best to use the federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to gather more risk data. Previous studies by PEN experts have concluded that TSCA is “extremely deficient,” and that EPA has not effectively used the tools it has under that law to address nanotechnology, keeping the agency from identifying which substances are nanomaterials and whether they pose a hazard.

Nanotech-enabled Consumer Products Top the 1,000 Mark

Over 1,000 nanotechnology-enabled products have been made available to consumers around the world, according to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN). The most recent update to the group’s three-and-a-half-year-old inventory reflects the increasing use of the tiny particles in everything from conventional products like non-stick cookware and lighter, stronger tennis racquets, to more unique items such as wearable sensors that monitor posture.

“The use of nanotechnology in consumer products continues to grow rapidly,” says PEN Director David Rejeski. “When we launched the inventory in March 2006 we only had 212 products. If the introduction of new products continues at the present rate, the number of products listed in the inventory will reach close to 1,600 within the next two years. This will provide significant oversight challenges for agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and Consumer Product Safety Commission, which often lack any mechanisms to identify nanotech products before they enter the marketplace.”

Health and fitness items continue to dominate the PEN inventory, representing 60 percent of products listed. More products are based on nanoscale silver—used for its antimicrobial properties—than any other nanomaterial; 259 products (26 percent of the inventory) use silver nanoparticles. The updated inventory represents products from over 24 countries, including the US, China, Canada, and Germany. This update also identifies products that were previously available, but for which there is no current information.

The release of the updated inventory coincides with a public hearing on the agenda and priorities of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) where project director David Rejeski testified. The CPSC, with a staff of fewer than 400 employees, oversees the safety of 15,000 types of consumer products.

Andrew Maynard, chief science advisor for PEN, noted that “the CPSC deserves credit for focusing on nanotechnologies. The resources available to the agency to address health and safety issues are negligible compared to the over $1.5 billion federal investment in nanotechnology research and development.”

Nanotechnology Could Be Next Wrinkle Fighter

The next big idea in preventing wrinkles is very, very small. Nano small.

A Michigan State University chemical engineer has discovered that nanoparticles can stop thin polymer films from buckling and wrinkling. It's a new solution to a critical problem as thin films become more important in new technology such as electronic monitors.

The cosmetic arsenal to fight human wrinkles embraces technologies that seems crossed with science fiction - from microdermabrasians to lasers to Botox injections - and nanoparticles are poised to join the war by warding off dreaded buckles in human skin.

Ilsoon Lee, an assistant professor of chemical engineering, along with Ph.D. student Troy Hendricks, published an online article in the American Chemical Society's Nano Letters in December 2006 that outlines the potential of using infinitesimally small nanoparticles - 50nm - between films to smooth out the tiny buckles that are the origin of wrinkles.

While the article addresses breakthroughs in the buckling of polymer films as they were compressed or heated during the manufacturing process, Ilsoon said the principles show promise to apply to human skin.

The research is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

On all fronts, it's all about nailing a wrinkle before it starts.

"Everything starts at a really small scale, so if we can prevent the buckling at the very beginning - at the nano level - we can eliminate large scale wrinkles," Ilsoon said. "Wrinkles can initiate from the small scale, and when it grows we cannot remove it."

Nanoparticles already have entered the cosmetic marketplace because they can penetrate deeper into the skin, transporting vitamins and other compounds to plump and smooth tissue. But Ilsoon envisions thin films that can be injected beneath the thinning outer layer of the skin, the epidermis, that over time stiffens and buckles with aging, and the thicker dermis beneath it, which remains more pliable over time. Think of a raisin.

Ilsoon explained that nanoparticles spread in a thin film can break up the compressive forces on a plane and redirect them. Once the force is reduced below the critical buckling strain, the film will not buckle. No buckles, no wrinkles. The nanoparticles in the film can be stress busters without affecting the neighboring layers.

"The wrinkle-free films will automatically absorb or deflect the stress and stay flat, just as they are after formation,".

Nanoparticle films wouldn't be a face-lift itself, but Ilsoon sees the possibility in a film that could be added during a cosmetic procedure - such as an eyelift - to stabilize the improvements and prevent further wrinkling. He also sees applications in medical procedures - such as artificial skins for surgery.

The ideas are in the early stages with health and safety concerns to be worked through. Already Ilsoon's lab, with collaborators, is testing polymer films, by applying various cells and proteins to see if there are toxic reactions.

What is Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the creation of functional materials, devices, and systems through control of matter on the nanometer (1 to 100+ nm) length scale and the exploitation of novel properties and phenomena developed at that scale.

A scientific and technical revolution has begun that is based upon the ability to systematically organize and manipulate matter on the nanometer length scale.

Examples of nanotechnology applications:

• giant magnetoresistance in nanocrystalline materials

• nanolayers with selective optical barriers, hard coatings

• dispersions with optoelectronic properties, high reactivity

• chemical and bio-detectors

• advanced drug delivery systems

• chemical-mechanical polishing with nanoparticle slurries

• new generation of lasers

• nanostructured catalysts

• systems on a chip

• carbon nanotube products

• nanoparticle reinforced materials

• thermal barrier

• ink jet systems

• information recording layers

• molecular sieves

• high hardness cutting tools

Nano Self-Assembly: An NSTI Executive Briefing

"Nano-structured fluids research has long been the domain of consumer products and foods companies such as L’Oréal, Proctor and Gamble, and Nestlé. Innovative work on next-generation consumer products such as cosmetics, paints, ice cream, and shampoo has been based on nano-structured fluids science for years. 'We view nano-structured fluids as a major growth area for business and scientific development. The capability of this area of science to unlock principals of self-assembly has the potential to greatly impact and accelerate commercialization of nanotechnology.' Said Bart Romanowicz, NSTI executive director of technology. But, new revelations over nano-structured fluids' remarkable property of "dynamic self-assembly" are bringing new nano-scientists to the table, according to Fiona Case, the Nanotech 2005 program chair for the event's first Nano-Structured Fluids symposium.

University of Washington to Acquire Key Instrument for Nanotechnology Research

The University of Washington will acquire an electron beam lithography machine, a key instrument required to build devices at the nanometer scale. A $1.3 million gift from the Washington Research Foundation provides about half the cost of the $2.5 million electron beam lithography machine, which will be the only one of its kind in the Northwest.

"The electron beam lithography machine will give researchers at the University of Washington the ability to work on nanoscale projects with a broad range of possible commercial applications," said Ron Howell, CEO of the Washington Research Foundation. "This tool will place the university among a handful of institutions with such a capability. Ultimately, it could lead to the creation of many new companies and products."

The Washington Research Foundation was created in 1981 to support research and entrepreneurship at state research institutions. The gift is among the largest gifts in its history.
Nanoscale devices have promising commercial potential for solar cell materials, new displays, memory chips, photonic devices and biological sensors, among many other applications.

"Our region has the capacity for being a serious player in nanoscience. This is a key piece that will allow Pacific Northwest researchers to compete in this field in the international arena," said Matt O'Donnell, dean of the College of Engineering.

The remaining $1.2 million of the machine's cost will come from the UW through the Innovative Research Teams fund, a state program created by the Economic Development Commission to recruit researchers in areas that have the potential for significant economic impact.

The electron beam lithography machine works by scanning a beam of electrons across a surface to sketch small-scale patterns that can be used in circuits or other devices. In the commercial processes used to build computer chips, light is generally used instead of an electron beam -- which is ideal for large-scale device production, but is not as flexible or precise as using electron beams. An electron beam lithography tool like this one can draw devices down to about 10-nanometer resolution on surfaces up to eight inches wide. The device can also be used to build 3-D structures by building multiple layers. A nanometer is a unit of measurement equal to one billionth of a meter.

The UW's portion was part of a recruitment package for Michael Hochberg, an assistant professor of electrical engineering, who arrived at the UW from the California Institute of Technology in 2007.

Hochberg's research is in nanophotonics, a field that uses light photons rather than electrons to transmit and process information. Using photons allows the possibility of creating tiny chips that use less power and transmit information more quickly than current electronic devices. Hochberg's lab members are expected to be major users for the new machine.
"This is the most flexible, capable machine that you would buy to build nanostructures," Hochberg said. "This is a prototyping machine -- the kind of system used to prototype technologies that are still five, 10 or 20 years out."

Other local researchers have already expressed interest. About 30 UW faculty members said they will make use of the device, including members of the departments of physics, electrical engineering, bioengineering and chemistry. Researchers at a number of local companies have expressed a strong interest in using the machine, which will be housed in Fluke Hall at the Washington Technology Center clean room, a state-funded micro- and nano-fabrication facility on the UW campus.

The machine should be installed within a year and will be available at a fee for use by those inside and outside the UW doing nanotechnology research.

Nanotechnology researcher to receive Sackler Prize in Biophysics

Dr. David Baker, University of Washington (UW) professor of biochemistry and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute, has been selected to receive the 2008 Raymond & Beverly Sackler International Prize in Biophysics, along with Dr. Martin Gruebele of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Dr. Jonathan Weissman of the University of California, San Francisco.

The field for this year’s prize was the physics of structure formation and self-assembly of proteins and nucleic acids. The award will be presented to the three scientists Dec. 15 at Israel’s Tel Aviv University.…

Baker is being honored for his seminal contributions to computer-based studies of the manner and the speed in which chains of amino acids fold into protein molecules. Anyone who has tried to put together a cardboard box knows the importance of proper folding to get a useful product. The same is true when the body manufactures proteins.

Creating computer models of protein-folding is essential for figuring out how genetic information directs protein formation, how proteins work, and how misfolded, misshapen, and malfunctioning proteins might underlie serious degenerative diseases.

Baker has developed computer programs to predict protein structures from amino acid sequences in DNA. His program, Rosetta, is among the most accurate. He has combined data from nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and X-ray defraction [sic] imaging with his computer modeling to more quickly delineate protein molecule structures. He also researches the ways that molecular configurations of proteins determine their functions in biochemical reactions.

In addition, Baker and his team have developed new protein folds and have designed and built functional enzymes, and engineered protein interactions, that previously did not exist in nature. His group has also contributed new ways of studying proteins in membranes the thin fatty covering that separates the inside of the cell from the external environment. These transmembrane proteins include molecular channels that permit the flow of calcium into and out of the cell, and that are responsible for the passage of neural impulses and communication between cells. The Baker group was able to apply the Rosetta program to these unusual proteins by treating the membranes as a series of layers with different protein folding requirements.

Baker has involved people of all ages and backgrounds from around the world in helping with protein folding research. People donate their idle computer time to a project called Rosetta@home (http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/). The combined computing power of thousands of home computers around the globe (called “distributed computing”) allows for lengthy, complicated analysis of the data needed to study how proteins are assembled.

Targeted Nanoparticles Deliver Therapeutic DNA to Cancer Cells

Given that cancer is a disease caused by gene mutations, cancer researchers have been striving to develop gene therapies aimed at correcting these mutations. However, these efforts have been hobbled by the difficulty in safely and efficiently delivering anticancer genes to tumors. Nanoparticles, however, may solve these delivery issues, and two recently published studies, using two different types of nanoparticles, lend credence to that hypothesis.

Miqin Zhang, Ph.D., PI of the Nanotechnology Platform for Pediatric Brain Cancer Imaging and Therapy project at the University of Washington in Seattle, led a group of researchers that developed a targeted polymer nanoparticle that efficiently delivered a model gene into two types of cancer cells. More importantly, the gene functions properly once it enters the targeted cells. In the second study, Mansoor Amiji, Ph.D., PI of the Nanotherapeutic Strategy for Multidrug Resistant Tumors Platform Partnership at Northeastern University, and doctoral student Padmaja Magadala, M.S., used gelatin-based nanoparticles and a different targeting agent to efficiently deliver the same model gene to human pancreatic tumor cells. As in the first study, the delivered gene functioned properly inside the tumor cells.

The nanoparticle developed by Dr. Zhang’s group was made of two polymers—polyethyleneimine (PEI) and polyethylene glycol (PEG)—linked to chlorotoxin, a small protein isolated from scorpion venom. Previous research by several research teams had shown that chlorotoxin binds many types of tumors, including gliomas and medulloblastomas, two types of brain cancer. PEI forms stable nanoparticles that bind deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), but the resulting nanoparticles can be toxic. Adding PEG to the nanoparticles provides a biocompatible surface that greatly reduces the toxicity of PEI.

As a test, Dr. Zhang and her colleagues used these nanoparticles to deliver DNA that codes for green fluorescent protein (GFP), which is used widely to study gene expression. When added to tumor cells expressing the chlorotoxin receptor, the nanoparticles were quickly taken up by the cells. The cells also turned green, thanks to the expression of GFP. In contrast, nanoparticles lacking chlorotoxin were not taken up by the cells, and tumor cells lacking the chlorotoxin receptor did not take up the nanoparticles.

(The three scientists credited with discovering and developing GFP as a critical research tool were awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. One of those scientists, Roger Tsien, Ph.D., is an investigator at NCI’s Center of Nanotechnology for Treatment, Understanding, and Monitoring of Cancer at the University of California, San Diego.)

Dr. Amiji’s approach differed, in that he used a peptide that targets the epidermal growth factor receptor that is overexpressed by several types of tumors, including pancreatic cancer. He also used a nanoparticle constructed from negatively charged gelatin, which readily incorporates DNA and other nucleic acids, which are positively charged at normal physiological pH. The structure of the nanoparticle material also promotes DNA to take on a supercoiled structure that is efficiently taken up and transported to the cell’s nucleus, a critical factor for gene expression to occur. To improve the biocompatibility of these nanoparticles, Dr. Amiji also used PEG to coat the nanoparticles.
When added to pancreatic cells, nearly half of the administered dose of these engineered, targeted nanoparticles were taken up by pancreatic tumor cells, a remarkably high value. More importantly, a large percentage of the transfected cells subsequently expressed GFP. In addition, the nanoparticles were not toxic to the cells, an important finding given that they did not contain any therapeutic agent.

The work from Dr. Zhang’s group, which was detailed in the paper “A ligand-mediated nanovector for targeted gene delivery and transfection in cancer cells,” was supported by the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, a comprehensive initiative designed to accelerate the application of nanotechnology to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. An abstract of this paper is available at the journal’s Web site.

Insurers Scrutinize Nanotechnology

Insurance companies are increasingly concerned about the risks of nanotechnology, according to the article. "Nanotechnology is a big problem because the technology is moving much faster, as we all know, than information on health and environmental safety," says Robert Blaunstein of Nanotechnology Risk Management, a firm that advises insurers and companies on how to manage the risks of nanotechnology. Despite hundreds of products claiming to contain nanomaterials already on the shelves, risk research is underfunded and the risks of nanotechnology are poorly understood. Lloyd's, a United Kingdom insurance firm, has listed nanotechnology at the top of its "emerging risks" list. It, along with Swiss Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance firms, are both recommending a precautionary approach to manufacturers and insurers. Blaunstein adds, "...if [insurers] learn more about it, learn how to manage it, I think clearly they would be in a better position to provide insurance." The article can be viewed online at the link below.

UW CNT Fellowship Call - Due May 4th

The University of Washington Center for Nanotechnology (CNT) welcomes student-initiated proposals for CNT Graduate Traineeships. These traineeships will provide stipends to excellent students doing frontier, interdisciplinary dissertation research in nanoscale science and technology. Our primary goal is to foster highly talented students' education for leadership positions in academic, governmental, and industrial settings by providing them with financial resources to pursue innovative research projects in high-risk, interdisciplinary areas involving new collaborations at the leading edge of nanoscale science and engineering. Further goals are to provide seed funding for proof-of-principle experiments and theoretical approaches that enhance future funding opportunities, to foster research bridging nanotechnology and medicine, and to promote community outreach. Collaborative off-site research, either domestic or international, is also encouraged, either within year-long traineeships or separately.

Credit-Card Sized Tool to Test for Malaria

Researchers at the University of Washington (UW), Seattle, have created a credit-card sized tool that can be used to test for malaria.

2009 UW CNT Conference on Nanotechnology & UW/NIMS MOLAT Forum

Abstract:REGISTRAR NOW for this FREE 3 day conference! The Center for Nanotechnology at the University of Washington will be holding its annual IGERT Nanotechnology Conference jointly with Japan’s National Institute for Material Science (NIMS) on June 10th, 11th and 12th at the UW Tower. The themes for this year’s conference are photonics, energy and bio-nanotechnology.

The three day event will consist of plenary sessions, poster session and reception and facility tours of the Center for Nanotechnology. Featured speakers include George Whitesides from Harvard University, James Gimzewski from UCLA, and Bryon Gates from Simon Fraser University.

where science fiction meets reality

Nanotechnology, while not providing a cure for everything, is defined by the length scale when scientists and engineers discover new phenomena. It provides exquisite new tools to engineer novel materials and devices at the nanoscale, and to study biology. A nanometer, one billionth of a meter, is about 10,000 times narrower than a human hair. Major technological revolutions, including the industrial revolution and the dawn of the information era, have revealed how new discoveries can drastically change our lives. There is no doubt that rapid technological transformations require new paradigms of how to educate the next generation of leaders in academia and industry.

By virtue of their interdisciplinary nature, rapid advances in nanoscale science and technology can only thrive in a collaborative environment in which faculty and students from different disciplines discuss ideas, work together, and share their expertise.

The Center for Nanotechnology at the University of Washington was created in 1997 to address these changing realities. It brings together faculty members and students from the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Pharmacy, and the School of Medicine. The Center enjoys major financial support from the University of Washington Initiatives Fund (UIF) and National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (NSF-IGERT) program

Bulk gold and Pt are non-magnetic, but at the nano size they are magnetic. Surface atoms not only are different to bulk atoms, but they can also be modified by interaction with other chemical species, that is, by capping the nanoparticles. This phenomenon opens the possibility to modify the physical properties of the nanoparticles by capping them with appropriate molecules. Actually, it should be possible that non-ferromagnetic bulk materials exhibit ferromagnetic-like behavior when prepared in nano range. One can obtain magnetic nanoparticles of Pd, Pt and the surprising case of Au (that is diamagnetic in bulk) from non-magnetic bulk materials. In the case of Pt and Pd, the ferromagnetism arises from the structural changes associated with size effects. However, gold nanoparticles become ferromagnetic when they are capped with appropriate molecules: the charge localized at the particle surface gives rise to ferromagnetic-like behavior.

Surface and the core of Au nanoparticles with 2 nm in diameter show ferromagnetic and paramagnetic character, respectively. The large spin-orbit coupling of these noble metals can yield to a large anisotropy and therefore exhibit high ordering temperatures. More surprisingly, permanent magnetism was observed up to room temperature for thiol-capped Au nanoparticles. For nanoparticles with sizes below 2 nm the localized carriers are in the 5 d band. Bulk Au has an extremely low density of states and becomes diamagnetic, as is also the case for bare Au nanoparticles. This observation suggested that modification of the d band structure by chemical bonding can induce ferromagneticlike character in metallic clusters.

Enhanced strength and toughness

The strength and toughness of both ceramics and metals can be enormously enhanced if they are made out of nanoscale crystallites rather than the usual micron-sized grains. This effect is already widely exploited to make superior ceramics and tungsten carbide-cobalt composites. Ceramics made from nanoscale TiO2 particles not only sinter together even at 600°C, but also possess enhanced strength and toughness. There is a similar effect in metal systems. Nanocrystalline copper, for example, is up to five times stronger than ordinary copper. In this case, the explanation relies upon the observation that deformation in metals is generally carried by lattice defects called dislocations, and nanoscale copper crystals are actually too small to even contain dislocations. Aluminum also shows the same effect. A process called as equiangular extrusion is used to refine the grain size of the aluminum into the nanoscale, so that it will be hard and lose the ductility. Similar behavior is exhibited by gold.

Surface plasmon resonance and colour

The optical properties of these Au and Ag nanoparticles are interesting. The colour of the metal nanoparticles is mainly based on the surface plasmon resonance. Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) is a physical process that can occur when planepolarized light hits a metal film under total internal reflection conditions. But SPR is confined to Au, Ag, Cu and alkali earth metals. It is accounted with the presence of loosely bound conduction electron present in these elements.

SPR dependencies and colour

The angle at which surface plasmon resonance occurs mainly depends on the nature of the metal, the wavelength of the incident light and the refractive index of the medium on either side of the metal surface. Because the refractive index is sensitive to temperature, it is important to perform the measurements at defined temperatures. In some cases, this dependency can be exploited. The metal must have conduction band electrons capable of resonating with the incoming light at a suitable wavelength. Metals that satisfy this condition are silver, gold, copper, aluminum, sodium and indium. In addition, the metal surface must be free of oxides, sulphides and not react with other molecules on exposure to the atmosphere or liquid. Of the metals, indium is too expensive, sodium is too reactive, copper and aluminum are too broad in their SPR response and silver is too susceptible to oxidation. This leaves gold as the most practical metal. Gold is resistant to oxidation and other atmospheric contaminants, but it is compatible with a lot of chemical modification systems. The light source should be monochromatic and p-polarized (polarized in the plane of the surface) to obtain a sharp dip as shown in

Electronic configurations

Bulk gold is a renowned conductor of electricity, with a conductivity value that is beaten only by copper and silver. This property arises directly from its electronic configuration. However, even this familiar ‘fact’ is overturned at the nanoscale. Gold structures at the bottom end of the nanoscale may, depending on shape and substrate, actually be semiconductor with a significant value of band gap.

The transition occurs somewhere between 1 and 3 nm, corresponding to a hemispherical cluster containing between 15 and 150 atoms. The special electronic configuration of small nanoparticles results, from the fact that their physical dimensions are smaller than the characteristic dimension of the electron wave function of the bulk material. Such tiny particles, termed as quantum dots or artificial atoms if they are disc-shaped, have been proposed as the basis of a new generation of nanoscale electronic devices. Recently the electronic properties of gold nanoparticles have been examined on the basis of density functional theory (DFT). They have shown that for Au8 , the energy difference between HOMO and LUMO is highest and the frontier wave function has considerable mixing of s and d character. The catalytic activities of such exceedingly small clusters have been found to be acutely size dependent, peaking in one example at a cluster diameter of close to 3 nm, and falling sharply within 0.5 nm either side . One interpretation of this is that the best catalytic activity is actually derived from a particular value of the band gap, and too great a gap, or none at all, is less favorable. It should be noted that gold is not unique in this respect, and that other noble metals, such as Pd and Pt, exhibit similar properties.

Gold, Silver and Platinum Nanomaterials

Introduction

Metal nanomaterials have received considerable attention in the last decade in science and technology. The nature and behavior of the metal nanomaterials are different from that of the bulk material. Metal nano particles find wide application in various fields. Metals are unique in their physical and chemical properties as compared to other compound materials such as metal oxides, sulphides and nitrides. Metals have ductility, malleability, luster, high density, fewer defects and are generally crystalline in nature. Though the metal nanoparticles were synthesized and used from the ancient days even in the era of the Alchemists, lack of enough characterization techniques such as electron microscopes has left the nanoscience unexplored till recently.

In ancient days, the only characterization of metal nanoparticles is naked eye. The colouring nature of Au and Ag nanoparticles was fundamental identification for their nanoparticle colloid formation. Making use of this, they have been used as coloring agents in decorative glasses and clothing. This is due to light-absorbing nature of the surface of Au and Ag nanoparticles because of the surface plasmon resonance. Pt nanoparticles are catalytically active for oxidation and reduction reactions. As a result, these nanomaterials find applications for catalytic use. Since Au, Ag and Pt nano particles have considerable stability as compared to other metals, they have gained importance. However, in the near future, all metals will be possibly shaped in nanosize by using suitable stabilizing agents and medium. In this chapter nature and applications of the nanomaterial of chosen metals are described. However, closer to each other in the periodic table, the physical properties of the nanosize materials of these metals vary drastically. To begin with, it is essential to comprehend fundamental properties of these (Ag, Au and Pt) metals.

Molecular switches for communication sectror

The principle is to insert in the structure of a mixed valence compound a molecular bridge with two possible states: "ON" (i.e. a non-zero electronic coupling between extremities), and "OFF" (i.e. no coupling). Thus we monitor the photo induced electron transfer process where an electron moves from one end to the other of the molecule.

Alternative materials and operating principles for the elaboration and communication of data in electronic circuits and optical networks must be identified. Organic molecules are promising candidates for the realization of future digital processors. Their attractive features are the miniaturized dimensions and the high degree of control on molecular design possible in chemical synthesis. Indeed, nanostructures with engineered properties and specific functions can be assembled relying on the power of organic synthesis. In particular, certain molecules can be designed to switch from one state to another, when addressed with chemical, electrical, or optical stimulations, and to produce a detectable signal in response to these transformations. Binary data can be encoded on the input stimulations and output signals employing logic conventions and assumptions similar to those ruling digital electronics.

Thus, binary inputs can be transduced into binary outputs relying on molecular switches. Presently, these simple molecular processors are far from any practical application. However, these encouraging results demonstrate already that chemical systems can process binary data with designed logic protocols. Further fundamental studies on the various facets of this emerging area will reveal if and how molecular switches can become the basic components of future logic devices. After all, chemical computers are available already. We all carry one in our head! And the molecules which can act as the molecular switches are fullerene derivatives, biological molecules, DNA base guanine etc.

Light emitting diode materials

GaN based lighting

GaN based lighting has potential to give a huge financial reward all over the world. The penetration of GaN based LED lighting to all lighting applications would imply a major improvement in efficiency and this would reduce the world power consumption by ~1000 TWh pa. with 10 % of world energy worth $100 bn used to produce light, efficiency savings would have a major impact on energy efficiency. Replacement of car headlights, fluorescent tubes, and street lights require the quality of white LEDs to improve - if white LEDs were as efficient as current red ones, all lights would be replaced. Other nano materials in light emitting devices which are used in the communication sector are GaN, GaAlAs, GaAs, InGaAsP, and GaP, AlAs etc. Among nano organic LED’s Poly [2- methoxy-5-(2’-) ethylhexyloxy)-1, 4-Phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPB) is one example. Liquid Crystals as well as having applications in displays have potential applications for improving switching speeds in telecoms by replacement of silicon. They also have potential as photonic materials leading to improved optical materials with higher resolution. LCDs continue to develop and underpin many applications – laptops, mobile phones, etc. Constant advances are being made in low power-consumption devices and displays. Further to this, development of non-display applications is becoming increasingly important: e.g. lasing and photonics, telecoms, biology / medicine, control of microwaves. Soap is an example of liquid crystal. Cyanophenyl materials, fluorinated tolans, biological membranes, phospholipids and the protein solution that is extruded by the spider to generate silk is a liquid crystal phase.

Carbon nanotube emitters

Standard electron emitters are based either on thermionic emission of electrons from heated filaments with low work functions or field emission from sharp tips. The latter generates monochromatic electron beams; however, ultrahigh vacuum and high voltages are required. Further the emission current is typically limited to several micro amperes. Carbon fibers typically 7 μm in diameters have been used as the electron emitters; however they suffer from poor reproducibility and rapid deterioration of the tip. Carbon nano tubes have high aspect ratios and small tip radius of curvature. The ability to emit electrons from the body of nano tubes was attributed to the small radius of the tubes and the presence of defects on the surface of carbon nano tubes. VII. Wireless communication Most of the communication systems are either based on radio frequency or on microwave. If proven to be effective, nano-materials will eventually replace the current materials used in all these devices. NTT Electronics Corporation has endeavored to commercialize new laser emission sources that are optimum for next-generation communication systems and applications in non-communication fields such as medicine and the environment. Wireless is an old-fashioned term for a radio receiver, referring to its use as a wireless telegraph; now the term is used to describe modern wireless connections such as in cellular networks and wireless broadband Internet.

A wireless LAN or WLAN is a wireless local area network that uses radio waves as its carrier. The backbone network usually uses cables, with one or more wireless access points connecting the wireless users to the wired network. Materials in its nano form show peculiar electric and magnetic properties. Hence nanomaterials are incorporated into wireless LAN systems to attain a magnetic resonance of suitable frequency.

Photonic Crystals and Photonic Integrated Circuits

Photonic crystals and photonic integrated circuits could pack in individual components a million times more densely than conventional ones. The tighter confinement and novel dispersion properties also open up many new applications, particularly for nonlinear (optical) devices and very low power devices in communication sector. The role of nanotechnology is fundamental to such exploitation, because quantum effects appear on small length and time-scales. Photonic nanocrystals are periodic dielectric or metallic structures having photonic bands in analogy to electronic bands of semiconductors. The presence of photonic band-gaps, where the propagation of photons of certain frequencies is prohibited, and the variety of photon dispersions give rise to novel and unusual optical phenomena. Examples of such photonic nano crystals include InGaAsP/InP 2D photonic crystals, 2D AlGaAs, silicon nitride/silicon-oxide etc.

ipod nano 4th generation black