http://www.nanowerk.com/ Nanotechnology Spotlight from Nanowerk Copyright Nanowerk LLC http://www.nanowerk.com/ http://www.nanowerk.com/images/logo10.gif michael@nanowerk.com (Michael Berger) en-us Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:15:49 -0500 http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=24242.php Bridging the world of atoms and nanoparticles is a class of ultrasmall nanoclusters that contain less than 100 atoms and measure just one or two nanometers. Exploiting the unique properties - optical, magnetic, catalytic - of these nanoclusters in fields such as sensors, microelectronics, biotechnology, energy, and especially catalysis, requires atomically precise fabrication techniques. Making the synthesis of ultrasmall metal nanoclusters much easier than before, researchers have now demonstrated the development of a millifluidic chip as a novel approach for reproducible, high-throughput, and controlled synthesis. Preliminary findings demonstrate that a simple, easy to fabricate millifluidic reactors has the potential for controlled synthesis of nanomaterials. http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=24242.php http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=24224.php For years it has been known that scaling bulk silicon transistors would be extremely challenging, if not impossible, when lengths close in on 15 nm. Already, attention has turned to 3D transistor design and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) devices to improve the scalability of silicon technology. Carbon nanotube (CNT) transistors have been touted as a possible replacement for silicon devices but the crucial question so far has been if CNT transistors can offer performance advantages over silicon at sub-10 nm lengths? New experimental results from IBM Research are indicating that the answer is 'yes'. The findings by the research team defied the theoretical projections and exhibited encouraging performance for a device with a 9 nm channel length. http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=24224.php http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=24211.php Noble metal nanoparticles such as gold, silver or platinum are widely used by scientists to develop novel applications in sensing, energy, spectroscopy, and catalysis. For instance, the combination of metal nanoparticles and carbon nanomaterials - graphene and nanotubes - has met with great interest in the area of biosensor applications as well as composite fabrication for light-energy conversion. In these applications, researchers make use of the formation of organic/inorganic hybrid nanosystems by incorporating metal nanoparticles in or onto the graphitic structures of carbon nanotubes or graphene. Researchers have now discovered a novel phenomenon whereby graphene can be catalytically transformed into carbon nanotubes by gold nanoparticles at relatively low temperatures. http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=24211.php http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=24195.php Technological advances have made desalination and demineralization of seawater feasible, albeit expensive, solutions for increasing the world's supply of freshwater. Among various desalination technologies, reverse osmosis membranes have been widely used for water reclamation. However, external energy required and high operational pressure used (above 75 bar for reverse osmosis desalination and 25 bar for reverse osmosis water recovery from wastewater) make reverse osmosis membrane water reclamation processes energy intensive - not exactly an advantage given the rising cost of energy and the negative climate impact of fossil fuels. Researchers have now demonstrate the novel concept of a "desalination battery", which operates by performing cycles in reverse on our previously reported mixing entropy battery. http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=24195.php http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=24176.php Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a leading candidate material for the fabrication of thermochromic films and coatings that will find special applications in a new generation of 'smart' glass that can change infrared transmittance by responding to environmental temperature, while maintaining visible transparency. This kind of smart windows may be especially useful for locations with hot summers and/or cold winters. In addition to its temperature-responsive thermochromism these films also exhibit UV-shielding properties. Previously, we reported on a novel technique to fabricate large-area VO2 films suitable for mass production. The same research team has now developed an alternative technique for the large-scale, mass production of thermochromatic VO2 films. http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=24176.php