Nanotechnology Spotlight – Latest Articles

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Simple nanotechnology paper sensor for detecting toxins in water

drinking_waterSafe drinking water has been and increasingly will be a pressing issue for communities around the world. In developed countries it is about keeping water supplies safe while in the rest of the world it is about making it safe. The potential impact areas for nanotechnology in water applications are divided into three categories - treatment and remediation, sensing and detection, and pollution prevention. Within the category of sensing and detection, of particular interest is the development of new and enhanced sensors to detect biological and chemical contaminants at very low concentration levels. Testing of water against a spectrum of pathogens can potentially reduce the likelihood of many diseases from cancer to viral infections.

Dec 8th, 2009

Curvilinear electronics that fit golf balls and body parts

flexible_electronicsThe key for most visionary electronic applications will be printability, i.e. that the circuits can be applied to any material, and flexibility, i.e. that they can adhere to any shape or form - even body parts. Imagine an ultrathin film of electronic circuits attached to internal organs like your heart to monitor vital functions. All existing forms of electronics are built on the two-dimensional, planar surfaces of either semiconductor wafers or plates of glass. Mechanically flexible circuits based on organic semiconductors are beginning to emerge into commercial applications, but they can only be wrapped onto the surfaces of cones or cylinders - they cannot conform to spheres or any other type of surface that exhibits non-Gaussian curvature. Applications that demand conformal integration, e.g. structural or personal health monitors, advanced surgical devices, or systems that use ergonomic or bio-inspired layouts, etc., require circuit technologies in curvilinear layouts.

Dec 7th, 2009

Improved nanotechnology catalysts bring clean energy applications closer

nanoparticleNanotechnology catalytical techniques are having a profound impact on clean energy research and development, ranging from hydrogen and liquid fuel production to clean combustion technologies. In this area, catalyst stability is paramount for technical application, and remains a major challenge, even for many conventional catalysts. Thermal stability in particular is a challenge across many currently discussed technical applications and an obstacle for many nanocatalyst-enabled devices, from sensors to fuel production. In particular fuel processing technologies (hydrogen and/or liquid fuel production from fossil and renewable resources, clean combustion) typically proceed at particularly severe conditions (high temperatures, high through-put, contaminated fuel streams, etc) and hence require particular attention to catalyst stabilization, but even many processes at much lower temperature conditions, such as fuel cells, are still looking for catalysts with improved stability.

Dec 4th, 2009

Free tickets for Nanowerk readers to MicroNanoTec nanotechnology trade show at Hannover Messe

Hannover_MesseAs a reader of Nanowerk we would like to invite you to joins us at the MicroNanoTec trade show at HANNOVER MESSE 2010 completely free of charge. HANNOVER MESSE will embrace microsystems technology and nanotechnology in a single trade fair under the new name MicroNanoTec. Microsystems technology and nanotechnologies have formed an important part of HANNOVER MESSE for many years. In the past they have mainly been presented at the leading trade fair MicroTechnology. The change of name signals a further expansion of microtechnology and nanotechnology at HANNOVER MESSE. The world's leading showcase for industrial technology is staged annually in Hannover, Germany. The next HANNOVER MESSE will be held from 19 to 23 April 2010.

Dec 3rd, 2009

Graphene nanotechnology for tomorrow's nanoelectronic circuits

grapheneChip structures already have reached nanoscale dimensions but as they continue to shrink below the 20 nanometer mark, ever more complex challenges arise and scaling appears not to be economically feasible any more. And below 10 nm, the fundamental physical limits of CMOS technology will be reached. One promising material that could enable the chip industry to move beyond the current CMOS technology is graphene, a monolayer sheet of carbon. Notwithstanding the intense research interest, large scale production of single layer graphene remains a significant challenge. Researchers at Cornell University have now reported a new technique for producing large scale single layer graphene sheets and fabricating transistor arrays with uniform electrical properties directly on the device substrate.

Dec 2nd, 2009

Nanotechnology trap captures cancer cells in blood

captured_cancer_cellsMetastasis is caused by marauding tumor cells that break off from the primary tumor site and ride in the bloodstream to set up colonies in other parts of the body. These breakaway cancer cells in the peripheral blood are known as circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Detecting and analyzing these cells can provide critical information for managing the spread of cancer and monitoring the effectiveness of therapies. Nanotechnology researchers have now developed a an efficient cell-capture platform based on 3D nanostructured substrates. The device is engineered out of nanoscale silicon pillars and has managed to capture up to 65 percent of circulating tumor cells in lab samples within human blood - far more than any existing diagnosis tool for CTC capture.

Nov 30th, 2009

Counting single molecules inside nanodroplets

nanodropletsA lot of the scientific knowledge in chemistry and biology comes from experiments on ensembles of molecules by which a vast number of duplicate behaviors are investigated and averaged responses are recorded. Especially the ability to make measurements at the single molecule level provides crucial information about biological and chemical systems. This research depends on molecular manipulation technologies that are able to isolate individual molecules and sequentially transport them for measurement and, potentially, manipulation. To this end, generation and manipulation of small, highly monodisperse droplets have received a lot of attention in the biotech community recently. Using a simple droplet generator chip, scientists can generate millions of droplets in a short amount of time. Each individual droplet is isolated from another droplet, hence, meaning that a million droplets constitute a million individual microreactors running a million reactions simultaneously.

Nov 25th, 2009

Photonic-plasmonic device fully compatible with AFM and Raman spectroscopy

photonic_crystal_cavitySingle molecule detection requires tools that have the detection sensitivity at the scale of single molecules. This could mean a spatial resolution requirement of only a few nanometers especially if the precise location of the molecule needs to be mapped. Researchers have already developed spectroscopic techniques capable of physical and chemical mapping on a nanometer scale. Researchers in Italy have now reported the design, fabrication and application of a photonic-plasmonic device that is fully compatible with atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy - an approach that is novel in both scientific and technological aspects. The device consists of a two-dimensional dielectric photonic crystal cavity patterned on an AFM cantilever, together with a tapered silver waveguide placed at the center of the cavity.

Nov 24th, 2009