Nano drives improve displays

Display technology is currently realizing the benefits of nanotechnology in lighting support for the displays and the display construction itself.

Display technology is currently realizing the benefits of nanotechnology in lighting support for the displays and the display construction itself. One of the new display technologies is the Mirasol display from Qualcomm. This MEMS (microelectromechanical-system)-on-glass device targets low-power, daylight-readable color displays for portable-system applications.

Most LCD devices operating at low power, such as with mobile phones and tablet PCs, have issues with color representation. In varying light, the color accuracy of the display changes, altering the viewer’s perception of the image. The Mirasol display attempts to overcome these issues.

The display is a front-reflective display rather than a traditional backlit display. The properties of nanoscale materials combine with advanced MEMS-processing techniques, allowing the display to mimic naturally occurring phenomena. The display works by creating a color from an interference pattern on the reflected light that hits the top of the display. This process is the same one that makes a butterfly’s wing shimmer and display different colors.

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European nanotechnology on integrating nanomaterial research Infrastructures

All our modern technologies from information and communication, energy, and the environment to health and transport depend on the development of materials that can withstand the highest mechanical and thermal load, transfer data at the greatest speeds, safely store data in the smallest dimensions, ensure biocompatible transplants, remove monoxides from car exhausts, or separate protons and electrons in fuel cells.
This has led to great expectations for the future of nanomaterials science and worldwide attention has been drawn to the enormous potential of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Although Europe’s expertise in nanomaterials science is excellent, it is highly fragmented into scientific disciplines, sectors and national efforts which are on a global level often subcritical. Europe would considerably benefit from a strategic pan-European, multidisciplinary research involving all sectors and the most advanced European research infrastructures.

GENNESYS White Paper

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'Quantum dots' to boost performance of mobile cameras

Tiny semiconductor particles known as "quantum dots" have been used in a sensor that could make for mobile phone cameras that outperform larger cousins.
A film made from these dots is more light-sensitive than existing approaches to camera sensors, according to its makers, Invisage.
That means that cameras made using the film need not be as large as some to achieve the same performance.
InVisage suggests the films will make it into camera production by mid-2011.
Digital camera sensors rely on silicon to do the crucial business of turning incoming light into an electric charge that the camera can measure and translate into an image.
But the way silicon-based sensors are produced means that in many cases the light is partially blocked by the electronic connections that make the sensor work.
Combined with the fact that silicon can turn only half of the incident light into electric charge, capturing light using silicon throws away about 75% of the light.

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Tree Electricity Runs Nano-Gadget

A report in the journal IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology shows that maple trees generate a small, but measurable amount of electricity, which can power tiny devices. Karen Hopkin reports

If scientists have their way, we may someday be tapping maples—not for pancake fixin’s, but for power. Because researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle have found there’s enough electricity flowing in trees to run an electronic circuit.

If you’ve ever made a potato battery, you know that plant material can generate current. But the energy in trees is something else entirely. The potato experiment uses electrodes of two different metals to set up a charge difference that gets local electrons flowing.

But in the current study, researchers use electrodes made of the same material. Sticking one electrode into a tree and another in the soil, they found that big leaf maples generate a steady voltage of up to a few hundred millivolts. That’s way less than the volt-and-a-half provided by a standard AA battery. So the scientists designed a gadget so small, with parts just 130 nanometers in size, that it can run on tree power alone.

Source: SCIAM

Nanotech used to create pulsing artificial arteries

A team of British researchers are set to begin a trial program by planting nanotechnology-based artificial arteries into humans.

Scientists at London's Royal Free Hospital received a grant of more than $800,000 to move the artificial artery project from the laboratory to human trials within the next year, according to the hospital. The artificial arteries are made of a polymer material that's combined with nanomaterials. The hospital said the materials can closely mimic natural vessels by pulsing along with the beating of the patient's heart.

The grant was issued by the Wellcome Trust, which is the largest charity in the U.K.

"The new micro-graft pulses rhythmically to match the beat of the heart," said George Hamilton, a team leader and professor of vascular surgery at the Royal Free Hospital. "As well as this, the new graft material is strong, flexible, resistant to blood clotting and doesn't break down, which is a major breakthrough."

The arteries are designed to replace ruptured or diseased vessals in human hearts and legs.

Nanotechnology has been a major part of medical research in recent years.

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Nanotech Helps Create Paper-based Batteries

It's a battery made out of coated paper.

An article over on Standford University's website claims that its post doctoral students, in the lab of Professor Yi Cui, Materials Science and Engineering, have created a battery using paper. They simply dipped the paper into ink infused with carbon nanotubes and silver nanowire. They even claim that the battery still works when the paper is crumbled into a ball.

"Society really needs a low-cost, high-performance energy storage device, such as batteries and simple supercapacitors," said Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering. He also released a report on the research, called "Highly Conductive Paper for Energy Storage Devices, for publication this week here in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences.

Cui goes on to call the nanomaterials "special," their diameters small enough within the ink to stick to fibrous paper, making it more durable than the previously tested ink-on-plastic. And while the battery paper still performs when crumbled, Cui said that the battery remains durable even when the paper is folded, or if it's been dipped in "basic solutions."
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Russians position for nanotech future

RUSSIAN pledges to spend billions in public funds to develop its nanotechnology industry are being treated cautiously by leading British technology companies.
President Dmitry Medvedev said the country will channel 318bn rubles (£6.3bn) into the development of a nanotech infrastructure to increase exports of products built in Russia using the technology.

Oxford Instruments, a British nanotechnology company, said, however, that that it may take time for the cash to become available.
Frazer Anderson, a business development director, from its Bristol-based plasma technology division, said: "Their timescales are a lot longer than ours. If they say $10bn, they probably will do that over the next 10 to 15 years." He added: "If you see big numbers it's excellent but the reality is that it does not always come to pass."
However, Mr Anderson said his company had seen an increase in technology spending from governments worldwide as part of their fiscal stimulus packages.
"We do see President Obama putting more into solar and solid-state lighting. We see that in China. India is on photovoltaics," he said.
This trend had led to more demand for Oxford's equipment. The technology is used to create thin-film or nano-tech devices in everything from the motion sensors in the Nintendo Wii games console to Osram light-emitting diode lights and pure research at institutes such as MIT and Harvard, and Max Planck in Germany.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

New research may lead to revolutionary new devices

Credit: Adam Tsen, Cornell University

Dr. Jiwoong Park of Cornell University, who receives funding for basic research from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), is investigating carbon nanostructures that may some day be used in electronic, thermal, mechanical and sensing devices for the Air Force.

"Devices that are required in many of the Air Force missions are somewhat different from commercial ones in the sense that they are often exposed to harsh environments while maintaining their maximum performance," Park said. "Carbon-based nanostructures, including carbon nanotubes and graphenes (thin layers of graphite) present many exciting properties that may lead to new device structures."

Park's team of researchers is examining single molecules, nanocrystals, nanowires, carbon nanotubes and their arrays in an effort to find a "bridging" material that has a stable structure for making molecular-level bonds. In addition, they are seeking an effective tool for resolving functional and structural challenges. If successful, they will be able to apply the research to future technological advances.
Park's research may contribute to the discovery of new electronic and optical devices that will revolutionize electrical engineering and bioengineering as well as physical and materials science.

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Nanotech Europe 2009

Nanotech Europe offers a broad, interdisciplinary overview of nanotechnology, and the opportunity to meet and discuss with the field's top scientists and leading international companies in the nanotechnology community. The conference has a broad scope, covering leading-edge research, industrial applications and cross-cutting topics including: Nanophotonics, Materials, Health & Bio, Safety, Energy, Instrumentation, Functional Surfaces and Investment.

The published conference programme includes many high-quality speakers such as:Herbert Kohler, Vice President Vehicle and Powertrain, Daimler AG (Germany); Christos Tokamanis, Head of Unit "Nano and converging Sciences and Technologies", DG Research, European Commission; Alexander von Preysing, Senior Vice President, Deutsche Börse AG (Germany); Andreas Jordan, Chief Scientific Officer, MagForce Nanotechnologies AG (Germany); Tapani Ryhänen, Head of Strategic Research, Nokia Research Center (Finland); Wang Chen, Director, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (China); Jeffrey A. Hubbell, Professor, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland); Emmanuel Desurvire, Director, Thales Research & Technology (France); Masakazu Aono, Director General, International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (Japan); Andre Moreira, Investment Manager, BASF Venture Capital (Germany).

"We are delighted to have top scientists from several organizations around the world and leaders from international organizations such as Nokia, Shell, Daimler, Carl Zeiss, BASF, Bayer and Magforce speak about opportunities in nanotechnology", comments Maria Sipilä, Event Director from Spinverse.

Full article

Fibers Could Replace Camera Lenses

Picture a wall that stares back at you. Or a uniform that shows a soldier a 360-degree view of the battlefield. Both scenarios are possible courtesy of a new generation of flexible, translucent fibers developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge. These so-called multimaterial fibers can turn incoming light waves into images without the need for a camera lens. And unlike fiber optic cables, they can transmit images that have been captured across their entire length.
...
The multimaterial fibers developed by the MIT team could solve this problem and provide a host of other benefits. The fibers consist of an array of metal electrodes connected to a semiconductor and are covered by an insulating polymer sheath. The semiconductor layer in the fiber detects light and relays signals via the electrodes to a microprocessor, which combines the signals from an array of the fibers to determine the light's intensity, direction, and color. Visualization software then takes that data and recreates the source image and displays it on a monitor screen. And the whole process is accomplished without a lens.

Source

Nanotech Memory That Holds Data For A Billion Years

More ways to use nanotubes, other than space elevators ;)

US researchers have demonstrated a form of nanotube archival memory that can store a memory bit for a billion years, and has a theoretical trillion bits/square inch density.

The researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley were led by physicist Alex Zettl. They built a prototype device based on a nanoscale iron particle, about 1/50,000th the width of a human hair, moving along a carbon nanotube like a shuttle.

The nano-structure was created in a single step by pyrolysis of ferrocene in argon at 1,000 degreees C. The created nanotube elements are dispersed in isopropanol ultrasonically and deposited on a substrate with electrical contacts applied to the ends of the nanotube. The researchers say these steps are compatible with common semiconductor manufacturing techniques.

By applying an electric current, the iron particle shuttle could be made to move inside the nanotube either away from or towards the current source. When the current was turned off the particle was, as it were, frozen in position. By applying the current in a timed pulse the particle could be made to move a fixed 3nm distance in steps. The speed of movement could be altered by varying the applied bias voltage.

Source: The register

MIT, Portuguese lab form joint nanotech initiative

MIT has announced a collaboration with the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory in Portugal to create a joint initiative to develop nanotechnology-focused research. Anantha Chandrakasan, director of the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories, will serve as MIT’s inaugural director of MIT-INL, along with Carl Thompson, director of the Materials Processing Center.

The MIT-INL initiative will add 10 senior research positions and dedicate $35 million to new research in the program’s first five years at MIT.

According to a joint press release, MIT stands to benefit from INL’s strength in biotechnology, nanotechnology, materials science and engineering. MIT-INL is the first U.S. collaboration for INL, a joint development of Portugal and Spain.

On tap for the first joint projects of MIT-INL are “nanoparticles that can selectively adsorb water contaminants, autonomous microsystems that can move around water supplies and sense contaminants, new materials for energy storage, and revolutionary tools and technologies for monitoring our food supply,” the release reports.

Source

MIT Portugal

Quicker, cheaper SARS detector uses nanodesign

May 29, 2009: Members of a USC-led research team say they've made a big improvement in a new breed of electronic detectors for viruses and other biological materials -- one that may be a valuable addition to the battle against epidemics.

It consists of a piece of synthetic antibody attached to a nanowire that's attached to an electrical base, immersed in liquid.

If the protein the antibody binds to is present in the liquid, it will bind to these antibodies, immediately creating a sharply measurable jump in current through the nanowire.

Source: Smalltimes

Stamping devices for nanotechnology using metallic glasses

Advances in using amorphous metal alloys may make possible an inexpensive nanotech version of the molding technique used to make DVDs. The pits stamped in DVDs are rectangles 320 by 400 nm, but now amorphous metals have been used to stamp features as small as 13 nm, and the researchers believe that they can further decrease the feature size, perhaps to as small as single atoms. From Yale University, via AAAS EurekAlert “Yale engineers revolutionize nano-device fabrication using amorphous metals“:

Yale engineers have created a process that may revolutionize the manufacture of nano-devices from computer memory to biomedical sensors by exploiting a novel type of metal. The material can be molded like plastics to create features at the nano-scale and yet is more durable and stronger than silicon or steel. The work is reported in the February 12 issue of Nature [abstract].

Nanotech gadget 'to diagnose' diseases

Washington, Jan 17, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) --
Scientists have developed a nanotech gadget which they claim could diagnose a number of diseases in a single liquid sample and give an instant result.

A team at Pennsylvania State University created the gadget, a microchip, by coating a series of nanowires with DNA sequences which match those from the disease-causing bacteria or viruses -- whether hepatitis or HIV.

According to the scientists, if DNA from one of those pathogens is present in a sample, it will bind to the nanowire with the matching sequence, a process that changes the wire's conductivity, the 'New Scientist' reported.

Source

'2-faced' bioacids cause nanotube self-asse

January 14, 2009: Nanotubes, the tiny honeycomb cylinders of carbon atoms only a few nanometers wide, are perhaps the signature material of modern engineering research, but actually trying to organize the atomic scale rods is notoriously like herding cats. A new study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Rice University, however, offers an inexpensive process that gets nanotubes to obediently line themselves up -- that is, self-assemble -- in neat rows, more like ducks.

Read the full article at Small Times

Nanotechnology to make inexpensive solar cells more efficient

For nanotech to meet the need for cheap solar cells to produce electricity, it would be very useful to increase the absorption of light by inexpensive thin-film cells, which use a layer of polycrystalline silicon only 1-2 micrometers thick instead of the more expensive 200-300 micrometer-thick crystalline silicon wafers used for conventional solar cells. An open-access review article describes how a layer of nanoparticles of different sizes, compositions, and shapes enhances the efficiency of thin-film solar cells.

Full article here.

Novavax Third Quarter 2008 Earnings (NVAX)

Novavax, (NVAX - NASDAQ) reported it's earnings last week.
NVAX was one of the stock being tracked on this blog.
The bear market continued to slash the value of the whole sector and the growing losses of Novavax are just one example.

Novavax, Inc. NVAX today announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2008. Novavax reported a net loss of $7.8 million ($0.12 loss per share) for the third quarter of 2008 compared to a net loss of $9.0 million ($0.15 loss per share) for the third quarter of 2007. The net cash burn for the third quarter 2008 was $8.3 million, before consideration for the equity financing completed during the third quarter which realized net cash proceeds of $17.6 million.

The bearish chart looks like this:
(Weekly chart, last two years)

PowerShares Lux Nanotech (ETF)

So here is the monthly update on PowerShares Lux Nanotech ETF(AMEX:PXN):


The performance isn't very bright, and while the stock market indexes didn't react very well to the Fed's decision, most of the few nanotechnology stocks aren't really performing that good either.

On the opposite direction, the solar industry seems to be doing just fine, beating all the other sectors and even the hot china funds. Some solar stocks have gone more than 50% just in the last month!

While I've talked about the future potential of solar technology applied with nanotechnology, the solarstocks performance seems to be happening today, contrary to the nanotech sector.

There are many interesting articles and analysis out there regarding solar energy, and I suggest you head over to SolarTechnologyStocks blog, being one of the few only dedicated to this area.

http://solarstocks.blogspot.com/

More updates as soon as new stuff comes out regarding nanotechnology and the markets.

AMD, Qimonda, Carl Zeiss unite in nanoanalysis

Latest news on atomic layer sampling involving known companies such as AMD and Carl Zeiss:

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Qimonda AG and Carl Zeiss SMT are cooperating to bring future chip generations faster to volume production by improving characterization and metrology.

The trio plans to jointly develop next-gen techniques to analyze and characterize semiconductor structures and materials. Within the joint "Nanoanalysis" project for chip development, AMD and Qimonda will have preferred access to the recently founded Carl Zeiss Innovation Center in Dresden, Germany, which is equipped with particle beam systems.

Atom layer process control
The analysis instruments provided by the Carl Zeiss Innovation Center enable materials researchers to depict, analyze and process samples down to the atomic layer, including three-dimensional semiconductor structure, the Carl Zeiss SMT spokesperson said. AMDs participation at the project aims at developing process-related techniques that help to speed volume production ramp-up. "We are faced with the challenge to drive chip structures smaller and yield higher," explained Udo Nothelfer, Vice President AMD Fab36. "Process control at the atom layer is very important to us."

Original article here