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5 Nanotechnologies that are No Small Thing

Posted September 3, 2013 & filed under Job Search, References

5 Nanotechnologies that are No Small Thing

Nanotechnology may literally be a small part of science, but the innovative new approaches to technology on the molecular level are making big waves in the scientific community. Recently, The National Science Foundation granted Wayne State University in Detroit a $200,000 grant to research nanoengineering (the manipulation of matter at the molecular level). As new research into new nanotechnologies continue to yield results, the military along with the medical, agricultural, aeronautical, and information technology fields show a renewed interest in the outcomes of such studies.

Check out these 5 emerging nanotechnologies that are on their way to scientific breakthroughs.

1.) Using bubbles as lenses for nanoscale light beams

Researchers at Penn State channeled their inner sorcerers as they used bubbles to bend nanoscale beams of light. Because they are working at a level where normal optics do not apply, the team utilized nanoplasmonics (devices that modulate light with short bursts of electromagnetic waves) to direct light through the bubbles, thus gaining the ability to focus the beams at will. According to researchers, this breakthrough could be used in new high-speed circuits and displays.

2.) Nanotubes that extend battery life

Researchers at North Carolina State University demonstrated the energy storing potential of manufactured sheets of aligned carbon nanotubes coated with silicon. These flexible nano-scaffolds have a much higher storage capacity than the traditional graphite composites used in lithium ion batteries. In time, the new batteries could be used to power anything from cellphones to electric car batteries.

3.) Molecular sized motors

The Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw took giant strides towards the innovation of nanomachines when they measured the output and efficiencies of molecular sized engines. The motors, which measure no more than the size of a few atoms, will surely be a key component in future nanotechnology.

4.) Liquid Metal machines

Mixing nanomachines and liquid metal may sound like something out of a Terminator movie, but researchers at the New Jersey Institute of technology hope to apply this versatile nanotechnology to everything from DNA sequencing to new LCD displays and solar panels.

5.) Art on a molecular level

Anyone who has seen the Mona Lisa in person will attest to how small it really is, and a team at Georgia Tech just made it a whole lot smaller. A nano replica of the famous painting, dubbed the “Mini Lisa”, is thinner than a single strand of human hair. It was created using an atomic force microscope and a process called ThermoChemical NanoLithography to create chemical reactions that changed the color of the surface molecules.

By Kevin Withers

Image courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory