Research by University of Brighton scientists on the use of silver nanoparticles to decontaminate mercury-contaminated water has been highlighted by 'Science'.

Nanotechnology is about to emerge in the world of pesticides and pest control, and a range of new approaches are needed to understand the implications for public health, ensure that this is done safely, maximize the potential benefits and prevent possible risks, researchers say in a new report.

A recent study by researchers at National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC) in Thailand has provided the data on detecting silver released from antibacterial fabric products using artificial sweat as a model to represent the human skin environment.

A new low-cost etching technique developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory can put a trillion holes in a silicon wafer the size of a compact disc.

By dipping plain cotton cloth in a high-tech broth full of silver nanowires and carbon nanotubes, Stanford researchers have developed a new high-speed, low-cost filter that could easily be implemented to purify water in the developing world.

The Construction Unit at Tecnalia (in conjunction with the University of Cantabria) has taken part in the Sunglass project. The aim is to develop a new product for the building Sector. This involves a glass that augments the efficiency of photovoltaic solar systems.

Using a cutting edge nanotechnology, researchers at MIT have created a robotic prototype that could autonomously navigate the surface of the ocean to collect surface oil and process it on site.

Electronic products pollute our environment with a number of heavy metals before, during and after they're used. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 70% of heavy metals in landfill come from discarded electronics. With flat screen TVs getting bigger and cheaper every year, environmental costs continue to mount.

In the quest for efficient, cost-effective and commercially viable fuel cells, scientists at Cornell University's Energy Materials Center have discovered a catalyst and catalyst-support combination that could make fuel cells more stable, conk-out free, inexpensive and more resistant to carbon monoxide poisoning. (Journal of the American Chemical Society, July 12, 2010.)

Nanotechnology refers to a broad range of tools, techniques and applications that simply involve particles on the approximate size scale of a few to hundreds of nanometers in diameter. Particles of this size have some unique physicochemical and surface properties that lend themselves to novel uses. Indeed, advocates of nanotechnology suggest that this area of research could contribute to solutions for some of the major problems we face on the global scale such as ensuring a supply of safe drinking water for a growing population, as well as addressing issues in medicine, energy, and agriculture.

Engineers at Oregon State University have made a significant advance toward producing electricity from sewage, by the use of new coatings on the anodes of microbial electrochemical cells that increased the electricity production about 20 times.

"We can make you and we can break you." If Rice University scientists wrote country songs, their ode to graphene oxide would start something like that. But this song wouldn't break anybody's heart.

The Tecnalia Construction Unit, within the framework of its commitment to sustainability, has developed a new generation of environmentally-friendly cements that enable cutting direct CO2 emissions to the atmosphere by up to 100%.

 

Siemens is searching for insulators that will make generators more efficient. The electrical energy in generators is generated in copper bars insulated against high electrical voltages with thick layers of plastic. New materials would enable a thinner design for these insulators, freeing up space for thicker bars in which ultimately more energy could be generated. That would make it relatively easy to adapt a generator to a more powerful turbine. Siemens Corporate Technology (CT) is working with Siemens Energy and additional industry and research partners to develop new insulators containing nanoparticles. As reported in the current issue of "Pictures of the Future", the materials have already proven effective in the laboratory. The next step is to ready the technology for the market. Warming").

Imec realized large-area (70cm2) epitaxial solar cells with efficiencies of up to 16.3% on high-quality substrates. And efficiencies of up to 14.7% were achieved on large-area low-quality substrates, showing the potential of thin-film epitaxial solar cells for industrial manufacturing. The results were achieved within imec's silicon solar cell industrial affiliation program (IIAP) that explores and develops advanced process technologies aiming a sharp reduction in silicon use, whilst increasing cell efficiency and hence further lowering substantially the cost per Watt peak.

 

For the engineers who design cell phones, solar panels and computer chips, it's increasingly important to be able to control the way heat moves through the crystalline materials — such as silicon — that these devices are based on. In computer and cell-phone chips, for example, one of the key limitations to increasing speed and memory is the need to dissipate the heat generated by the chips.

 

Available to download now from NANO Magazine, this short guide to nanotechnology gives a basic introduction to nanotechnology and its applications, perfect for anyone who is a newcomer to the nanotech world to grasp the basics fast.

 

In its bulk state, magnesium oxide (MgO) is a chalky white, rather unreactive mineral that is best known as an ingredient in antacid medication. But when this compound is formed into nanoscale films, only a few atoms deep, things begin to change. While bulk MgO is an insulator, ultrathin MgO can transfer small amounts of charge to substances, such as metal catalysts, adsorbed on its surface—giving these films the ability to tune chemical reactivity and unlock new reaction routes.

 

In the quest to develop more cost-effective ways to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels, GE is partnering with the University of Alberta (UA) and Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (AITF) on a $4 million CO2 capture project supported by the Climate Change and Emissions Management (CCEMC) Corporation.

 

The 2010 Millennium Technology Prize was awarded in June 2010 in Helsinki to Professor Michael Grätzel, who discovered dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC), also known as "Grätzel cells". The basic principle of the DSC resembles the photosynthesis of plants; and these cells have a major potential for mass production. The development of DSCs calls for a multidisciplinary research approach combining several fields of physics, chemistry, and material science. In the New Energy Technologies Group, led by Professor Peter Lund from the Department of Applied Physics at Aalto University, research in DSCs has been carried out since 2001.