New Material For Nanoscale Computer Chips

New data from a Chinese-Danish collaboration shows that organic nanoscale wires could be an alternative to silicon in computer chips. The discovery has just been published in the respected scientific journal, Advanced Materials.

Nanochemists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Nano-Science Center, Department of Chemistry, at the University of Copenhagen, have developed nanoscale electric contacts out of organic and inorganic nanowires. In the contact they have crossed the wires like Mikado sticks and coupled several contacts together in an electric circuit. In this way they have produced prototype computer electronics on the nanoscale.

Alternative to silicon computers

Today the foundation of our computers, mobile phones and other electronic apparatus is silicon transistors. A transistor is in principal an on- and off- contact and there are millions of tiny transistors on every computer chip. However, we are reaching the limit for how small we can make transistors out of silicon.

We already use various organic materials in, for example, flat screens, such as OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode). The new results show how small and advanced devices made of organic materials can become. Thomas Bjørnholm, director of the Nano-Science Center, explains:

"We have succeeded in placing several transistors consisting of nanowires together on a nano device. It is a first step towards realisation of future electronic circuitry based on organic materials – a possible substitute for today’s silicon-based technologies. This offers the possibility of making computers in different ways in the future."

Danish-Chinese nanoelectronics

The researchers have used organic nanowires combined with the tin oxide nanowires in a so-called hybrid circuit. As in a Mikado game, the nanowires cross in a device consisting of 4-6 active transistor moieties. The devices have a low operational current, high mobility and good stability and that is essential in order for the material to be able to compete with silicon.

Professor Wenping Hu, Chinese Academy of Sciences is excited over the results, saying: "This work is the first significant result of our collaboration with the researchers from the Nano-Science Center. It is a good starting point for our new Danish-Chinese research centre for molecular nano-electronics and it underlines the fact that we can complement each other and that together we can achieve exciting and important results."

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Nanotech and Synbio: Americans Don't Know What's Coming

A groundbreaking poll finds that almost half of U.S. adults have heard nothing about nanotechnology, and nearly nine in 10 Americans say they have heard just a little or nothing at all about the emerging field of synthetic biology, according to a new report released by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) and Peter D. Hart Research. Both technologies involve manipulating matter at an incredibly small scale to achieve something new.

This new insight into limited public awareness of emerging technologies comes as a major leadership change is about to take hold in the nation's capital. Public policy experts are concerned, regardless of party, that the federal government is behind the curve in engaging citizens on the potential benefits and risks posed by technologies that could have a significant impact on society, according to PEN, an initiative of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Nanotechnology is the ability to measure, see, manipulate and manufacture things at the atomic scale. In 2007, the global market for goods incorporating nanotechnology totaled $147 billion. Lux Research projects that figure will grow to $3.1 trillion by 2015.

Synthetic biology is the use of advanced science and engineering to make or re-design living organisms, such as bacteria, so that they can carry out specific functions. Synthetic biology involves making new genetic code, also known as DNA, that does not already exist in nature.

"Early in the administration of the next president, scientists are expected to take the next major step toward the creation of synthetic forms of life. Yet the results from the first U.S. telephone poll about synthetic biology show that most adults have heard just a little or nothing at all about it," says PEN Director David Rejeski. The poll findings are contained in a report published today, The American Public's Awareness Of And Perceptions About Potential Risks and Benefits of Nanotechnology & Synthetic Biology.

Synthetic biology is the use of advanced science and engineering to construct or re-design living organisms -- like bacteria -- so that they can carry out specific functions. This emerging technology is likely to develop rapidly in the coming years, much as nanotechnology did in the last decade. In the near future the first synthetic biology "blockbuster" drug is anticipated to hit the market -- an affordable treatment for the 500 million people in the world suffering from malaria, according to the PEN.

The poll, which was conducted by the same firm that produces the well-known NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls, found that about two-thirds of adults say they have heard nothing at all about synthetic biology, and only 2 percent say they have heard "a lot" about the new technology. Even with this very low level of awareness, a solid two-thirds of adults are
willing to express an initial opinion on the potential benefits versus risks tradeoff of synthetic biology.

This survey was informed by two focus groups conducted in August in suburban Baltimore. This is the first time -- to the pollsters' knowledge -- that synthetic biology has been the subject of a representative national telephone survey.

At the same time, the poll found that about half of adults say they have heard nothing at all about nanotechnology. About 50 percent of adults are too unsure about nanotechnology to make an initial judgment on the possible tradeoffs between benefits and risks. Of those people who are
willing to make an initial judgment, they think benefits will outweigh risks by a three to one margin when compared to those who believe risks will outweigh benefits. The plurality of respondents, however, believes that risks and benefits will be about equal. A major industry forecasting firm determined that last year nanotech goods in the global marketplace
totaled $147 billion.

According to the poll, the level of U.S. public awareness about nanotechnology has not changed measurably since 2004 when Hart Research conducted the first poll on the topic on behalf of the PEN.

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Nanoscale Silver: No Silver Lining?

Widespread use of nanoscale silver will challenge regulatory agencies to balance important potential benefits against the possibility of significant environmental risk, highlighting the need to identify research priorities concerning this emerging technology, according to a new report released today by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN).

But existing information about the impact of silver on the environment offers a starting point for some assessments of nanosilver, the report argues. You can see a copy of the report online.

Nanotechnology is the ability to measure, see, manipulate and manufacture things at the atomic scale. In 2007, the global market for nanotechnology-based products totaled $147 billion. Lux Research projects that figure will grow to $3.1 trillion by
2015.

The issue of assessing the risks posed by nanoscale silver was highlighted after the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) San Francisco office earlier this year imposed a landmark fine of more than $200,000 on a California company selling computer keyboards and mouses coated with nanosilver. EPA issued the fine on the grounds that the products should
have been registered under federal pesticide law because of the company's germ-killing claims, according to PEN.

Similar fines have not been imposed since, but the action is increasing attention on the potential risks posed by nanoscale silver and oversight of nanotechnology as a whole. There currently are more than 200 manufacturer-identified nanosilver products on the market and contained in
the online nanotechnology consumer products inventory maintained by PEN --everything from baby carriages and air filters to athletic socks and coin-operated washing machines.

Silver itself is classified as an environmental hazard by EPA because it is more toxic to aquatic plants and animals than any metal except mercury. Even if a nanoparticle itself is not especially toxic, silver nanoparticles increase the effectiveness of delivering toxic silver ions to locations where they can cause toxicity.

"We need not assume that because nano is new, we have no scientific basis for managing risks," says Samuel Luoma, the author of the PEN report Silver Nanotechnologies and The Environment: Old Problems or New Challenges?, which also offers a dozen lessons concerning silver in general that can be followed for managing the potential environmental risks posed
by nanosilver.

"Our existing knowledge of silver in the environment provides a starting point for some assessments, and points toward some of the new questions raised by the unique properties for nanoparticles that need to be addressed through new research."

The mass of silver dispersed to the environment from new products could be substantial if one product, or a combination of such products, becomes widespread, according to PEN.

"The silver that went into wastewaters when millions of people had their photographs developed taught us that small additions of silver to the environment make a big difference," says Luoma, a former senior researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey who now leads science policy coordination for the John Muir Institute of the Environment at the University of California, Davis. "Perhaps more significant, we have no means of detecting nanosilver in the environment once it is released, even if concentrations rise to levels that are toxic to aquatic ecosystems."

The U.S. federal government has invested only a small percentage of its overall nanotechnology research funding in understanding the risks posed by nanomaterials, according to an analysis conducted earlier this year by PEN, further highlighting the need for more research on the potential risks posed by nanomaterials. In addition, laws and institutions shaped in the mid-20th century are not likely to succeed in addressing 21st century problems.

"Silver is an old problem, and nanosilver is a new challenge. The scope of the new challenge is not yet clear because it is uncertain how much nanosilver is now used as an antimicrobial in commercial and consumer products, and because new uses are likely to be discovered in the future," says J. Clarence Davies, a PEN senior adviser and a former EPA policy official. "Regardless of the scope of the nanosilver problem, it underscores the need for more risk research and new approaches to oversight to deal with new technologies and problems of the new century."

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Improved Governance Needed To Realize Nanotech's Benefits

Without an improved governance structure, the benefits of nanotechnology may be difficult to fully realize because the public will not trust the cutting-edge technology, says David Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN). Rejeski testifies on Thursday, April 24, before the Senate subcommittee on technology and innovation.

"Public trust is the 'dark horse' in nanotechnology's future," says Rejeski in his testimony. "If government and industry do not work to build public confidence in nanotechnology, consumers may reach for the 'No-Nano' label in the future and investors will put their money elsewhere. Public perceptions about risks -- real and perceived -- can have large economic impacts. For example, the European Union's ban on genetically modified foods, driven largely by public concerns, cost American farmers an estimated $300 million annually in lost sales and much more in products that never made it to the marketplace."

Lawmakers are currently discussing amendments to and reauthorization of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research & Development Act, which helps sets the roadmap for the annual $1.5 billion federal spending on nanotechnology research that is vital to ensuring the
technology's success.

Nanotechnology is the ability to measure, see, manipulate and manufacture things usually between 1 and 100 nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter; a human hair is roughly 100,000 nanometers wide. By 2014, Lux Research projects that $2.6 trillion in global manufactured goods will incorporate nanotechnology, or about 15 percent of total global
output.

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World's Smallest Radio: Nano-Sized Detector Turns Radio Waves Into Music

Researchers in California report development of the world’s first working radio system that receives radio waves wirelessly and converts them to sound signals through a nano-sized detector made of carbon nanotubes. The “carbon nanotube radio” device is thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. The development marks an important step in the evolution of nano-electronics and could lead to the production of the world’s smallest radio, the scientists say. Their findings appeared online today and are scheduled for publication in the Nov. 14 print edition of ACS’ Nano Letters, a monthly journal.

Peter Burke and Chris Rutherglen developed a carbon nanotube “demodulator” that is capable of translating AM radio waves into sound. In a laboratory demonstration, the researchers incorporated the detector into a complete radio system and used it to successfully transmit classical music wirelessly from an iPod to a speaker several feet away from the music player.

Although other researchers have developed nano-sized radio wave detectors in the past, the current study marks the first time that a nano-sized detector has been demonstrated in an actual working radio system, the scientists say. The study demonstrates the feasibility of making other radio components at the nanoscale in the future and may eventually lead to a “truly integrated nanoscale wireless communications system,” they say. Such a device could have numerous industrial, commercial, medical and other applications.

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Consumer Inventory Pinpoints Surge in Nanotech Use in Health & Fitness Products

Say "nanotechnology," and geeks imagine iPhones, laptops and flash drives. But more than 60 percent of the 580 products in a newly updated inventory of nanotechnology consumer products are such "un-geeky" items as tennis racquets, clothing, and health products.

Maintained by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, the updated inventory includes Head NanoTitanium Tennis Racquets, Eddie Bauer Water Shorts with Nano-Dry technology, Nano-In Foot Deodorant Powder/Spray, and Burt's Bees sunscreen with "natural Titanium Dioxide mineral ... micronized into a nano sized particle."

Nanotechnology is the engineering of devices and materials at the atomic level.

Since the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies launched the world's first online inventory of manufacturer-identified nanotech goods in March 2006, the number of items has increased 175 percent -- from 220 to 580 products. There are 356 products in the health and fitness category -- the inventory's largest category -- and 66 products in the food and beverage category. One of the largest subcategories is cosmetics with 89 products. All are available in shopping malls or over the Internet.

The list includes merchandise from such well-known brands as Samsung, Chanel, Black & Decker, Wilson, L.L. Bean, Lancome and L'Oreal.

The nanomaterial of choice appears to be silver -- which manufacturers claim is in 139 products or nearly 25 percent of inventory -- far outstripping carbon, gold, or silica.

"The use of nanotechnology and nanomaterials in consumer products and industrial applications is growing rapidly, and the products listed in the inventory are just the tip of the iceberg," says Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies science advisor Andrew Maynard. "How consumers respond to these early products -- in food, electronics, health care, clothing and cars - - will be a bellwether for broader market acceptance of nanotechnologies in the future. This is especially true given that the Project's recent poll shows seventy percent of the public still knows
little or nothing about the technology."

In an effort to jumpstart a conversation with consumers about the possible benefits and risks of nanotechnology, the Project -- in collaboration with Consumers Union, the publishers of Consumer Reports magazine and Consumer Reports Online -- recently announced
ConsumersTalkNano. This online dialogue will take place over two days, Oct. 23-24.

Any interested member of the public will be able to communicate online throughout the two days (Oct. 23-24) with panelists from the Project, Consumers Union and others.

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Getting a Feel for the Nano World

When it comes to research at the nanoscale, vision is not necessarily an advantage. The subjects are so small, no one can see them. To encourage people with visual impairments to pursue fields in nanotechnology, educators have developed a way to craft accurate, detailed and touch-friendly models of nanoscale objects like carbon nanofibers, allowing the students to "see" those objects for the first time.

While students have learned from abstract models of chemical structures for decades, the new technique creates 3-D versions of objects as they actually are.

Developed by educators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), the models are about the size of a textbook and are formed using rapid prototyping, a process that "prints" 3-D objects. Each model is a scaled-up replica of tweaked data from a scanning electron microscope. The creators hope they will soon be able to apply the same process to data from other instruments, including the patterns of atoms revealed by atomic force microscopes.

The approach was conceived by Andrew Greenberg, education and outreach coordinator for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center on Templated Synthesis and Assembly at the Nanoscale at UW-Madison and for the university's Institute for Chemical Education. He thought of the idea during a visit to the Indiana School for the Blind, which uses 3-D models of chemical structures in the classroom.

Greenberg partnered with two collaborators from the university's Center for Biology Education: undergraduate biochemistry student Mohammed Farhoud, who is skilled with the rapid-prototyping equipment, and the center director, David Nelson.

On March 27, Greenberg and Farhoud presented their novel approach at the 233rd National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

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Nanotech Could Become Polarizing Like Nuclear Power

Nanotechnology, the science of assembling materials and machines at the atomic scale at a size less than the width of a human hair, may seem very futuristic and exciting. But if not managed properly, it could scare and stir up emotions like nuclear power or global warming, according to a professor at Yale Law School.

"The U.S. public'sperception of nanotechnology is up for grabs. It could divide along the lines of nuclear power, global warming and other contentious environmental issues absent a major public education and engagement effort by industry, government, civic groups and scientists. People who know little or nothing about 'nanotechnology' instantly react in an emotionally charged way to theconcept, and their opinions divide along cultural lines as they learn more about it," says Dan Kahan.

From drugs and medicine to improved technology on the battlefield, nano-engineering has the potential to dramatically improve life -- but only if people aren't scared off first. And nanotechnology is already on its way.

Nanotechnology is the ability to measure, see, manipulate and manufacture things usually between 1 and 100 nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter; a human hair is roughly 100,000 nanometers wide. Morethan $30 billion in products incorporating nanotechnology were sold globally in 2005. By 2014, Lux Research estimates this figure will grow to$2.6 trillion.

Kahan's conclusions are based on the findings of a new web-based public opinion survey of U.S. public perceptions of nanotechnology.

"Essentially, when asked what they think about this new technology, Americans go with their gut instinct -- which usually reflects their views toward other issues like climate change and nuclear power. When they learn more, they tend to adopt a stance about nanotechnology that fits their political and cultural predispositions," says Kahan, one of the principal investigators in the study.

"Nothing in our findings suggests that public polarization over nanotechnology is inevitable," says Don Braman, a professor at The George Washington University. "Our results indicate that another outcome ispossible but unlikely unless government, business, and educators take amore proactive approach to nanotechnology public engagement and communication."

The results from this study of 1,800 persons who were recruited to participate in an online survey experiment were released by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

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Webcast: Nanotech To Improve Developing Nations

What if doctors in Kenya could equip cells of the retina with photo switches that can be flipped on,essentially making blind nerve cells see and restoring light sensitivity in people with degenerative blindness? What if public health workers in Bangladesh could place contaminated water into transparent bottles, which when placed in direct sunlight could disinfect the water and help prevent water-borne diseases like cholera, dysentery or polio?

What if a medical technician in Vietnam could use a tiny "reporter"molecule that attaches itself to specific bacteria or viruses in a patient sample and read with an inexpensive laser device -- no bigger than a briefcase -- whether an infectious disease is present? What if a nurse in Brazil could dispense a gel that would stick to the AIDS virus surface like molecular Velcro and prevent it from attacking healthy cells in sexually active women?

These scenarios are not science fiction. They are just a few examples of the exciting potential of nanomedicine -- an offshoot of nanotechnology which researchers in both industrialized and developing countries hail as enabling the next big breakthroughs in medicine and which promises to change virtually every facet of health care, disease control and prevention.

Nanotechnology is the engineering of machines and materials at the atomic scale.

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington will hold a webcast on Tuesday, February 27 at 12 p.m. EST, with experts who will examine the role of nanotechnology to improve health in developing nations.

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Tiny Sensors Could Aid Environmental Protection, Pharmaceuticals

By Emil Venere

Researchers at Purdue University have shown how to create a new class of tiny sensors for applications ranging from environmental protection to pharmaceutical preservation.

Although similar "gas-flow sensors" are currently being used for a variety of industries, the new sensor is the first that works on the scale of micrometers and nanometers, or millionths and billionths of a meter, respectively, said Steven Wereley, an associate professor of mechanical engineering.

Gas-flow sensors currently used, including those in residential gas meters to determine how much to charge customers, operate on a principle known for at least 100 years. According to that principle, as gas flows over a surface, such as the wall of a pipe or an object flying through the air, molecules of gas nearest the surface remain stationary. The molecules farther away from the surface move progressively faster.

"That model works really well in many situations, including aerodynamics and applications where the scale of the flow is large compared to the size of the molecules," Wereley says.

This principle, however, does not apply to gas flowing through channels on the scale of micrometers or nanometers, meaning ordinary designs will not work for sensors needed for applications on those scales. In such applications, gas molecules immediately adjacent to the wall of a tube do flow and are said to "slip."

"This exception to the model carries important design implications," Wereley said.

Findings will be detailed in a research paper to be published in the February issue of the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. The paper describes how the sensor is designed.

Gas-flow sensors that operate on the scale of micrometers and nanometers could have applications in environmental protection, particularly to measure the leakage of hydrocarbon fumes from fuel tanks in new cars on the manufacturing line. Federal environmental guidelines specify how much leakage is allowable.

Automakers currently test empty fuel tanks by pressurizing them with a gas, such as helium, and then measuring whether the pressure drops, indicating leakage. The test is limited because, while it can determine whether a tank is leaking, it cannot reveal how severe the leak is. Using a sensor capable of measuring gas flow on small scales would make it possible to yield more accurate data.

An accurate test also could be applied to the pharmaceutical industry, which preserves drugs in packages filled with a gas free of the molds and impurities of ambient air. Pharmaceuticals are shipped and stored in the packaging, and the industry tests packages for leakage, but gas-flow sensors could be used to test them more accurately.

The Purdue researchers worked with industry to develop the sensors, which currently are too costly to be manufactured profitably. The research is associated with the Microfluidics Laboratory at the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue's Discovery Park.


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Researchers Create Cell-Sized Memory Device

Researchers say they have created a memory device the size of a white blood cell in an advance of nanotechnology that should help manufacturer's keep up the pace of Moore's Law.

The tiny ultra-dense memory device has enough capacity to store the Declaration of Independence and still have room to spare, they say. It is called a major advance over current silicon computing technology.

"Using molecular components for memory or computation or to replace other electronic components holds tremendous promise," says J. Fraser Stoddart, director of the California NanoSystems Institute.

The cell-sized device was created by arranging 160,000 memory bits like a large tic-tac-toe board: 400 silicon wires crossed by 400 titanium wires, each 16 nanometers wide, with a layer of dumbbell-shaped molecular switches sandwiched between the crossing wires. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter and is a common measurement in nanotechnology, which is engineering at the atomic scale.

"This research is one of the only examples of building large molecular memory in a chip at an extremely high density, testing it, and working in an architecture that is practical, where it is obvious how information can be written and read," Stoddart says.

Moore's law has long been a basic tenet of computing technology that says the complexity of an integrated circuit, or computer chip, will double every year based on increased miniaturization. Manufacturers, however, see no way to extend the miniaturization beyond the year 2013. Nanotechnology, such as the cell-sized memory device, respresents one potential solution.

"Our goal was not to demonstrate a robust technology; the memory circuit we have reported on is hardly that," says James Heath of the California Institute of Technology and a collaborator on the project. "Instead, our goal was to demonstrate that large-scale, working electronic circuits could be constructed at a density that is well-beyond (10-15 years) where many of the most optimistic projections say is possible."


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