Glass that cleans itself

Eyeglasses need never again to be cleaned, and dirty windscreens are a thing of the past! Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz and the Technical University Darmstadt are now much closer to achieving this goal. They have used candle soot to produce a transparent superamphiphobic coating made of glass. Oil and water both roll off this coating, leaving absolutely nothing behind. Something that even held true when the researchers damaged the layer with sandblasting. The material owes this property to its nanostructure. Surfaces sealed in this way could find use anywhere where contamination or even a film of water is either harmful or just simply a nuisance.

Doris Vollmer hates it that her eyeglasses always get dirty so quickly. However, the scientist, who heads a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, is looking for a solution to the problem - and she and her team are now a good deal closer to finding one. A transparent coating that is very good at repelling water and oil, as is now being presented by the Mainz-based researchers, could not only keep water and dirt away from the lenses in glasses and car windscreens, but also, for example, from the glass facades of skyscrapers. It could also prevent residues of blood or contaminated liquids on medical equipment.

The coating essentially consists of an extremely simple material: silica, the main constituent of all glass. The researchers coated this with a fluorinated silicon compound, which already makes the surface water and oil repellent, like a non-stick frying pan. The really clever part is the structure of the coating, however. This is what makes the glass super water repellent and super oil repellent. In a frying pan with this type of coating, water and oil would simply roll around in the form of drops. The structure of the layer resembles a sponge-like labyrinth of completely unordered pores, which is made up of tiny spheres.

More info: http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-glass.html

Nanotechnology may speed up drug testing

Nanotechnology may speed up drug testing

ScienceDaily (Dec. 19, 2011) — Testing the effectiveness of new pharmaceuticals may get faster thanks to a new technique incorporating quantum dots developed at the University of Central Florida.

Some drug testing can take a decade or more, but UCF associate professor Swadeshmukul Santra and his team have created an electronic quantum dots (Qdots) probe that "lights up" when a drug it is delivering attaches to cancer cells.

The research appears online in this month's Biomaterials.

A researcher can use a microscope to see where and how much of the drug has been delivered because the probe emits a reddish color under special lighting or via MRI because of its optical and magnetic components.

As the drug testing continues, images can be taken over and over without any loss of optical or MRI signal. Researchers can then measure the size of the tumor and number of cancer cells that "light up" compared with the original untreated tumor.

Source: University of Central Florida (2011, December 19). Nanotechnology may speed up drug testing. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 9, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2011/12/111219152721.htm

Sony new technology

Sony unveiled what is billed as the world's first flexible, full-color OLED display built on organic thin-film transistor (TFT) technology. The 2.5-inch prot... Source : http://www.nanopaprika.eu/video/new-sony-technology

What is Nanoscience?

What is nano?

"What is Nano?" is the first part of the NANOYOU film, an introduction to the strange new world of Nanoscience, narrated by Stephen Fry.

Maximizing the power conversion efficiency of thin-film silicon solar cells

Design optimization could help maximize the power conversion efficiency of thin-film silicon solar cells

Silicon is readily available, easy to process, highly stable and non-toxic. It is also one of the best materials for making solar cells. The high quality and purity of silicon needed for fabricating the most efficient silicon-based solar cells, however, has made it difficult to lower production costs for this renewable energy technology. One approach that could reduce costs is to use a microscopically thin film of silicon with a textured surface to enhance light absorption. Navab Singh at the A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics and co-workers have now highlighted several key factors affecting the power conversion efficiency of surface-textured thin-film solar cells and come up with a ‘nanopillar’ design that maximizes light absorption and minimizes production costs.

Smallest electric motor

World's smallest electric motor made from a single molecule

Chemists at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences have developed the world's first single molecule electric motor, a development that may potentially create a new class of devices that could be used in applications ranging from medicine to engineering.