Over the past few decades, the fields of science and engineering have been seeking to develop new and improved upon types of energy technologies that have the capability of improving life all over the world. Nanotechnology, sometimes shortened to nanotech, refers to a field of Applied science whose theme is the control of matter on an Atomic and Molecular Although Nanotechnology is a relatively recent development in scientific research the development of its central concepts happened over a longer period of time The implications of Nanotechnology run the gamut of human affairs from the medical, Ethical, Mental, legal and environmental to fields With nanotechnology a large set of materials and improved products rely on a change in the physical properties when the feature sizes are shrunk This is a list of organizations involved in Nanotechnology. Government EU Seventh Framework Programme and Action Plan for Nanosciences Nanotechnology and its use in fiction has attracted scholarly attention For a gentler introduction to nanotechnology see List of basic nanotechnology topics This is a hierarchical list of (all topics related to Nanotechnology Nanomaterials are application with morphological features smaller than a one tenth of a micrometre in at least one dimension "C60" and "C-60" redirect here For other uses see C60 (disambiguation. See also Graphene, Buckypaper Carbon nanotubes (CNTs are Allotropes of carbon with a nanostructure that can have a length-to-diameter In Nanotechnology, a particle is defined as a small object that behaves as a whole unit in terms of its transport and properties Nanomedicine is the medical application of Nanotechnology. The approaches to nanomedicine range from the medical use of Nanomaterials, to nanoelectronic Nanotoxicology is the study of the Toxicity of nanomaterials. Nanosensors are any biological chemical or sugery sensory points used to convey information about Nanoparticles to the Macroscopic world Molecular self-assembly is the process by which Molecules adopt a defined arrangement without guidance or management from an outside source Self assembled monolayers ( SAM s are surfaces consisting of a single layer of Molecules on a substrate. A supramolecular assembly or "supermolecule" is a well defined complex of molecules held together by noncovalent bonds. DNA nanotechnology is a subfield of Nanotechnology which seeks to use the unique Molecular recognition properties of DNA and other Nucleic acids Nanoelectronics refer to the use of Nanotechnology on electronic components especially Transistors. For quantum mechanical study of the Electron distribution in a molecule see Stereoelectronics. Nanocircuits are electrical circuits on the scale of nanometers Nanolithography — or Photolithography at the Nanometer scale — refers to the fabrication of nanometer-scale structures, meaning patterns with at Scanning probe microscopy (SPM is a branch of Microscopy that forms images of surfaces using a physical probe that scans the specimen The atomic force microscope (AFM or scanning force microscope (SFM is a very high-resolution type of scanning probe microscope, with demonstrated resolution of fractions Scanning tunneling microscope (STM is a powerful technique for viewing surfaces at the atomic level Molecular nanotechnology (MNT is the concept of engineering functional mechanical systems at the molecular scale A molecular assembler as defined by K Eric Drexler is a "proposed device able to guide chemical reactions by positioning reactive molecules with atomic precision Nanorobotics is the technology of creating machines or Robots at or close to the microscopic scale of a Nanometres (10-9 Metres. Mechanosynthesis in Chemistry is any Chemical synthesis that takes place by mechanical forces alone Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding Engineering is the Discipline and Profession of applying technical and scientific Knowledge and In Physics and other Sciences energy (from the Greek grc ἐνέργεια - Energeia, "activity operation" from grc ἐνεργός In order to make the next leap forward from the current generation of technology, scientists and engineers have been developing Energy Applications of Nanotechnology. Technology is a broad concept that deals with a Species ' usage and knowledge of Tools and Crafts and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt Nanotechnology, a new field in science, is any technology that contains components smaller than 100 nanometers. Nanotechnology, sometimes shortened to nanotech, refers to a field of Applied science whose theme is the control of matter on an Atomic and Molecular A nanometre ( American spelling: nanometer, symbol nm) ( Greek: νάνος nanos dwarf; μετρώ metrό count) is a For scale, a single virus particle is about 100 nanometers in width. A virus (from the Latin virus meaning Toxin or Poison) is a sub-microscopic infectious agent that is unable
An important subfield of nanotechnology related to energy is nanofabrication. Nanolithography — or Photolithography at the Nanometer scale — refers to the fabrication of nanometer-scale structures, meaning patterns with at Nanofabrication is the process of designing and creating devices on the nanoscale. Creating devices smaller than 100 nanometers opens many doors for the development of new ways to capture, store, and transfer energy. The inherent level of control that nanofabrication could give scientists and engineers would be critical in providing the capability of solving many of the problems that the world is facing today related to the current generation of energy technologies.
People in the fields of science and engineering have already begun developing ways of utilizing nanotechnology for the development of consumer products. Consumers refers to individuals or households that use goods and services generated within the economy. Benefits already observed from the design of these products are an increased efficiency of lighting and heating, increased electrical storage capacity, and a decrease in the amount of pollution from the use of energy. Lighting includes both artificial Light sources such as lamps and natural illumination of interiors from Daylight. Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability disorder harm or discomfort to the physical systems or living organisms they are in Benefits such as these make the investment of capital in the research and development of nanotechnology a top priority. In Economics, capital or capital Goods or real capital refers to items of extensive value The phrase research and development (also R and D or more often R&D) according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers
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Consumer products
Recently, previously established and entirely new companies such as BetaBatt, Inc. and Oxane Materials are focusing on nanomaterials as a way to develop and improve upon older methods for the capture, transfer, and storage of energy for the development of consumer products.
ConsERV, a product developed by the Dais Analytic Corporation, uses nanoscale polymer membranes to increase the efficiency of heating and cooling systems and has already proven to be a lucrative design. A polymer is a large Molecule ( Macromolecule) composed of repeating Structural units typically connected by Covalent Chemical bonds The polymer membrane was specifically configured for this application by selectively engineering the size of the pores in the membrane to prevent air from passing, while allowing moisture to pass through the membrane. Polymer membranes can be designed to selectively allow particles of one size and shape to pass through while preventing others of different dimensions. This makes for a powerful tool that can be used in consumer products from biological weapons protection to industrial chemical separations. Biological warfare (BW — known as a germ warfare, biological weapons and bioweaponry — is the use of any Pathogen ( Bacterium
A New York based company called Applied NanoWorks, Inc. has been developing a consumer product that utilizes LED technology to generate light. Light-emitting diodes or LEDs, use only about 10% of the energy that a typical incandescent or fluorescent light bulb use and typically lasts much longer, which makes them a viable alternative to traditional light bulbs. The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is a source of electric Light that works by Incandescence, (a general A fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a Gas-discharge lamp that uses Electricity to excite mercury Vapor. While LEDs have been around for decades, this company and others like it have been developing a special variant of LED called the white LED. White LEDs consist of semi-conducting organic layers that are only about 100 nanometers in distance from each other and are placed between two electrodes, which create an anode, and a cathode. An anode is an Electrode through which Electric current flows into a polarized electrical device A cathode is an Electrode through which (positive Electric current flows out of a polarized electrical device When voltage is applied to the system, light is generated when electricity passes through the two organic layers. Electrical tension (or voltage after its SI unit, the Volt) is the difference of electrical potential between two points of an electrical This is called electroluminescence. Electroluminescence (EL is an Optical phenomenon and Electrical phenomenon in which a material emits light in response to an Electric current passed through The semiconductor properties of the organic layers are what allow for the minimal amount of energy necessary to generate light. A semiconductor' is a Solid material that has Electrical conductivity in between a conductor and an insulator; it can vary over that In traditional light bulbs, a metal filament is used to generate light when electricity is run through the filament. A lamp is a replaceable component such as an Incandescent light bulb, which is designed to produce Light from Electricity. Using metal generates a great deal of heat and therefore lowers efficiency.
Research for longer lasting batteries has been an ongoing process for years. In electronics a battery is a combination of two or more Electrochemical cells which store chemical Energy which can be converted into electrical energy Researchers have now begun to utilize nanotechnology for battery technology. mPhase Technologies in conglomeration with Rutgers University and Bell Laboratories have utilized nanomaterials to alter the wetting behavior of the surface where the liquid in the battery lies to spread the liquid droplets over a greater area on the surface and therefore have greater control over the movement of the droplets. Rutgers The State University of New Jersey (also known as Rutgers University) is the largest institution for higher education in the state of New Jersey Bell Laboratories (also known as Bell Labs and formerly known as AT&T Bell Laboratories and Bell Telephone Laboratories) is the Research organization This gives more control to the designer of the battery. This control prevents reactions in the battery by separating the electrolytic liquid from the anode and the cathode when the battery is not in use and joining them when the battery is in need of use. An anode is an Electrode through which Electric current flows into a polarized electrical device A cathode is an Electrode through which (positive Electric current flows out of a polarized electrical device
Economic benefits
The relatively recent shift toward using nanotechnology with respect to the capture, transfer, and storage of energy has and will continue to have many positive economic impacts on society. The control of materials that nanotechnology offers to scientists and engineers of consumer products is one of the most important aspects of nanotechnology. This allows for an improved efficiency of products across the board.
A major issue with current energy generation is the loss of efficiency from the generation of heat as a by-product of the process. A common example of this is the heat generated by the internal combustion engine. The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the Combustion of Fuel and an Oxidizer (typically air occurs in a confined space called a The internal combustion engine loses about 36% of the energy from gasoline as heat and an improvement of this alone could have a significant economic impact. However, improving the internal combustion engine in this respect has proven to be extremely difficult without sacrificing performance. Improving the efficiency of fuel cells through the use of nanotechnology appears to be more plausible by using molecularly tailored catalysts, polymer membranes, and improved fuel storage. A fuel cell is an electrochemical conversion device It produces electricity from Fuel (on the Anode side and an oxidant (on the Catalysis is the process in which the rate of a Chemical reaction is increased by means of a Chemical substance known as a catalyst
In order for a fuel cell to operate, particularly of the hydrogen variant, a noble-metal catalyst (usually platinum, which is very expensive) is needed to separate the electrons from the protons of the hydrogen atoms. Hydrogen (ˈhaɪdrədʒən is the Chemical element with Atomic number 1 Noble metals are Metals that are resistant to Corrosion or Oxidation, unlike most Base metals They tend to be Precious metals often Platinum (ˈplætɪnəm is a Chemical element with the Atomic symbol Pt and an Atomic number of 78 The electron is a fundamental Subatomic particle that was identified and assigned the negative charge in 1897 by J The proton ( Greek πρῶτον / proton "first" is a Subatomic particle with an Electric charge of one positive However, catalysts of this type are extremely sensitive to carbon monoxide reactions. Carbon monoxide, with the chemical formula CO is a colorless odorless tasteless yet highly toxic Gas. In order to combat this, alcohols or hydrocarbons compounds are used to lower the carbon monoxide concentration in the system. In Chemistry, an alcohol is any Organic compound in which a Hydroxyl group ( - O[[hydrogen H]]) is bound to a Carbon In Organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an Organic compound consisting entirely of Hydrogen and Carbon. Carbon monoxide, with the chemical formula CO is a colorless odorless tasteless yet highly toxic Gas. This adds an additional cost to the device. Using nanotechnology, catalysts can be designed through nanofabrication that are much more resistant to carbon monoxide reactions, which improves the efficiency of the process and may be designed with cheaper materials to additionally lower costs.
Fuel cells that are currently designed for transportation need rapid start-up periods for the practicality of consumer use. Transport or transportation is the movement of people and goods from one place to another This process puts a lot of strain on the traditional polymer electrolyte membranes, which decreases the life of the membrane requiring frequent replacement. Using nanotechnology, engineers have the ability to create a much more durable polymer membrane, which addresses this problem. Nanoscale polymer membranes are also much more efficient in ionic conductivity. This improves the efficiency of the system and decreases the time between replacements, which lowers costs.
Another problem with contemporary fuel cells is the storage of the fuel. Fuel is any material that is burned or altered in order to obtain energy In the case of hydrogen fuel cells, storing the hydrogen in gaseous rather than liquid form improves the efficiency by 5%. However, the materials that we currently have available to us significantly limit fuel storage due to low stress tolerance and costs. Scientists have come up with an answer to this by using a nanoporous styrene material (which is a relatively inexpensive material) that when super-cooled to around -196oC, naturally holds on to hydrogen atoms and when heated again releases the hydrogen for use. Styrene, also known as vinyl benzene as well as many other names (see table is an Organic compound with the Chemical formula C6H5CH=CH2
Capacitors: then and now
For decades, scientists and engineers have been attempting to make computers smaller and more efficient. A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. A crucial component of computers are capacitors. A capacitor is a passive electrical component that can store Energy in the Electric field between a pair of conductors A capacitor is a device that is made of a pair of electrodes separated by an insulator that each stores an opposite charge. Insulator may refer to Insulator (genetics Insulator (electrical Thermal insulation Building A capacitor stores a charge when it is removed from the circuit that it is connected to; the charge is released when it is replaced back into the circuit. Capacitors have an advantage over batteries in that they release their charge much more quickly than a battery.
Traditional or foil capacitors are composed of thin metal conducting plates separated by an electrical insulator, which are then stacked or rolled and placed in a casing. The problem with a traditional capacitor such as this is that they limit how small an engineer can design a computer. Scientists and engineers have since turned to nanotechnology for a solution to the problem.
Using nanotechnology, researchers developed what they call “ultracapacitors. Electric double-layer capacitors, also known as supercapacitors, electrochemical double layer capacitors ( EDLCs) or ultracapacitors ” An ultracapacitor is a general term that describes a capacitor that contains nanocomponents. Ultracapacitors are being researched heavily because of their high density interior, compact size, reliability, and high capacitance. This decrease in size makes it increasingly possible to develop much smaller circuits and computers. An electronic circuit is a closed path formed by the interconnection of Electronic components through which an Electric current can flow Ultracapacitors also have the capability to supplement batteries in hybrid vehicles by providing a large amount of energy during peak acceleration and allowing the battery to supply energy over longer periods of time, such as during a constant driving speed. A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that uses two or more distinct power sources to propel the vehicle This could decrease the size and weight of the large batteries needed in hybrid vehicles as well as take additional stress off the battery. However, as of now, the combination of ultracapacitors and a battery is not cost effective due to the need of additional DC/DC electronics to coordinate the two.
Nanoporous carbon aerogel is one type of material that is being utilized for the design of ultracapacitors. Aerogel is a low-density solid-state material derived from Gel in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with gas These aerogels have a very large interior surface area and can have its properties altered by changing the pore diameter and distribution along with adding nanosized alkali metals to alter its conductivity. In Chemistry, an alkali (from Arabic: Al-Qaly القلي القالي) is a basic, ionic salt of an Alkali metal Electrical conductivity or specific conductivity is a measure of a material's ability to conduct an Electric current.
Carbon nanotubes are another possible material for use in an ultracapacitor. Carbon nanotubes are created by vaporizing carbon and allowing it to condense on a surface. When the carbon condenses, it forms a nanosized tube composed of carbon atoms. This tube has a high surface area, which increases the amount of charge that can be stored. The low reliability and high cost of using carbon nanotubes for ultracapacitors is currently an issue of research.
In a study concerning ultracapacitors or supercapacitors, researchers at the Sungkyunkwan University in the Republic of Korea explored the possibility of increasing the capacitance of electrodes through the addition of fluorine atoms to the walls of carbon nanotubes. Sungkyunkwan University is a private university in Seoul ( and Suwon, South Korea. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː Fluorine, fluorum meaning "to flow" is the Chemical element with the symbol F and Atomic number 9 As briefly mentioned before, carbon nanotubes are an increasing form of capacitors due to their superb chemical stability, high conductivity, light mass, and their large surface area. These researchers fluorinated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) at high temperatures to bind fluorine atoms to the walls. The attached fluorine atoms changed the non-polar nanotubes to become polar molecules. This can be attributed to the charge transfer from the fluorine. This created dipole-dipole layers along the carbon nanotube walls. Testing of these fluorinated SWCNTs against normal state SWCNTs showed a difference in capacitance. It was determined that the fluorinated SWCNTs are advantageous in fabricating electrodes for capacitors and improve the wettability with aqueous electrolytes, which promotes the overall performance of supercapacitors. Wetting is the contact between a liquid and a solid surface resulting from intermolecular interactions when the two are brought together While this study brought to knowledge a more efficient example of capacitors, little is known about this new supercapacitor, large scale synthesis is lacking and is necessary for any massive production, and preparation conditions are quite tedious in achieving the final product. [1]
Theory of capacitance
Understanding the concept of capacitance can be helpful in understanding why nanotechnology is such a powerful tool for the design of higher energy storing capacitors. Capacitance is a measure of the amount of Electric charge stored (or separated for a given Electric potential. A capacitor’s capacitance (C) or amount of energy stored is equal to the amount of charge (Q) stored on each plate divided by the voltage (V) between the plates. Another representation of capacitance is that capacitance (C) is approximately equal to the permittivity (ε) of the dielectric times the area (A) of the plates divided by the distance (d) between them. Therefore, capacitance is proportional to the surface area of the conducting plate and inversely proportional to the distance between the plates.
Using carbon nanotubes as an example, a property of carbon nanotubes is that they have a very high surface area to store a charge. Using the above proportionality that capacitance (C) is proportional to the surface area (A) of the conducting plate; it becomes obvious that using nanoscaled materials with high surface area would be great for increasing capacitance. The other proportionality described above is that capacitance (C) is inversely proportional to the distance (d) between the plates. Using nanoscaled plates such as carbon nanotubes with nanofabrication techniques, gives the capability of decreasing the space between plates which again increases capacitance.
References
- ^ Lee et al. "Fabrication of Supercapacitor Electrodes Using Fluorinated Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes. " American Chemical Society. May 2003: Volume 103.
See also
External links
- http://www.conserv.com/
- http://www.appliednanoworks.com/
- http://www.mphasetech.com/
- http://www.azonano.com/details.asp?ArticleID=1123
- http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~matti/ise2grp/energystorage_report/node9.html
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