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As worldwide demand for cleaner energy grows, scientists are working frantically in every area to improve the amount of energy we are able to generate from various renewable sources. Many existing technologies, such as wind and solar power, are advancing slowly in efficiency as research continues, while others such as wave power are merely prototypes awaiting verification. Solar panel technology has undergone numerous upgrades over the years, many of which have increased efficiency by altering the materials and coatings applied to the panels. And now, two new nanotechnologies may provide a large increase in solar panel efficiency, driving solar panels down to costs manageable for homeowners and small businesses.
Up and Coming: Solar panels may soon be far more efficient, thanks to recent advances in nanotechnology. Photo Credit: Denison University
Solar power can take on many forms - for instance, the infrared light can be used to heat water for a home or a steam engine. It can also refer to photovoltaics, which convert light energy directly into electricity. Photovoltaics work by sandwiching two materials together, one with a few extra electrons and one with slightly less. When light hits the material, it adds energy to the extra electrons and motivates them to move across the junction between the two materials to the material with a deficit of electrons, where it then flows through the electric circuit and back to the side with excess electrons. Newer solar cells use technologies such as multiple junctions and layers of semiconducting material to increase efficiency, as well as coatings on the sunlight side of the cell.
(Nanowerk News)
A group of Vietnamese researchers say they have developed a plastic
material that is both biodegradable and much cheaper to produce.
They are convenient, water resistant and cheap. These qualities make
plastic bags second to none as the packaging of choice for most
products.
However, they have huge disadvantages especially in how friendly they are to the environment.
They are made from non-renewable sources – oil and gas – and they are
not biodegradable, as it takes them between 500 and 1,000 years to
decompose in natural conditions.
Scientists, therefore, have long been trying to create biodegradable plastic (or bioplastic) as a solution.
The material in the process of degrading after three months in landfill
As part of the country’s efforts to reduce the use of plastic bags,
some local companies have imported technologies producing bioplastic
from other countries like the US and Canada for hundreds of thousand
dollars.
Recently, research scientists from the Ho Chi Minh City-based
University of Sciences have developed a material to make biodegradable
plastic bags (or bioplastic bags) with several advantages over the
imported ones.
According to the result of a project initiated four years ago, the
material not only can degrade fully in land within a short time but
also make the cost of bags produced with it much cheaper, says Truong
Phuoc Nghia, the group’s leader.
He says the material, known as nanocomposite, is a mix of thermoplastic
starch (made from starch), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), a kind of polymer
clay, and some food additives, adding that it is made with
nanotechnology.
Associate Professor Ha Thuc Huy, who directs the group, says this
allows the material to be fully biodegradable in landfill where
microorganisms will eat it up within a short time, between one to six
months.
PVA costs less than VND30,000 (US$1.75) per kilogram if imported in
bulk, while polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE), which are
components in bioplastic produced with foreign technologies, cost some
VND40,000 ($2.33) per kilogram, according to Nghia.
This plus starch from the locally abundant wheat and cassava allows
them to produce bags from the material at a much lower cost just 30
percent or so of foreign-produced ones, Nghia says.
Tests have shown that the material’s ductility and elasticity are the same as common plastics.
The material, in fact, can become a redoubtable competitor to the
common plastic which is rarely reusable, according to the scientists.
“Nanocomposite bags can be re-used many times, if they do not come into contact with water,” Nghia says.
However, Nghia says to make bags from the material, it is necessary to
invest in machinery to make it into plastic grains and then process and
sharpen it.
Huy, meanwhile, says if the group receives adequate sponsorship to do
more research on industrial production, products made of the new
material can be launched in the market within a year.
A project proposal has been submitted to the HCMC Department of Science
and Technology for sponsorship to continue their research, Nghia says.
If this does not go through, they may cooperate with a foreign partner, he adds.
Nanoparticles help researchers develop new technique for administering multiple drugs
December 30, 2008 (Computerworld) Researchers at MIT are using nanoparticles and infrared light as part of a project to develop a more accurate method of delivering multiple drugs to patients battling diseases such as cancer and AIDS.
The researchers have created differently shaped nanoparticles that are each designed to release their medicinal payloads at different times. According to MIT, the new drug-delivery system is externally controlled and could be used to provide patients with up to three or four drugs at a time.
"With a lot of diseases, especially cancer and AIDS, you get a synergistic effect with more than one drug," Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli, an assistant professor of biological and mechanical engineering at MIT, said in a statement.
MIT noted in an announcement about the research effort that doctors already use drug-delivery devices but that the existing ones generally can release only two drugs at a time. And the timing of the medicine's release typically has to be built into the delivery device itself, as opposed to being controlled by doctors from outside of a patient's body, according to MIT.
Researchers at MIT
are using nanoparticles and infrared light as part of a project to
develop a more accurate method of delivering multiple drugs to patients
battling diseases such as cancer and AIDS.
The researchers have created differently shaped nanoparticles that
are each designed to release their medicinal payloads at different
times. According to MIT, the new drug-delivery system is externally controlled and could be used to provide patients with up to three or four drugs at a time.
"With a lot of diseases, especially cancer and AIDS, you get a
synergistic effect with more than one drug," Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli,
an assistant professor of biological and mechanical engineering at MIT,
said in a statement.
MIT noted in an announcement about the research effort that doctors
already use drug-delivery devices but that the existing ones generally
can release only two drugs at a time. And the timing of the medicine's
release typically has to be built into the delivery device itself, as
opposed to being controlled by doctors from outside of a patient's
body, according to MIT.
For the new delivery system, the MIT researchers are using gold
nanoparticles in conjunction with infrared lights. When the particles
are exposed to the lights, they dissolve and release their drug
payloads. Nanoparticles with different shapes respond to different
infrared wavelengths, so doctors should be able to release drugs at
desired intervals by adjusting the wavelengths, said Andy Wijaya, an
MIT graduate student who is working on the project.
Using nanotechnology to fight cancer is an idea that has been growing. Earlier this month, for example, researchers at Stanford University
reported that by using the same type of nanotechnology that enables
hard drives to read and write data, they have developed a system that
should be able to detect cancer in the human body.
Also this month, scientists at MIT said they had developed
nanotechnology-based sensors that can be placed inside living cells to
determine whether chemotherapy drugs are reaching their targets
or attacking healthy cells. The sensors, which can detect chemotherapy
drugs as well as toxins and free radicals, are carbon nanotubes that
the scientists have wrapped in DNA so they can be safely injected into
living tissue, according to a release from the university.
Another group of Stanford researchers announced in August that they
had found a way to use nanotechnology to aim chemotherapy drugs only at cancer cells,
keeping healthy tissue in surrounding cells safe from the toxic effects
of chemo treatments. The new methodology relies on single-walled carbon
nanotubes to function as targeted delivery vehicles.
And in July, scientists at the University of California, San Diego, said they had discovered a way to use nanotechnology-based "smart bombs"
to streamline lower doses of chemotherapy to cancerous tumors, thereby
cutting down on a cancer's ability to spread through the body.
KOCHI:
The latest research findings dealing with the potential risks of
manufactured nanomaterials are clear indication that the field of
nanotoxicology is gaining momentum.While there is no coherent
international approach for determining the risks posed by
nanotechnology materials, the individual research groups forging ahead
with the highly specific toxicology studies.The ongoing second
international conference in the Cochin Nano-2009 found several
participants presenting newer findings, each emphasising on `stability
and longevity’ of the products.But, these very factors could contribute to the toxic effect on human body, say experts.``We did a study on gold and silver and found that gold particles were not so toxic as silver nanoparticles.These
are pretty toxic when used for long duration,’’ said Prof Suresh
Valiyaveetil, Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore.his
research team at the Materials Research Lab, NUS, found that silver
nanoparticles present in wound dressing cause deformities in living
tissues.human cells and zebrafish are shown to develop toxicity
when exposed to high concentration of silver nanoparticles. Measuring
less than 30 nanometers in size, these nanoparticles can travel through
air and water.They are present in common household products such as air or water filtration membranes, cosmetics and detergents.This
means that they are able to enter the environment and eventually into
the cellular systems of human beings and animals. What happens when
these nanoparticles get into a cell? The team exposed the human brain
cells and fibroblast cells to silver nanoparticles and found presence
of toxicity. The investigation progressed from a cell to a full living
system.In another collaboration with Prof Gong Zhiyuan,
Department of Biological Sciences, researchers fed silver nanoparticles
into the medium containing zebrafish eggs to observe the changes in its
body."Zebrafish was chosen as it is transparent, allowing
researchers to observe clearly the changes in its blood circulatory
system and organs. Another advantage is that the development of egg to
fish takes only three days,’’ he said.On monitoring, they found
that some embryos had no eyes while some had serious deformities. And
some died when the concentration of silver nanoparticles was increased.
"We need not get alarmed.But, we need to be alert because silver nanoparticles are used in wound dressings, water filters etc.Toxicity
depends on how much silver nanoparticles you feed into the cell. If it
is a small amount, it doesn’t show any toxicity. But, if the
concentration increases, the toxicity increases,’’ he said.however, he is concentrating more on the exposure factor which he says needn’t be studied in full length.The
workers in the industry who makes such products need to be studied. "We
are concentrating on it. No matter how good or bad the news is,’’ he
said.
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