nanotimes 12-03 :: March/April 2012

03 / 2012

nanotimes March/April 2012

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Dear Readers,

silver nanoparticles cause more damage to testicular cells than titanium dioxide nanoparticles [page 62]. Their results suggest that silver nano- and submicron-particles (AgNPs) are more cytotoxic and cytostatic compared to TiO2-nanoparticles, causing apoptosis, necrosis and decreased proliferation. That's an important and terrifying research result by researchers from Norway and Poland, published in Toxicology in January.

And there is a lot of other interesting research news, e.g. a low-cost alternatives to platinum for generating hydrogen gas from water [page 63], and a novel type of solar cell called a "back-contact heterojunction solar cell", developed by German researchers [page 59].

It is not pure nanotech, but an amazing story Made in Germany, too. After over a year of work on the development of the Volocopter VC1, the German innovative company Syntern GmbH in Karlsruhe achieved the first manned flight worldwide with a purely electrically powered, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft succeeded last year. The "proof of concept" VC1 will be shown at the AERO 2012 in Friedrichshafen in Germany this week.

The drive for taxiing on a runway and the liftoff is provided by 18 electrical powered rotors. It reminds me of Moller International's Skycar(R) aircraft. About 30 years ago, the founder Paul S. Moller was a crank for his competitors. But these guys are silent know. Paul is right referring to the quote on his company website: "New Technology goes through three stages: First it is ridiculed by those ignorant of its potential; Next, it is subverted by those threatened by its potential; Finally, it is considered self-evident." That it is. All the Mollers, Wolframs or Smolins and their investors in the world can tell you a thing or two about it.

Today, Moller International is a public company (OTC-QB: MLER), and I hope the Syntern GmbH in Karlsruhe will follow a similarly successful path.

http://e-volo.de/en/

http://e-volo.de/en/information/first-flight-vc1

http://www.moller.com

Thomas Ilfrich

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A Cheaper, Faster and More Efficient Platform for Preclinical Drug Discovery Applications [11]

A cheaper, faster and more efficient platform for preclinical drug discovery applications has been invented by scientists at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) in Singapore. Called 'Fish and Chips', the novel multi-channel microfluidic perfusion platform can grow and monitor the development of various tissues and organs inside zebrafish embryos for drug toxicity testing.

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Novaled - IPO [30]

Novaled AG has filed a registration statement on Form F-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed Initial Public Offering (IPO) of its American Depositary Shares (ADSs). Novaled is a leader in the research, development and commercialization of technologies and materials that enhance the performance of organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, and other organic electronics.

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Companies - [12-37, abstract]

e.g. Alexium International Group Limited (Alexium) (OTCQX: AXXIY) announced changes to its board and leadership team.

Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ALTI), a provider of advanced lithium-ion battery technologies and systems, reported financial results for the year ended December 31, 2011.

Applied Nanotech Holdings, Inc. (APNT) has unveiled the next generation of CarbAl(TM), its award-winning passive thermal management material. CarbAl(TM) is a carbon-based material with a unique combination of low density, high thermal diffusivity, and low coefficient of thermal expansion. CarbAl's unique attributes allow it to far exceed the capabilities of conventional thermal management materials, like copper and aluminum. New electroplating and surface coatings have improved its durability and functionality, making it a solution for electronics manufacturers to keep temperature under control.

Cummins Filtration (NYSE:CMI), a division of Cummins Inc., has released its revolutionary Fleetguard(R) FF5782 fuel filter with nanotechnology-based filtration media.

Dyesol (ASX: DYE), a global supplier of Dye Solar Cell (DSC) materials and technology, has raised a total of AUD $5 million, through take-up by shareholders of the recent Share Purchase Plan and a supplementary placement to sophisticated investors. The transaction was partly underwritten by Octa Phillip Securities for a total of $3 million and, consequently, there was no shortfall to the underwriter. In addition to the approximate $3.9 million of proceeds raised from the Share Purchase Plan, the Company has also placed $1.1 million in shares at 18 cents per share to sophisticated investors, comprised principally of existing sophisticated investor shareholders. The total number of shares to be issued will be approximately 27.78 million.

Integran Technologies Inc. (CA) received a repayable government investment of $399,386. In March 2012, Toronto-based Integran has licensed its nano Cobalt electroplating process (Nanovate(TM) CoP) to Montreal-based Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. (PWCC) for deployment as an alternative to hard chromium electroplating in gas turbine power plant applications for aerospace use.

Kopin Corporation (NASDAQ: KOPN) announced that record results from gallium nitride (GaN)-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) materials have been published. The advanced GaN-based materials developed at Kopin and described in a study in APL are important for improving performance of next-generation power amplifiers and power switching converters.

Landa Corporation announced the unveiling of Nanography(TM), a new digital printing category. The Landa Nanographic Printing(TM) process is a game-changing technology for mainstream commercial, packaging and publishing markets. At drupa 2012, the Company will unveil its new line-up of Nanographic sheetfed and web presses. At the heart of the Nanographic Printing process is Landa NanoInk(TM). Comprised of pigment particles only tens of nanometres in size, these nano-pigments are extremely powerful absorbers of light and enable unprecedented image qualities. Landa Nanographic Printing is characterized by ultra-sharp dots of extremely high uniformity, high gloss fidelity and the broadest CMYK colour gamut of any printing process.

MagForce AG (XETRA: MF6), a medical technology company focusing on nano-medicine in oncology announced the company's restructuring and revised corporate strategy for 2012. The company reduced its headcount from 52 employees (year-end 2011) to 30 (April 1, 2012) and expects a significant reduction in company expenses in 2012 as compared to 2011. The implemented cost reductions will enable the company to work more effectively and concentrate on clinical development activities to support the market introduction of NanoTherm(R) therapy.

Polypore International, Inc. (NYSE: PPO) reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2011. Sales were $763.1 million, an increase of 24% compared with $616.6 million in 2010.

Rolith, Inc., a leader in developing advanced nanostructured coatings and devices, has received Series A funding in the total amount of $5 million from DFJ VTB Capital Aurora and AGC America. Rolith will utilize the $5 million investment to step up business development in an effort to address the current market need for industrial-scale nanostructured coatings. The US $5 million investments will also be used to expand the engineering team and further research and development.

Vistec Lithography Inc. announced that Micronova Nanofabrication Centre, Finland, has selected one of its electron-beam lithography systems, Vistec's EBPG5000plusES. The leading nanotechnology laboratory in Finland aims to use for the design, development and fabrication of micro- and nanosystems. The cutting edge technology is specialized for multi-user environments and is therefore a future-proof match to the needs of Micronova.

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Nanostarfruits are pure Gold for Research [38]

Starfruit-shaped gold nanorods synthesized by chemist Eugene Zubarev and Leonid Vigderman, a graduate student in his lab at Rice's Bio-Science Research Collaborative, could nourish applications that rely on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).

The researchers found their particles returned signals 25 times stronger than similar nanorods with smooth surfaces. That may ultimately make it possible to detect very small amounts of such organic molecules as DNA and biomarkers, found in bodily fluids, for particular diseases.

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Researchers Validate Simplified Lateral Force Calibration Technique for AFM [40]

Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the NIST Material Measurement Laboratory (US) have demonstrated that a simpler technique for calibrating lateral sensitivity in an atomic force microscope (AFM) agrees with an earlier method developed at NIST to within 5%.

The equivalence of these two independent methods represents an important step towards traceable accuracy in lateral force microscopy and will allow scientists to better understand the atomic-scale origins of friction across a wide range of materials. The NIST "HammerHead"(HH)method relies on precise positioning of the arms of a specially-fabricated, tee-shaped cantilever over well-defined alignment marks in a surface; a torque is applied at different locations on the cantilever arm by pressing it against a small sphere attached to the edge of the surface. The ratio of the change in the normal (vertical) signal to the lateral signal can be used to calibrate sensitivity and extract friction forces corresponding to the lateral signals measured during an experiment. The new "Diamagnetic Lateral Force Calibrator" (D-LFC) method, developed at Brown University, requires fewer independent measurements. While the D-LFC method is preferable for most circumstances, because it uses fewer parameters and therefore has greater precision, the HH method can be advantageous if contact between the probe tip and the calibration surface must be avoided.

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Avoiding Electrolyte Failure in Nanoscale Lithum Batteries [41]

NIST researcher Alec Talin and his colleagues created a veritable forest of tiny - about 7 Micron tall and 800nm wide - solid-state lithium ion batteries.

Starting with silicon nanowires, the researchers deposited layers of metal (for a contact), cathode material, electrolyte, and anode materials with various thicknesses to form the miniature batteries.

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Improved Batteries with Carbon Nanoparticles [42]

In an important step toward the further development of batteries, a team led by Professor Thomas Bein of LMU Munich and Linda Nazar of Waterloo University in Canada has developed porous carbon nanoparticles that utilize sulfur molecules to achieve the greatest possible efficiency.

To improve the battery's design the scientists at Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM) strive to generate sulfur phases with the greatest possible interface area for electron transfer by coupling them with a nanostructured conductive material.

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Better Fuel Cells by Studying the Defects [43]

Researchers at Cornell University (US) show that a knowledge of the surface facets of a gold nanorod catalyst is insufficient to predict its reactivity, and research must also consider defects on the surface of the nanorod.

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Diatom Biosensor Could Shine Light on Future Nanomaterials [44]

Fluorescence is the key characteristic of a new biosensordeveloped by researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US). The biosensor includes fluorescent proteins embedded in a diatom shell that alter their glow when they are exposed to a particular substance.

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News in Brief [59-63]

A new nanostructured 3D current collector is demonstrated with a polyaniline (PANI)-based electrode system and is shown to deliver improved rate capability characteristics compared to planar configurations.

Researcher developed in a project funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the companies Bosch, Schott Solar, Sunways and Stiebel Eltron a novel type of solar cell called a back-contact heterojunction solar cell. The new solar cell reached 20.2% efficiency. The cell developed by HZB and ISFH in their "TopShot" project has now been measured by the calibration laboratory ISE CalLab, and has reached the highest independently confirmed efficiency of this type of solar cell.

A dose of carbon nanotubes more than doubles the growth rate of plant cell cultures. Mariya V. Khodakovskaya and colleagues explain that their previous research demonstrated that so-called multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) can penetrate through the thick coatings on seeds, stimulate germination of the seeds and stimulate the growth of certain plants. MWCNTs are wisps of pure carbon so small that thousands would fit on the period at the end of this sentence. Those discoveries "have the potential to transform agricultural practices in the near future and to provide solutions to some of the most serious problems related to plant growth and development," the scientists said. Their new research focused on how MWCNTs affect the growth of model tobacco plant cell cultures.

Scientists described a new and more efficient version of an innovative device the size of a home washing machine that uses bacteria growing in municipal sewage to make electricity and clean up the sewage at the same time. Their report here at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), suggested that commercial versions of the two-in-one device could be a boon for the developing world and water-short parts of the US.

University of Central Florida Associate Professor J. Manuel Perez and Professor Saleh Naser and their research team have developed a novel technique that may give doctors a faster and more sensitive tool to detect pathogens associated with inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn's disease. The new nanoparticle-based technique also may be used for detection of other microbes that have challenged scientists for centuries because they hide deep in human tissue and are able to reprogram cells to successfully evade the immune system.

Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in Germany have developed a new method of observing individual proteins. The new method is based on the use of gold nanoparticles.

Researchers at the Nano-Science Center at the University of Copenhagen have developed a new nano-technology platform for the development of molecule-based electronic components using graphene.

Silver nanoparticles cause more damage to testicular cells than titanium dioxide nanoparticles, according to a recent study by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.The researchers found that silver nanoparticles had a toxic effect on cells, suppressing cellular growth and multiplication and causing cell death depending on concentrations and duration of exposure. The effect was weaker for titanium dioxide nanoparticles, although both types did cause cell type-specific DNA damage, with possible implications on reproduction as well as human and environmental health.

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Improving Organic and Molecular Electronic Devices [64]

Researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, USA, has provided the first experimental determination of the pathways by which electrical charge is transported from molecule-to-molecule in an organic thin film. Their results also show how such organic films can be chemically modified to improve conductance.

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EU-Projects / Reports [66-67]

European Partnership for Next Generation of Stacked Solar Cells

Lead-free Soldering for Electronics and Electricals

Micro- and Nanotech Integration Climb to new Heights

Tailor-made Nanomaterials for Automotive Lighting

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