Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the creation of materials, devices, and systems using individual atoms and molecules. The word comes from the prefix nano-, which means one billionth. Nanotechnology uses particles that are 1/80,000 the diameter of a human hair. At such a small scale, new physical, chemical, and biological properties become evident.

You are very excited as you and your friend approach the naval base. You can see the ships in the distance. The ships look small because you are still far away from them. You hold your thumb out in front of you and you are able to "cover" the ships with your thumb. You know the ships are actually quite large.

You realize how small you are compared to the aircraft carrier when you stand on the pier beside it. If you could stand the aircraft carrier on its end, it would be almost as tall as the Empire State Building in New York City. The sailors standing on the deck are almost a football field length above your head!

The size of the ship compared to you causes you to remember the cool science lesson you studied at school last week. Your teacher taught a lesson about nanotechnology. It sounded hard to understand, at first. Even the name - nanotechnology - was hard to pronounce. It got easier to understand when your teacher told you nanotechnology studies objects that are really small compared to humans.

Your teacher started with simple definitions for big and small numbers. The word nanotechnology was invented in 1981. The Greek word "nanos" means "dwarf." Nano- means "one billionth." A nanometer is one billion times smaller than a meter. You know atoms are so small we can't see them individually with our eyes. A nanometer is actually bigger than an atom. It is as wide as 10 hydrogen atoms placed side-by-side. You need 10,000 nanometers side-by-side to equal the thickness of one of your hairs.

Most microscopes can only see objects that are 200 nanometers wide. If we have so much trouble seeing something this small, why should we study nanotechnology? Nanotechnology is basically a method that lets scientists make things by arranging atoms and molecules into certain shapes. Nature has arranged atoms for - well, forever. Man now has the ability to do the same thing.

What have we done so far with nanotechnology? Computers are getting better and faster as we make their parts smaller. You may have seen TV commercials for glasses made of metal frames that bend but will return to their normal shape without damage. Golf clubs can be made of special materials that have atoms arranged in ways that make the metal twice as hard as titanium. One company makes pants that are waterproof and will last a long time before they wear out by using nanotechnology to rearrange the atoms in the material.

The future for nanotechnology sounds as though science fiction may come true. Research is underway to produce nanorobots. These tiny robots could be sent into your body through a needle. Nanorobots could take special medicine through your body to specific locations. They could also be trained to look for and destroy bad cells such as cancer. It is even possible that nanorobots could rearrange atoms in your body that could change your nose, ears, or even eye color. They could also unclog and repair blood vessels.

Manipulating atoms may also allow us to make materials without processes that cause pollution. If we can make such products, the cost to buy them might drop. Some scientists are hopeful we could send nanorobots high into our atmosphere to make more ozone.

Your friend shakes you to take you away from your daydream about nanotechnology. You see (again) how small you are while standing on the pier next to the aircraft carrier. This comparison easily reminds you of nanotechnology - the BIG scientific study of the very SMALL.

Why a focus on nanotechnology?

It’s exciting work. Nanotech combines the frontier spirit of a gold rush and the mystical quest of alchemy. It creates precious materials. By better controlling the structure of matter at the smallest scale, it will probably change the very nature of manufacturing. We may even be watching the birth process of a new age.

Tech Valley is a good place to learn more. As a center of government and research, the area offers plenty of opportunities to learn about nanotechnology. Here’s a small sample:

Students will have a choice of good jobs.

Nano scale science is just beginning to lead to commercial enterprises that are enabled by new materials or by old materials applied in new ways. At this stage, research institutions and small firms provide most jobs. According to a Business Week cover story, however, “Engineers working at the nano scale have a brand-new tool kit that’s full of wonder and brimming with potential riches. Now it’s time to start cashing in.”

It’s a small world after all

Imagine the world if we meet this Nanotech Challenge (from the Foresight Institute)

Nanotech tools are finally starting to affect us all. According to USA Today technology columnist Kevin Maney “Nanotech isn’t just a lab experiment anymore. It’s spreading fast and in some surprising ways. It’s becoming this generation’s plastic, about to spread to every part of our lives.”

Nanotech is also bringing the world to New York’s Tech Valley. The College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany works in partnership with NanoQuébec and one of the largest nanoelectronics research laboratories in Europe, as well as research facilities in Mexico, Germany and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in the Bronx.

The big picture: why science, math and technology matter

They’re essential for everyone. On a practical level, ours is a technology-driven economy with an increasing number of jobs requiring technical skills. But there are other reasons too:

Good jobs are available at many levels. High-tech fields like nanotechnology depend on a workforce that falls generally into four classifications—scientists, engineers, technicians and operators. Starting on a high tech career path is possible directly after high school. In addition, nanotechnology businesses are more likely to hire technologically literate staff for non-tech positions.

Nanotechnology basics

“Nano,” short for nanometer, is one-billionth of a meter. (That’s a thousand million!) A nanometer-sized particle is smaller than a living cell and can be seen only with the most powerful microscopes. The width of a human hair is 20,000 to 80,000 nanometers.

According to “Nanotech’s fascinating future,” it’s a “behind-the-scenes technology, somewhat invisible, like the nanotech devices themselves. Rather than being an industry or sector unto itself, nanotechnology is really just a set of tools that can be used to improve on the manufacturing process of just about any product.”
Nanotechnology involves controlling or manipulating materials on the atomic scale (1-100 nanometers). It means creating or using structures, devices or systems that are so small that they have amazing properties. In nanoscale structures, for example, it is possible to control fundamental characteristics of a material such as its melting point, magnetic properties and even color without changing the material’s chemical composition. The science behind the technology, nanoscience, is where physics, chemistry and biology collide.

While physicist Richard Feynman predicted in 1959 that one day we would have tools just the right size for directly manipulating atoms and molecules, only since the 1990s have these tools led to commercial applications. About 20,000 researchers work in the field today, but by 2020 about 2 million workers will be needed to support nanotechnology industries according to the U. S. government’s National Nanotechnology Initiative.

Nanoscience is becoming such a big field in part because there are new instruments able to see and touch at the nano scale—the scanning tunneling microscope and the atomic force microscope, for example. It’s easy to make a virtual visit to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s research facilities to see these instruments.

Already, the nanoworld is changing the big world. Electronic devices, and the semiconductors that make them possible, are shrinking. Nanosystems and MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) are whole new manufacturing technologies making possible whole new product categories.

What nanotechnology makes possible:

Iron nanoparticles have removed up to 96% of a major contaminant (trichloroethylene) from ground water at an industrial site.

Surgical nanobots will operate from within the human body. Examples such as implantable insulin-dispensing devices and miniature cochlea ear implants already exist.

Electronic ink on paper-thin, flexible electronic paper can display moving text and images.

Synthetic DNA can be used in robotics, cloned life forms and synthetic human organs.

Stuffdust is a nano material used to mark computers and other objects with serial numbers able to be read with an optical microscope but invisible to the naked eye. The new material makes inventory and theft control easier.

Biodegradable implants, made of polymers, function for a specific period of time while the body heals itself and then degrade into non-toxic products. These include sutures and stainless steel implants.

Want to know about careers related to nanotechnology such as a patent specialist or NanoBiotech Manufacturing Associate? Find job profiles by selecting from these four categories:

Nanotechnology in Tech Valley—what's going on?

Solar revolution closer to reality
Anna Dyson, founder of Materialab, a research firm in Troy, NY, leads a team of architects, scientists and engineers in developing a high-tech “photovoltaic façade” using pivoting, nano-sized solar cells. Already able to provide 50% of a building’s requirements for hot water, space heating and air-conditioning, the system is on its way to lowering the cost of solar energy.

New coatings for better travel on earth and beyond
At Rensselaer’s Nanotechnology Center, a joint research project with the University of Florida is developing lubricant coatings for aircraft and spacecraft through a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. “Vehicles that voyage from Earth’s warm and humid environment into the extreme cold vacuum of space require lubricants that can perform under a great range of conditions without fail,” says Linda Schadler who is leading the Rensselaer team on the project.

Next generation of sensors that detect “hot” objects to propel tech company into hot infra-red camera market
Infra-red cameras detect radiation given off in the form of body heat, for example. They are valuable in firefighting, mammography, night vehicle navigation, automotive security and maintenance and military applications, but they are expensive to manufacture. Critical Imaging LLC in Utica collaborated with Professor Bai Xu at Albany Nanotech’s MEMS laboratory to increase the number of sensors that can be placed on a silicon wafer with a huge drop in unit cost. This will dramatically increase the competitiveness of the small technology company. MEMS are micro-electro-mechanical structures, a technology with great commercial promise.

Nanomaterials for sale
Applied NanoWorks in Watervliet, NY, offers high-volume materials designed for research & product development. Their transparent nanoscale zinc oxide particles suspended in a water-based solution, for example, are useful in electronics and the cosmetics industry. Evident Technologies in Troy, NY, sells commercial, nanometer-sized semiconductor crystals, called quantum dots, for solar cells, LEDs, defense and life-sciences applications.

Restoring brain function lost due to disease or trauma focus of Wadsworth Center research scientist
In the interface between biology and nanotechnology, James N. Turner is developing nanofabricated devices intended to restore brain function. His projects are part of the National Science Foundation’s Nano BioTechnology Center in association with Cornell University. According to The Scientist magazine, the Wadsworth Center (a state public health laboratory in Albany, NY) is a Top 10 Place to Work for postdoctoral fellows.

Critical manufacturing problem solved for military Comanche Helicopters
FALA Technologies, Inc. in Kingston, NY specializes in solving engineering and manufacturing problems with a focus on the semiconductor and nanotechnology sectors. For Sikorsky Aircraft, FALA provided prototypes of a transmission clutch able to withstand stress failures that could cause a helicopter to crash.

Researchers Develop Nanoblade

Troy, N.Y. — Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have created a razor-like material that is truly on the “cutting edge” of nanotechnology. Called nanoblades, these first-of-their-kind magnesium nanomaterials challenge conventional wisdom about nanostructure growth, and could have applications in energy storage and fuel cell technology.

The discovery is detailed in the September 2007 issue of the Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

The sharp nanometer-scale surface is vastly different from any other nanomaterial that has been created before using oblique angle deposition, according to lead researcher Gwo-Ching Wang, professor and head of physics, applied physics, and astronomy at Rensselaer. The team’s nearly two-dimensional structure changes the traditional understanding of oblique angle deposition, which was previously thought to always create cylindrical structures like nanorods or nanosprings.

Unlike three-dimensional springs and rods, nanoblades are extremely thin, with very large surface areas. They also are surprisingly spread out for a uniform nanomaterial, with one to two micron meters in between each blade, according to Wang.

The materials could be extremely useful for energy storage, particularly hydrogen storage, Wang said. In order to store hydrogen, a large surface area is needed to provide room for the material to expand as more hydrogen atoms are stored. The vast surface area of each nanoblade, coupled with the large spaces between each blade, could make them ideal for this application.

To create the nanoblades, the researchers used oblique angle vapor deposition. This widely used fabrication technique builds nanostructures by vaporizing a material — magnesium in this case — and allowing the vaporized atoms to deposit on a surface at an angle. As the deposition angle changes, the structure of the material deposited on the surface also changes.

When the researchers deposited the magnesium straight onto a surface at zero degrees, the blades resembled a handful of cornflakes — flat, flakey structures overlapping one another. It wasn’t until the deposition angle was increased that the blade-like nature of these new nanomaterials became apparent.

As the magnesium deposition angle was increased, the researchers were surprised that the structures first tilted away from the magnesium vapor source instead of the expected inclination toward the source. The blades then quickly curved upward to form nearly vertical structures resembling nano-scale razorblades.

The blades also become ultra thin. From the side, the nanoblades resemble an overgrown lawn with thin, blade-like spires. At a 75 degree angle, the nanoblades had a thickness of as little as 15 nanometers and a width of a few hundred nanometers. (A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.)

Researchers at Rensselaer are now looking at ways to coat the magnesium nanoblades with metallic catalysts to trap and store hydrogen.

The researchers monitored the blades as they were growing using a reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) technique to create a surface pole figure or image. The new technique, created at Rensselaer, is different from other diffraction techniques such as X-rays because it monitors the surface structure of the material as it grows. X-rays and other technologies measure the entire material, from the tip of the new growth straight through the substrate that the material is growing on.

Tracking the surface evolution of the material provides insight into how the structure evolves over time and helps scientists understand the mechanism of nanostructure formation, allowing engineers to later recreate ideal nanomaterials in the future. The creation of surface pole figures was particularly important in understanding the growth of nanoblades, as the surface morphology changed vastly over time.

The surface pole figure technique was first outline by Fu Tang, a postdoctoral research associate in Wang’s group, in a 2006 issue of Applied Physics Letters. In that paper, surface pole figures were created for nanorod growth. The researchers are now working to analyze nanoblade growth to provide additional insight into the growth patterns of these new nanomaterials.

Other Rensselaer researchers involved with the project are Toh-Ming Lu, the R.P. Baker Distinguished Professor of Physics; GAANN fellow Tom Parker; and postdoctoral research associate Huafang Li.

Using Nanotubes To Detect and Repair Cracks in Aircraft Wings, Other Structures

Troy, N.Y. — Adding even a small amount of carbon nanotubes can go a long way toward enhancing the strength, integrity, and safety of plastic materials widely used in engineering applications, according to a new study.

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a simple new technique for identifying and repairing small, potentially dangerous cracks in high-performance aircraft wings and many other structures made from polymer composites.

By infusing a polymer with electrically conductive carbon nanotubes, and then monitoring the structure’s electrical resistance, the researchers were able to pinpoint the location and length of a stress-induced crack in a composite structure. Once a crack is located, engineers can then send a short electrical charge to the area in order to heat up the carbon nanotubes and in turn melt an embedded healing agent that will flow into and seal the crack with a 70 percent recovery in strength.

Real-time detection and repair of fatigue-induced damage will greatly enhance the performance, reliability, and safety of structural components in a variety of engineering systems, according to principal investigator Nikhil A. Koratkar, an associate professor in Rensselaer’s Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering.

Details of the project are outlined in the paper “In situ health monitoring and repair in composites using carbon nanotube additives,” which was published online this week by Applied Physics Letters. Rensselaer graduate students Wei Zhang and Varun Sakalkar were co-authors of the paper. The team has been working on the project for more than 18 months.

The majority of failures in any engineered structure are generally due to fatigue-induced microcracks that spread to dangerous proportions and eventually jeopardize the structure’s integrity, Koratkar said. His research is looking to solve this problem with an elegant solution that allows for real-time diagnostics and no additional or expensive equipment.

Koratkar’s team made a structure from common epoxy, the kind used to make everything from the lightweight frames of fighter jet wings to countless devices and components used in manufacturing and industry, but added enough multi-walled carbon nanotubes to comprise 1 percent of the structure’s total weight. The team mechanically mixed the liquid epoxy to ensure the carbon nanotubes were properly dispersed throughout the structure as it dried in a mold.

The researchers also introduced into the structure a series of wires in the form of a grid, which can be used to measure electrical resistance and also apply control voltages to the structure.

By sending a small amount of electricity through the carbon nanotubes, the research team was able to measure the electrical resistance between any two points on the wire grid. They then created a tiny crack in the structure, and measured the electrical resistance between the two nearest grid points. Because the electrical current now had to travel around the crack to get from one point to another, the electrical resistance – the difficulty electricity faces when moving from one place to the next – increased. The longer the crack grew, the higher the electrical resistance between the two points increased.

Koratkar is confident this method will be just as effective with much larger structures. Since the nanotubes are ubiquitous through the structure, this technique can be used to monitor any portion of the structure by performing simple resistance measurements without the need to mount external sensors or sophisticated electronics.

“The beauty of this method is that the carbon nanotubes are everywhere. The sensors are actually an integral part of the structure, which allows you to monitor any part of the structure,” Koratkar said. “We’ve shown that nanoscale science, if applied creatively, can really make a difference in large-scale engineering and structures.”

Koratkar said the new crack detection method should eventually be more cost effective and more convenient than ultrasonic sensors commonly used today. His sensor system can also be used in real time as a device or component is in use, whereas the sonic sensors are external units that require a great deal of time to scan the entire surface area of a stationary structure.

When a crack is detected, Koratkar can increase the voltage going through the carbon nanotubes at a particular point in the grid. This extra voltage creates heat, which in turn melts a commercially available healing agent that was mixed into the epoxy. The melted healing agent flows into the crack and cools down, effectively curing the crack. Koratkar shows that these mended structures are about 70 percent as strong as the original, uncracked structure – strong enough to prevent a complete, or catastrophic, structural failure. This method is an effective way to combat both microcracks, as well as a less-common form of structural damage called delamination.

“What’s novel about this application is that we’re using carbon nanotubes not just to detect the crack, but also to heal the crack,” he said. “We use the nanotubes to create localized heat, which melts the healing agent, and that’s what cures the crack.”

Koratkar said he envisions the new system for detecting cracks to eventually be integrated into the built-in computer system of a fighter jet or large piece of equipment. The system will allow the operator to monitor a structure’s integrity in real time, and any microcracks or delamination will become obvious by provoking a change in electrical resistance at some point in the structure.

The system should help increase the lifetime, safety, and cost effectiveness of polymer structures, which are commonly used in place of metal when weight is a factor, Koratkar said. There is also evidence that carbon nanotubes play a passive role in suppressing the rate at which microcracks grow in polymeric structures, which is the subject of a paper Koratkar expects to publish in the near future.

The research is team is now working to optimize the system, scale it up to larger structures, and develop new information technology to better collect and analyze the electrical resistance data created from the embedded grid and embedded carbon nanotubes.

The ongoing research project is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army.

Industries and occupations affected by nanotechnology

Health care—Headlines hint at the possibilities:

It’s hard to not be affected by the National Cancer Institute’s statement that nanotechnology will change the very foundations of cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, with a goal of eliminating death and suffering from cancer by 2015. It’s a hot investment market too. A 2005 report “Nanotechnology in Healthcare” is available for US $4,200.

Automotive industries—Nanoprotect® Automotive Glass is already available in the US, along with a clear lacquer that improves scratch resistance on Mercedes-Benz C-Class vehicles and a nanocomposite bumper developed by Toyota. It’s the “next big thing” although there are few commercial products so far according to Small Times.

Cosmetics—For more than nine years, some lines of moisturizers from L’Oreal have used nanocapsules to deliver vitamin A & E to deeper skin layers. A Small Times product review speculates about why “nanospeak” hasn’t appeared in promotional materials. Nanoscale zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are also used in some brands of cosmetics and sunscreen

Sports—Nanocoated tennis balls (Double Core balls from Wilson) don’t lose their spring or fuzz up as quickly as other balls. They’ve been approved for use by the International Tennis Federation. VS NCT (Nano Carbon Technology) rackets from Babolat are ten times more stiff and thus very springy and powerful, according to a product review by an Inside Tennis columnist.

Cell phones—“Nanotechnology is all about small, light and cheap, and you’re not in the cell phone business if you’re not thinking small, light and cheap—the two are made for each other,” said David Bishop, vice president of research at Lucent’s Bell Labs. Microscopic microphones, liquid lenses, compasses with global positioning system links and faster recharging, intelligent batteries are all being developed.

Construction—Nanogel, a translucent aerogel, will be used in roof inserts that are more energy efficient than traditional glass roof inserts. Natural filtered daylight passes through the inserts. It’s manufactured by a chemical and materials company named Cabot, for a roofing products distributor called Centerpoint Translucent Systems, LLC.

Military & Security— The Watervliet Innovation Center, an incubator for companies working to develop applications for the homeland security industry, has opened at the Watervliet Arsenal. Applied NanoWorks, Inc. is the first tenant in what is expected to be a $170 billion industry nationwide by 2006. Sensors, communication devices, smart ammunition and textiles using nanotechnology all have military applications.

Nanotechno Fine Arts—This eBay online store sells signed and unframed limited edition prints based on molecular engineering. Creator Jack Mason plans to incorporate his images into video and sculpture in collaboration with other artists.
Science Journalism—Small Times is a great place to start to see the possibilities for combining expertise in nanotechnology and communications.

Nano news from other industries—For applications in aerospace, agriculture, energy, and textiles, check out the Jobs by Industry categories at the Working in Nanotechnology site. For a window into the gold rush atmosphere, visit the site promoting Nano Science and Technology Institute’s (NSTI) annual conference and trade show. Represented there are the food, display & optics, design & modeling and environmental industries.

Voices from the high-tech workforce

“I really look forward tremendously to the day when we can point to people—I want to know their names, their faces—who have been cured with nanoshell-asisted cancer therapy.”
“Nanoshells are injected into the mouse bloodstream, and as they circulate through the blood, they can uptake naturally at a tumor site. Once they’re in place, infrared light is shined through the skin and down into the tumor site. It’s a very simple handheld laser, and it’s only for three minutes. Nanoshells absorb light and convert it to heat extremely efficiently, and three minutes is sufficient to kill the cells in the tumor.

I get contacted quite a bit about nanoshell cancer therapy, ranging from someone’s spouse who is in critical condition to someone’s nine-year-old kitty who has a lot of tumors. I try whenever I can to reply to people who do make contact with me, [even though] there are no human trials currently. I really look forward tremendously to the day when we can point to people—I want to know their names, their faces—who have been cured with nanoshell-asisted cancer therapy.

The idea of nanoshells has been around for more than 50 years. But no one was able to actually make a particle until several advances in the mid to late 90’s in nanofabrication chemistry came along, all independent of each other. We were able to put all the different steps together, based on all sorts of different breakthrough ideas that were just beginning to happen in nanotechnology.

We can think of nanoshells in a similar light to the laser, where there was quite a bit of celebrity regarding its invention but it took years, in fact decades, until practical technologies were based on lasers. Now you can’t buy something in a supermarket, make a long-distance phone call, or record something on your computer without using a laser, But between its invention and technology using it was almost 40 years. I have been very, very eager that nanoshells not have this long developmental period between invention and use. So we’re very aggressively examining what types of applications nanoshells might be food for very, very early on.

One interesting definition that I’ve encountered about what an engineer is [holds that] an engineer expands human capabilities. We wouldn’t be able to fly if it wasn’t for engineers. We wouldn’t be able to capture moving images if it wasn’t for engineers. That’s a very, very humanistic description of what people normally consider a rather non-humanistic endeavor. So I think putting a human face on what one does in engineering is something that is very important to me personally, and it’s something that I hope that I can [do for] nanoshells.

At one point in my life, I thought that my meandering path in my education, starting in music and going to chemistry and physics and laser science was quite a liability. But for the kind of work we do, it has turned our to be a tremendous asset. To have a background that is very broad and diverse has enabled me to able to talk to people in many different disciplines and have enough expertise within each of these disciplines that we can develop intelligent and focused collaborations.”

Naomi Halas, who formed Nanospectra Biosciences with Rice University bioengineer Jennifer West. The company seeks to commercialize nanoshell-based life-science applications, particularly cancer treatment.

"In order to understand environmental change, we need to be able to monitor it effectively. The products of nanoscience and nanotechnology will be very important tools to help us do that."
“I study nanometer-sized particles and microorganisms and their impact on the environment rather than the creations produced in most nanotechnology laboratories.

Nanoparticles are the basis for the growth of clouds and are also the initial solids formed in water, soils and sediments. It is likely that nanoparticles exert a disproportionately large, but as yet incompletely defined, influence on environmental geochemistry.
Knowing what goes on in the natural nanoworld could enable us to safely exploit nanoparticle and microbial processes and characteristics for greener manufacturing and energy production. For example bioleaching is an alternative to smelting, bioextraction is an alternative to electrochemistry, biosynthesis of polymers is an alternative to petroleum processing, and biomineralization is an alternative to machine-based manufacturing.

In order to understand environmental change, we need to be able to monitor it effectively. The products of nanoscience and nanotechnology will be very important tools to help us do that.”

Jill Banfield, who teaches Earth and Planetary Science studies as part of the Berkeley Nanosciences and Nanoengineering Institute, University of California.

More:
Tinytechjobs.com is dedicated to nanotechnology jobs in addition to updated industry news.

The Sloan Career Cornerstone Center features profiles and typical day descriptions of over 400 individuals who work in engineering, mathematics or the physical sciences.

Getthatgig.com features great interviews with individuals who work in thirteen career clusters.

Career Cruising is a service available for a free three-month trial subscription at your school. Call the Center for Innovation in Career Development (CICD) for details.

For a taste of high tech employment opportunities that might be in your students’ future, check Monster.com, classified ads in the Capital Region’s Tech Valley Times, newspaper business sections and the Business Review. News releases and other communications from area colleges often feature interviews with students, faculty members and graduates about the work they do. Regular visits to college web sites are a great way to for students to get into a high tech mindset.

Helping Tech Valley students get a head start in nanotechnology

Why a head start?

U.S. students need a boost. They are behind their peers in other industrialized countries. (For a trade association's sobering review of the situation, look at the 2004 report “Losing the Competitive Advantage”) In the school setting, no one is more important than counselors in sending the message: science, math and technology matter.

Get involved

Create a high tech news display in the guidance department by adapting the banner, headers and layout suggestions from NOVA ScienceNOW . High tech is hot and it's a great way to let students know. Science, math, technology, graphic design and journalism teachers may be willing to recommend students who are willing to help.

A display might also include the practical Pre-College Career Planning guide for students interested in engineering, mathematics or the physical sciences.

The task of building an educated, creative workforce is made easier by local businesses with terrific web sites. Visit Evident Technologies, Inc. to see “Quantum Dots Explained.” It’s illustrated, animated, and helps us understand the unseen nanoworld. It might even appeal to BOTH students interested in the arts and their parents, interested in helping their children prepare for secure employment in high tech industry.

The Tri-Sci Club, named by young women from three rural school districts, refers to the three districts and three subjects--math, science and engineering. For help starting a club, contact the club sponsor, the Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC) at Cornell University.

Also check the Resources section for a printable listing of opportunities such as the Tech Valley Summer Camp for middle school students, a joint initiative of QUESTAR III and Capital Region BOCES.

Duckboy in Nanoland: Austin Powers-meets Candy Land is how the Small Times reviewer describes this video game developed for the Science Museum in London. The online version teaches kids how quantum and classical physics affect the nanoscale world. (Much of the engaging exhibit is available online too.)

Tour the Micropolitan Museum of microscopic art forms (proudly presented by the Institute for the Promotion of the Less than One Millimeter). “For several centuries artists have depicted the human figure, still-lifes, landscapes or non-figurative motives. One subject has been widely neglected all those years: Micro organisms!”

“In the case of Prey, I was interested in knowing where three trends might be going—distributed programming, biotechnology and nanotechnology, ” said author Michael Crichton. Read the interview on the publisher’s website.

Basement nanolabs? Read in Small Times about home-brew scanning tunneling microscopes. STMs have a sharp-tipped stylus rather than the lens of an optical microscope.

To advance the science literacy of the general public, Cornell University’s Nano Bio Technology Center has established Main Street Science (hands-on science, technology, engineering and math activities) and Nano U offering summer internships for high school students and summer research opportunities through the National Society of Black Engineers.

Check to see if Howard Lovy’s Nanoblog is back in action. Lots of lively postings are still available.

“The Incredible Shrunken Kids,” NanoKids® and Nanoscience Screensavers are all described in the K-12 student section of the National Nanotechnology Initiative web site.

Learn about the first textbook for Nano Science Grades 1-6 (available from Lehigh University, along with an online nanolab.) There’s also a Nano for People e-newsletter. Check out the Nanotechnology Center for Learning and Teaching, a clearinghouse intended to relay concepts into relevant daily activities for students by working with scientist-educators.

Since its advent in the early 20th century, the radio has shrunken dramatically from the clunky wooden "cathedral" design of the 1930s to devices you can slip in your pocket. Future radios could be invisible to the naked eye altogether.

Researchers led by Alex Zetttl at the University of California, Berkeley have crafted a fully working radio from a single carbon nanotube 10,000 times thinner than a human hair. Carbon nanotubes are man-made microscopic mesh rods composed entirely of carbon atoms.

Fixed between two electrodes, the nanotube vibrates and performs the four critical roles required to receive radio waves: antenna, tunable filter, amplifier and demodulator. Power is supplied by streaming electrons from an attached battery.

Its inventors have already used it to broadcast two songs: "Layla" by Derek and the Dominos and "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys.

The team beat another group at the University of California, Irvine, who announced last month they had created a demodulator, which converts AM radio signals into electrical signals, out of a carbon nanotube. But that device was only part of what's needed to make a radio.

The Berkeley team says its microscopic radio, detailed in an upcoming issue of the journal Nano Letters, could be used to create radio-controlled devices capable of swimming in the human bloodstream and other novel applications.

The work was funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy.

This image, taken by a transmission electron microscope, shows a single carbon nanotube protruding from an electrode. This nanotube is less than a micron long and only 10 nanometers wide, or 10,000 times thinner than the width of a single human hair. When a radio wave of a specific frequency impinges on the nanotube, it begins to vibrate vigorously. An electric field applied to the nanotube forces electrons to be emitted from its tip.(The waves shown in this image were added for visual effect, and are not part of the original microscope image. Credit: Zettl Research Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley

Researchers develop bendy battery

It could be scaled up by being printed like paper

WASHINGTON - It's a battery that looks like a piece of paper and can be bent or twisted, trimmed with scissors or molded into any shape needed. While the battery is only a prototype a few inches square right now, the researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who developed it have high hopes for it in electronics and other fields that need smaller, lighter power sources.

"We would like to scale this up to the point where you can imagine printing batteries like a newspaper. That would be the ultimate," Robert Linhardt a professor at the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at RPI said in a telephone interview.

The development is reported in this week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Unlike other batteries, Linhardt explained, it is an integrated device, not a combination of pieces. The battery uses paper infused with an electrolyte and carbon nanotubes that are embedded in the paper. The carbon nanotubes form the electrodes, the paper is the separator and the electrolyte allows the current to flow.

Students at the school in Troy, N.Y., were the inspiration for the work, said Linhardt, whose students were working on methods to dissolve paper and cast it into membranes for use in dialysis machines. Meanwhile, students of Pulickel Ajayan in RPI's materials science department were trying to make carbon nanotube composites using polymers. The two groups got together and realized they could use paper instead of polymers and combine the two projects. Then came Omkaram Nalamasu's students, also at RPI, who said the project — a thin sheet black on one side and white on the other — looked like an electrical device.

And over about 18 months, the groups developed the projects, into a battery, a capacitor, which stores electricity and a combination of the two. Ajayan sees potential uses in combination with solar cells, perhaps layers of the paper batteries that could store the electricity generated until it is needed, he said in a telephone interview. Perhaps it could be scaled up and shaped into something like a car door, offering moving electrical storage and power when needed. That might be an expensive proposition, however, cautioned Peter Kofinas, an engineering professor at the University of Maryland.

"The advantage of a flexible device would be that you could roll it in a film or a sheet. However, carbon nanotubes are very expensive," said Kofinas, who was not involved in the research.

"So from the commercial standpoint, this would be very expensive if you want to make a large sheet out of this material," he said via e-mail. In addition, he said, "It does not look like it performs better than currently available batteries and supercapacitors in the market."

Because of its flexibility, however, it does have potential, Kofinas said. The research was funded by the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research and the National Science Foundation.

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