 |
Full
Solar Spectrum Photovoltaic Materials Identified
A team led by
Wladek Walukiewicz, working with researchers at Cornell University, and
Ritsumeikan University, Japan, has discovered that, contrary to earlier
reports, the band
gaps of the In1-xGaxN ternary alloy system extend over
a very wide energy range (0.7 eV to 3.4 eV) and thus provide a
near-perfect match to the solar energy spectrum. This creates the
opportunity to design and fabricate new multijunction solar cells that
will have greatly improved efficiencies, possibly reaching the
theoretically predicted ultimate efficiencies.
>>
More |
|
Molecular Film on Liquid Mercury Reveals New Properties
A team of scientists from the U.S. Department of
Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Harvard University, and Bar-Ilan University in Israel have grown ultrathin films made of
organic molecules on the surface of liquid mercury. The results,
reported in the November, issue of Science, reveal a
series of new molecular structures that could lead to novel
applications in nanotechnology, which involves manipulating materials
at the atomic scale.
>> More
|
|
The World’s First Commercial
Nanotechnology-Based Solid Lubricant
Applied NanoMaterials, Inc., a provider of  nanotechnology
products, start commercializing NanoLub® - the world's first commercial
nanotechnology-based solid lubricant. NanoLub particles have a
structure of nested spheres that lubricate by rolling like miniature
ballbearings.
NanoLub® is based on nanoparticles of inorganic compounds, which were
discovered by the Nanomaterials Synthesis Group at Weizmann Institute of Science,
Israel, headed by Professor Reshef Tenne
>> More
|
|
Energy
equals nano … cubed
BASF AG has developed metal-organic "nanocubes" that can store and
release hydrogen to power fuel cells for laptop computers and other portable
electronic devices, according to Chemical Week.
Source: Small Times |
|
IBM
Announces World's Smallest Working Silicon Transistor
IBM announced the world's
smallest working silicon transistor. With this transistor IBM has been able to
push silicon to limits on a molecular scale not previously achieved.
At six nanometers in length, this new transistor is at least 10 times smaller
than the state-of-the-art transistors in production today.
Source: IBM Research |
|
Joint venture to make ZnSe white LEDs
Sumitomo Electric has
teamed up with Procomp to
commercialize zinc-selenide (ZnSe) white LEDs. The companies plan to establish a
joint venture under the name Supra Opto Inc, with Procomp holding 60% ownership
and Sumitomo the remainder. Mass production is expected to begin in March 2003,
with a production volume of 1 million units per month, rising to 3.6 million
units/month by the end of next year.
Source: Optics.org |
|
Hybrid Plastics' nanomaterials: From inner molars to outer space
While many nanotechnology companies focus on reducing particle sizes, Hybrid
Plastics’ products are based on molecular-level chemistry. Called Polyhedral
Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes, which the company shortened to POSS, the product is
the first new chemical feedstock to be introduced since DuPont launched Kevlar
in 1965, Hagstrom said. POSS molecules average about 1.5 nanometers in three
dimensions.
Source: Small Times
|
|
Oxygen makes
nanotube memory
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute
in Germany have come up with an alternative method of producing all-semiconducting
bundles that, in addition, prepares the microscopic tubes for use in memory
devices. The technique allows researchers to oxidize bundles of a few nanotubes
or individual nanotubes that measure as small as 2 nanometers in diameter.
Source: TNR News |
|
Production of Cheap, Efficient Nanotech Solar Cells to
Begin in Asia
Nanotechnology-based solar
cells that could make solar power economically competitive with fossil fuel
energy will go into production following an agreement between an American
startup and an Asian giant. Japanese-headquartered Matsushita Electric Works has
agreed to apply technology developed by
Nanosys to produce solar cells for the Asian building market.
Nanosys is using
inorganic nanocrystal and nanocomposite technology to develop high-performing
cells that are cheap to produce.
Source: BetterHumans.com
|
