Bend It, Charge It, Dunk It: Graphene, the Material of Tomorrow. Nicholas PetroneGraphene transistors visible on a piece of flexible plastic. Graphene is not only the hardest material in the world, but also one of the most pliable. I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. No, fans of “The Graduate,” the word isn’t “plastics.” It’s “graphene.” Graphene is the strongest, thinnest material known to exist. Only a single atom thick, it has been called the wonder material. Graphene could change the electronics industry, ushering in flexible devices, supercharged quantum computers, electronic clothing and computers that can interface with the cells in your body. While the material was discovered a decade ago, it started to gain attention in 2010 when two physicists at the University of Manchester were awarded the Nobel Prize for their experiments with it. The American Chemical Society said in 2012 that graphene was discovered to be 200 times stronger than steel and so thin that a single ounce of it could cover 28 football fields.
Dr. The real kicker? Transparent display could be the key to augmented reality devices - Mobile Phone Accessories. MIT scientists have created a transparent screen using silver nanoparticles for an augmented reality display that places digital images over the real world. Wearable HUD Google Glass is not an augmented reality device. Rather, it's a screen in your field of vision. The prism that overlays the world with interactive digital images is too thick and too small to cover your full field of view, as with a true augmented reality device. In fact, producing such a device is proving difficult. Although devices are attempting it, such as Laster's SeeThru, the Vuzix M100 and the Meta Space Glasses, they all face similar screen size and thickness limitations.
A technology being developed by MIT might be the answer. A team led by physics PhD candidate Chia Wei Hsu has developed a new kind of transparent display based on the way nanoparticles of silver reflect laser light. (Screenshot by Michelle Starr/CNET Australia) The silver nanoparticles have very narrow optical resonances. News : FP7 News : Spotlight on nanoparticles' imperceptible effects. Spotlight on nanoparticles' imperceptible effects [Date: 2013-09-23] From the clothes and make-up we wear to the electronic devices we use every day, nanotechnology is becoming ubiquitous. But while industry has mastered the production of such materials, little is known about their fate once their service life comes to an end.
The NANO-ECOTOXICITY project looked into their impact on soil organisms. Economic growth, rising populations and resource scarcity are three major elements of what is probably one of the most difficult equations for mankind to fathom. However, there is still a long way to go before nanotechnology can be considered as the Holy Grail of scientific development. NANO-ECOTOXICITY is one of several EU-funded projects trying to set things straight. What is the background of the NANO-ECOTOXICITY project? The majority of research on nano-safety in the environment has so far focused on the aquatic environment. What are the main objectives of the project? From Ceramics to Nanotechnology (CTLE) - Nanalyze. When evaluating the potential of disruptive technologies, it is equally important to caution investors as to what they may not want to invest in as it is to make them aware of potential opportunities they may want to invest in.
In a previous article titled “The Dangers of Investing in Over The Counter (OTC) Stocks“, we provided a number of examples where companies used the word nanotechnology to promote themselves and consequently lost investors all their money. Several days ago an article was published on Azonano about a company called Nano Labs which “has replaced 40% of gasoline with water and nanotechnology”. AboutColorado Ceramic Tile Inc. (OTCBB:CTLE) is a company which in 2012 reorganized to change its name to Nano Labs appointing Bernardo Camacho Chavarria and Jose Manuel Flores Hernandez directors of the Company.
In October 2012 CTLE acquired “new nanotechnology” from a certain Dr. Source: Google Finance The company makes the following statement on their home page: Nanotechnology surface modification with graphene enhances water resistance. The materials breakthrough that might lead to computers thousands of times faster - Quartz. As the technology for making silicon circuitry smaller, faster and less power-thirsty approaches the limits of physics, scientists have tried out many materials in the search for an alternative to silicon. New research by a team at the US Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory may have put some other promising candidates into the race.
In a paper just published in the journal Nature Materials, researchers described their successful observation of electrical switching (that is, a forced switch from a non-conductive state to a conductive one) in magnetite, a naturally magnetic iron oxide. The ability to act as a switch that is either “on” (conducting) or “off” (non-conducting) is the basis for a transistor, which is the building block of any electronic circuit. And while magnetite itself isn’t slated to replace silicon, the work opens up the floor for other, similar materials to be studied.
But what’s cooler than the material itself is the method used to study it. MIT Wants Tomorrow's Soldiers to Talk Through Their Shirts | Danger Room. The tiny gold microfibers in this Army Combat Uniform, developed by an MIT science team, might one day enable soldiers to talk to each other on a confusing battlefield using their shirts.
Photo: Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies/MIT If a group of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have their way, the soldier of the future mumbling into his jacket won’t be a crazy person. He’ll be using microscopic fibers woven into his uniform to communicate with his battle buddies and clear up some of the fog of war. Can you spot the gold threads in the Army Combat Uniform shown above? They’re not included for style — but they do provide a kind of demonstration. Only the fibers don’t have any transistors, processors, or circuitry. The gold fibers in the uniform, the product of years of research, don’t actually do that communications work yet.
The fibers could make identifying friendly soldiers on a confusing, smoky, dusty, dark battlefield easier. Silicon’s Possible Successors Include Carbon Nanotubes.