Berkeley Lab Researchers Report First Fully Integrated Artificial Photosynthesis NanosystemIn the wake of the sobering news that atmospheric carbon dioxide is now at its highest level in at least three million years, an important advance in the race to develop carbon-neutral renewable energy sources has been achieved. Scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have reported the first fully integrated nanosystem for artificial photosynthesis. While “artificial leaf” is the popular term for such a system, the key to this success was an “artificial forest.”

NRI Second Phase Features Multi-University Network Focused on Research Centers at SUNY's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Texas at AustinGAITHERSBURG, Md. – The Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today announced the second phase of the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI). For this phase, the SRC and NIST will provide a combined $5 million in annual funding for three multi-university research centers tasked with demonstrating, over the course of the next 10 years and beyond, a number of nonconventional, low-energy technologies that outperform current devices on critical applications.

One of President Obama’s top priorities is advanced manufacturing —the use of cutting-edge technologies to spur innovation in product development or manufacturing processes. As he said during his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama wants to make America “a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing.”  That’s why his FY14 budget includes $2.9 billion for advanced manufacturing R&D, including $1 billion to launch a network of up to 15 manufacturing innovation institutes.

Promising Organic Electronics Thin Film Materials with Simple and Low Cost Manufacturing Process Dr. Taichi Ikeda (Senior Researcher) of the NIMS Electronic Functional Materials Group (Group Leader: Masayoshi Higuchi), Polymer Materials Unit (Unit Director: Izumi Ichinose) of the National Institute for Materials Science (President: Sukekatsu Ushioda), in joint research with Prof. Hans-Jürgen Butt group of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (Germany), developed the world’s first supramolecular thiophene nanosheets, which is a 2-dimensional organic material with a thickness of 3.5nm.

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Kansas State University have demonstrated a spray-on mixture of carbon nanotubes and ceramic that has unprecedented ability to resist damage while absorbing laser light.*

Though they be but little, they are fierce. The most powerful batteries on the planet are only a few millimeters in size, yet they pack such a punch that a driver could use a cellphone powered by these batteries to jump-start a dead car battery – and then recharge the phone in the blink of an eye.

A new process for growing forests of manganese dioxide nanorods may lead to the next generation of high-performance capacitors.

Ditch the 3D glasses. Thanks to a simple plastic filter, mobile device users can now view unprecedented, distortion-free, brilliant 3D content with the naked eye. This latest innovation from TP and IMRE in Singapore is the first ever glasses-free 3D accessory that can display content in both portrait and landscape mode, and measures less than 0.1 mm in thickness.

Ahmed Busnaina, the William Lincoln Smith Professor and director of the NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing at Northeastern, has developed a method called directed assembly that he calls the 3-D printing of tomorrow. It is faster, cheaper, and more versatile than traditional 3-D printing, and he said it could enable a wave of innovation not currently feasible. news@Northeastern asked Busnaina to describe this process and its potential impact in areas such as health, electronics, and the environment. 

New optical technologies using "metasurfaces" capable of the ultra-efficient control of light are nearing commercialization, with potential applications including advanced solar cells, computers, telecommunications, sensors and microscopes.

HGST (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and now a Western Digital company, NASDAQ: WDC) is leading the disk drive industry to the forefront in nanolithography, long the exclusive purview of semiconductor manufacturers, by creating and replicating minute features that will allow the doubling of hard disk drive (HDD) density in future disk drives.

Rolith, Inc., the leader in developing advanced nanostructured coatings and devices, today announces the successful installation of a 2nd-generation nanostructuring prototype tool built by SUSS MicroTec AG under exclusive license from Rolith, Inc. – the RML-2 tool. This prototype is based on a disruptive nanolithography method (Rolling Mask Lithography – RMLTM) developed by Rolith, Inc. It enables users to create nanostructures over large areas – up to 1m x 0.3 m - of substrate materials in a high throughput and cost effective manner. 

LITX™ G700 graphene-based additive delivers step change performance vs. conventional additives for energy batteriesCabot Corporation announces the launch of LITX™ G700, the company’s first graphene-based additive for high energy density lithium-ion battery applications. Utilizing graphene material developed on the basis of a new technology platform, this new additive helps lithium-ion battery manufacturers achieve superior cell performance.Battery developers for applications in electronics and electric vehicles have reached the limit in reducing the loadings of conventional carbon additives. As a result, many are resorting to alternatives such as carbon nanotubes that add significant cost as well as manufacturing challenges.

ILC Dover, the designer and manufacturer of NASA's space suits and a wide range of engineered film and fabric products, announced today its innovative, flexible containment systems are being offered for nanotechnology applications. These cost-effective disposable systems are engineered to contain powder transfers from cGMP to nanogram levels and range from single use transfers to multi-use flexible enclosures. ILC Dover pioneered flexible containment for the pharmaceutical industry 16 years ago and is now being seen as the industry leader in Engineered Controls for nanoparticles. ILC Dover offers a broad range of Flexible systems to support safe nanoparticle processing operations. Processes that can benefit from their Industrial Containment Solutions include, but are not limited to: Reactor charging, Weighing, Blending, Particle sizing, as well as Vessel Charging and Offloading. Cost effective operations for nanomaterial-containing products are seen by eliminating the need for expensive stainless steel isolators, reducing product loss via exhaust ventilation, and reducing downtime caused by cleaning that is needed in uncontrolled processes. In addition, product quality is maximized by eliminating cross contamination issues.'We are extremely pleased that ILC Dover has agreed to become a component of our training eff ...

Remote, wireless monitoring of physiological functions and structural performance in real time has long been a goal of many manufacturing industries. Achievement of that goal is now a step closer to reality with the announcement today of an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) award to FlexTech Alliance of San Jose, Calif. The Alliance has been selected to launch a new manufacturing consortium which will operate at the junction of nanotechnology, biotechnology, additive manufacturing, and flexible electronics. Bringing together world-class researchers and building prototype monitoring devices are the new nano-bio manufacturing consortium’s primary goals.

Graphene has been the subject of an explosion of technical research in recent years as a result of its unique combination of superior properties. It has become the starting point for disruptive technologies in a wide range of fields including high performance computing, transparent conductors, printed electronics, displays, solar photovoltaics, and sensors. Pathways to large area, high throughput production of graphene materials have been established, and key cases emerging from research labs around the globe have demonstrated the advantages of graphene for the applications noted above.  The European Commission recently announced graphene as one of the EU’s first 10-year, 1 Billion euro Future & Emerging Technology (FET) flagships. The goal of the Graphene Flagship is to accelerate the path of graphene and related layered materials from academic laboratory research to scaled commercialization. The resulting societal benefit and subsequent revolutionizing of multiple industry sectors should create substantial economic growth and new jobs in the EU. The recent announcement is noteworthy as it is launching a coordinated public-private partnership research initiative of unprecedented scale. The Graphene Flagship assembles an academic-industrial consortium which aims to create an innovation pipeline extending across th ...

A team of researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has shown that by bringing gold nanoparticles close to the dots and using a DNA template to control the distances, the intensity of a quantum dot's fluorescence can be predictably increased or decreased.* This breakthrough opens a potential path to using quantum dots as a component in better photodetectors, chemical sensors and nanoscale lasers.

Researchers from Greece demonstrated a groundbreaking methodology for controlled in-situ reduction of spin-casted graphene oxide (GO) nanometric films on flexible substrates and the subsequent realization of highly conductive and transparent electrodes for flexible organic photovoltaics (OPV).  This technique is the first reported to be compatible with temperature sensitive substrates in the sense that it achieves reduction of films on flexible substrates in a single step, in contrast to the approaches utilized so far. Furthermore the featured work provides a new insight in the relevant scientific community considering that it is experimentally clarified that efficient photoreduction of GO can be achieved by exploiting non-thermal processes occurring upon ultrafast laser treatment.  This suggests that there is no need for high temperature treatments that potentially destroy the integrity of the graphene lattice as well as the flexibility of the underlying substrate. The in-situ non-thermal photoreduction of spin-coated GO films creates a novel way to produce functional graphene electrodes for a variety of applications in a process that carries substantial promise for potential implementation in organic electronics industry. By employing the optical schemes and translation systems that have already been developed for i ...

In the latest issue of Science ("InP Nanowire Array Solar Cells Achieving 13.8% Efficiency by Exceeding the Ray Optics Limit"), researchers from Lund University in Sweden have shown how nanowires could pave the way for more efficient and cheaper solar cells.

Remarkable applications for electronics that bend, flex, and stretchJanuary 15, 2013 – Brewer Science is ushering in new technology advancements that could one day result in wearable smartphones, health monitoring improvements, and other applications that could improve our quality of life.“Brewer Science has been a leader in bringing flexible electronic devices closer to reality. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are an attractive platform to create electronics and sensors that can be printed on flexible substrates. The screen-printing CNT ink is a solvent dispersion that is stable at room temperature and is compatible with high-speed large-area printing applications,” said James Lamb, Director of Brewer Science’s Carbon Electronics Center. Brewer Science also makes CNT-based sensors to enable prototyping and characterization of devices and CNT materials. “Our unique functionalization of CNTs also enhances the sensitivity of the temperature and humidity sensors,” added James Lamb.

There’s hardly a moment in modern life that doesn’t involve electronic devices, whether they’re guiding you to a destination by GPS or deciding which incoming messages merit a beep, ring or vibration. But our expectation that the next shopping season will inevitably offer an upgrade to more-powerful gadgets largely depends on size – namely, the ability of the industry to shrink transistors so that more can fit on ever-tinier chip surfaces.

On December 10, 2012 IBM announced a breakthrough optical communication technology which has been verified in a manufacturing environment. The technology – called “silicon nanophotonics” – uses light instead of electrical signals to transfer information for future computing systems, thus allowing large volumes of data to be moved fast between computer chips in servers, large data-centers, and supercomputers via pulses of light.

Last month, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE) announced more than $25 million of funding for innovative materials-science research projects. The research awards are a significant milestone for the Administration’s Materials Genome Initiative (MGI)—a collaborative effort of public, private, and academic leaders to make the discovery, development, and deployment of cutting-edge materials faster and cheaper than ever before.

The AENEAS and CATRENE organisations announced today the publication of a new positioning document ‘Innovation for the future of Europe: Nanoelectronics beyond 2020’.

Military uniforms of the future may offer a new layer of critical protection to wearers thanks to research by teams at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and several other institutions who are developing a nanotube-based fabric that repels chemical and biological agents. UMass Amherst polymer scientists Kenneth Carter and James Watkins, collaborating with team leader Francesco Fornasiero of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), recently received a five-year $1.8 million grant to design ways to manufacture the new material as part of a $13 million project funded by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency. It’s estimated that the new uniforms could be deployed in the field in less than 10 years.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced today the selection of the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI), a collaboration of several key firms in the semiconductor industry, to support university-centered research for the development of after-the-next-generation “nanoelectronics” technology. NRI is made up of participants from the semiconductor industry, including GLOBALFOUNDRIES, IBM, Intel, Micron Technology and Texas Instruments.

For the first time, scientists precisely place and test more than ten thousand carbon nanotube devices in a single chip using mainstream manufacturing processesNovel processing method helps pave the way for carbon technology as a viable alternative to silicon in future computingIBM (NYSE: IBM) scientists have demonstrated a new approach to carbon nanotechnology that opens up the path for commercial fabrication of dramatically smaller, faster and more powerful computer chips. For the first time, more than ten thousand working transistors made of nano-sized tubes of carbon have been precisely placed and tested in a single chip using standard semiconductor processes. These carbon devices are poised to replace and outperform silicon technology allowing further miniaturization of computing components and leading the way for future microelectronics.

MIT researchers find that lubricated, nanotextured surfaces improved performance of condensers in power and desalination plants.Condensers are a crucial part of today’s power generation systems: About 80 percent of all the world’s powerplants use them to turn steam back to water after it comes out of the turbines that turn generators. They are also a key element in desalination plants, a fast-growing contributor to the world’s supply of fresh water.

First awards granted for the NSF Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) program. The National Science Foundation (NSF), in support of the multi-agency, federal Materials Genome Initiative (MGI), has now granted the first awards for the Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) program.The NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and Engineering (ENG) Directorates invested a total of just over $12 million for 22 grants in support of 14 distinct DMREF projects intended to yield a range of new developments, including new lightweight yet rigid polymers; highly durable, multi-layered materials for aircraft engines and power plants; new data storage technology based on spin electronics; composites for converting heat to electricity; novel designer glasses; membranes that function as well as biological counterparts; new techniques to develop exceptionally hard coatings; and many others.

To craft some of the most complex semiconductors, manufacturers etch pre-defined patterns into wafers, carving out structures layer by layer. The processes can be time-consuming and are executed blindly, leaving few opportunities to monitor the etching or make any necessary adjustments.Now, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a technique to watch and control the etching of semiconductors as it is happening, with a height resolution at the scale of nanometers--billionths of a meter.

DNA sequencing is the driving force behind key discoveries in medicine and biology. For instance, the complete sequence of an individual’s genome provides important markers and guidelines for medical diagnostics and healthcare. Up to now, the major roadblock has been the cost and speed of obtaining highly accurate DNA sequences. While numerous advances have been made in the last 10 years, most current high-throughput sequencing instruments depend on optical techniques for the detection of the four building blocks of DNA: A, C, G and T. To further advance the measurement capability, electronic DNA sequencing of an ensemble of DNA templates has also been developed. Recently, it has been shown that DNA can be threaded through protein nanoscale pores under an applied electric current to produce electronic signals at single molecule level. However, because the four nucleotides are very similar in their chemical structures, they cannot easily be distinguished using this technique. Thus, the research and development of a single-molecule electronic DNA sequencing platform is the most active area of investigation and has the potential to produce a hand-held DNA sequencer capable of deciphering the genome for personalized medicine and basic biomedical research.

Nanotech Security Corp., developer of next-generation security and authentication features using nanotechnology based optics, announced that it has achieved a technological breakthrough with the successful metallization of images in a commercial-scale run. The 1500 foot length of optical images embossed on a 10 inch metallized roll was produced by an independent third party as part of its feasibility due diligence review of the technology. This milestone shows that Nanotech’s advanced optical technology can be seamlessly incorporated into standard security industry manufacturing processes.

Researchers have learned how to mass produce tiny mechanical devices that could help cell phone users avoid the nuisance of dropped calls and slow downloads. The devices are designed to ease congestion over the airwaves to improve the performance of cell phones and other portable devices."There is not enough radio spectrum to account for everybody's handheld portable device," said Jeffrey Rhoads, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University.The overcrowding results in dropped calls, busy signals, degraded call quality and slower downloads. To counter the problem, industry is trying to build systems that operate with more sharply defined channels so that more of them can fit within the available bandwidth.

Microchips are pervasive in today’s high-​​tech society, playing integral roles in the inner workings of your cell phone to your Keurig coffee machine.A processing technology called CMOS, or complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor, made microchips economically feasible in the 1980s, said Sivasubramanian Somu, a research scientist in Northeastern’s Center for High-​​rate Nanomanufacturing.A critical element in any microchip is something called an inverter — an electronic component that spits out zeros when you give it ones, and vice versa. “A transistor [the basic element in an inverter] is a simple, extremely fast switch,” Somu explained. “You can turn it on and off by electric signals.”

 View Improved Performance Information Needed for Environmental, Health, and Safety Research report What GAO FoundFrom fiscal years 2006 to 2010, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) reported more than a doubling of National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) member agencies’ funding for nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety (EHS) research––from approximately $38 million to $90 million. Reported EHS research funding also rose as a percentage of total nanotechnology funding over the same period, ending at about 5 percent in 2010. However, GAO identified several reporting problems that raise concerns about the quality of EHS funding data reported. For example, for 18 percent of the 2010 projects GAO reviewed that were reported as EHS research, it was not clear that the projects were primarily directed at EHS risks. In addition, NNI member agencies did not always report funding using comparable data. The absence of detailed guidance on how agencies should report funding for their nanotechnology research has contributed to these problems, as GAO also reported in 2008 and made a related recommendation.In 2010, EHS research at the NNI member agencies GAO reviewed most frequently focused on carbon nanotubes, nanosilver, and nanoscale titanium dioxide. NNI has not prioritized nanomaterials fo ...

Sunscreens, lotions, and cosmetics contain tiny metal nanoparticles that wash down the drain at the end of the day, or are discharged after manufacturing. Those nanoparticles eventually end up in agricultural soil, which is a cause for concern, according to a group of environmental scientists that recently carried out the first major study of soybeans grown in soil contaminated by two manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs).The team was led by scientists at UC Santa Barbara's Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. The team is also affiliated with the UC Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEIN), a $24 million collaboration based at UCLA, with researchers from UCSB, UC Davis, UC Riverside, University of Texas at El Paso, Columbia University, and other national and international partners. The results of the study are published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Thin, conductive films are useful in displays and solar cells. A new solution-based chemistry developed at Brown University for making indium tin oxide films could allow engineers to employ a much simpler and cheaper manufacturing process.PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — In a touch-screen display or a solar panel, any conductive overlay had better be clear. Engineers employ transparent thin films of indium tin oxide (ITO) for the job, but a high-tech material’s properties are only half its resume. They must also be as cheap and easy to manufacture as possible. In a new study, researchers from Brown University and ATMI Inc. report the best-ever transparency and conductivity performance for an ITO made using a chemical solution, which is potentially the facile, low-cost method manufacturers want.“Our technology is already at the performance level for application in resistive touch screens,” said Jonghun Lee, a Brown chemistry graduate student and lead author of the paper posted online Aug. 1 by the Journal of the American Chemical Society.The group made conductive ITO films 146 billionths of a meter thick that allowed 93 percent of light to pass through, a transparency comparable to the glass plates they were deposited on. The team also made their films on top of bendable polyimide, showing that it cou ...

The U.S. Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory recently opened a $1.7 million production facility for renewable, forest-based nanomaterials. This facility is the first of its kind in the United States and one that positions the laboratory as the country’s leading producer of these materials, also called nanocellulose. Nanocellulose is simply wood fiber broken down to the nanoscale. For perspective, a nanometer is roughly one-millionth the thickness of an American dime. Materials at this minute scale have unique properties; nanocellulose-based materials can be stronger than Kevlar fiber and provide high strength properties with low weight. These attributes have attracted the interest of the Department of Defense for use in lightweight armor and ballistic glass. Companies in the automotive, aerospace, electronics, consumer products, and medical device industries also see massive potential for these innovative materials.

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed highly conductive and elastic conductors made from silver nanoscale wires (nanowires). These elastic conductors can be used to develop stretchable electronic devices.Stretchable circuitry would be able to do many things that its rigid counterpart cannot. For example, an electronic “skin” could help robots pick up delicate objects without breaking them, and stretchable displays and antennas could make cell phones and other electronic devices stretch and compress without affecting their performance. However, the first step toward making such applications possible is to produce conductors that are elastic and able to effectively and reliably transmit electric signals regardless of whether they are deformed.

Fifth NSI will accelerate the development of nano-enabled sensors and nanomaterial sensingThe Nanotechnology Signature Initiative (NSI) Nanotechnology for Sensors and Sensors for Nanotechnology: Improving and Protecting Health, Safety, and the Environment is the fifth NSI to be launched by agencies of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The NNI agencies recognize the considerable potential for nanotechnology to open the door to the development of inexpensive, portable devices that can rapidly detect, identify, and quantify biological and chemical substances.  As such, nanosensors are expected to lead to revolutionary applications, including early disease detection that can result in faster treatments and better outcomes, as well as the early and accurate detection of environmental pollutants, contaminants, and even biological or chemical weapons. Due to the diverse nature of these potential applications, nanosensors are expected to impact multiple sectors of the economy, including the healthcare, pharmaceutical, agricultural, food, environmental, consumer products, and defense sectors.

Graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of graphitic carbon, has attracted a great deal of attention for its potential use as a transistor that could make consumer electronic devices faster and smaller. But the material's unique properties, and the shrinking scale of electronics, also make graphene difficult to fabricate on a large scale. The production of high-performance graphene using conventional fabrication techniques often leads to damage to the graphene lattice's shape and performance, resulting in problems that include parasitic capacitance and serial resistance.

In the last two decades, the number of deaths from col­orectal cancer has steadily declined, according to the Amer­ican Cancer Society. While some of the decrease can be attrib­uted to better treat­ment prac­tices, early detec­tion is another pri­mary factor. Nonethe­less, col­orectal cancer is still the second leading cause of death among men and women in the U.S., and is expected to be respon­sible for more than 50,000 deaths in 2012.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — RTI International recently launched the Nanomaterial Registry, an authoritative, web-based resource that organizes and evaluates the biological and environmental implications of well-characterized nanomaterials from publically available resources.Available at www.nanomaterialregistry.org, the registry allows users to search, browse, and compare data on the characteristics of a wide variety of nanomaterials.

Learn how the Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing is working to enable access to new innovative manufacturing tools for industry, innovators, entrepreneurs and students.Boston, MA June 18, 2012Dr. Ahmed Busnaina, Director of the National Science Foundation Center for High-rate Nanomanufactuurig [CHN], will present a webinar entitled, “The Democratization of Manufacturing”. The program will take place at 11 a.m. EDT on Wednesday June 27, 2012 and will be moderated by Sarah Boisvert of Greenwood Tech Strategies, LLC. The interactive presentation will describe how research in innovative nano-technologies and nano-processes at CHN is creating affordable nanomanufacturing tools for businesses, innovators, entrepreneurs, and students.The Center’s goal is to develop the technology necessary for industry to mass-produce high-quality nanoscale products that will become commercially viable much faster than the usual two-decade time frame. “The collaborative research partnership between the Center and industry is accelerating the development of nanotechnology-based products that can impact a number of industries, including healthcare, microelectronics, sensors and energy,” said Ahmed Busnaina, director of the Center and William Lincoln Smith Professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern ...

Fourteen federal agencies collaborate to enhance global competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers and create jobsMay 29, 2012The Obama Administration today announced a $26 million multi-agency Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge to foster innovation-fueled job creation through public-private partnerships. These coordinated investments will help catalyze and leverage private capital, build an entrepreneurial ecosystem, and promote cluster-based development in regions across the United States.This is the third round of the Jobs Accelerator competition funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration and National Institute of Standards and Technology; the U.S. Department of Energy; the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration; the Small Business Administration; and the National Science Foundation (NSF)."This $26 million Accelerator Challenge is yet another example of the Obama Administration's commitment to supporting American manufacturers in building things here and selling them everywhere," said U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson. "We are so pleased to join with our federal agency partners to further strengthen the American manufacturing sector, which creates high quality, good paying jobs.

(May 14, 2012)  Today the agencies participating in the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) announced their fourth Nanotechnology Signature Initiative. This signature initiative will stimulate the development of models, simulation tools, and databases that will enable the prediction of specific properties and characteristics of nanoscale materials. This in turn will accelerate commercialization of nanotechnology innovations that maximize benefits to humans and the environment while minimizing risks.

Yale engineers have developed a novel automated system for generating strong, flexible, transparent coatings with promising uses in lithium-ion battery and fuel cell production, among other applications.Until now, the slow through-put of some existing assembly methods has significantly restricted the practical application of these thin, multilayered conductive films.

Today, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released its latest assessment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI): Report to the President and Congress on the Fourth Assessment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. The assessment is a Congressionally mandated biennial review of the NNI, a crosscutting Federal program designed to coordinate U.S. investments in research and development (R&D) activities in nanoscale science, engineering, tech­nology, and related efforts across 26 agencies and programs. It was written by PCAST, acting in its capacity as the National Nanotechnology Advisory Panel.This year’s assessment focused on the progress made by the NNI and the National Nanotechnology Coordinating Office (NNCO) in fulfilling the recommendations that PCAST made in its 2010 assessment. PCAST found that the Federal agencies in the NNI have made substantial progress in addressing many of the 2010 recommendations that were aimed at maintaining U.S. leadership in nanotechnology.  One of the primary goals of the NNI is to stay ahead of heavily-investing competitors such as China, South Korea, the European Union, and Russia. Overall, PCAST concluded that the NNI remains a successful cooperative venture that is supporting high-quality research, facilitating the trans ...

Solvay, Holst Centre and several other partners demonstrate flexible 69cm2 Organic LED (OLED) lighting tiles with an efficiency of 30lm/Watt.Chemical group Solvay and Holst Centre have demonstrated high efficiency flexible Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) lighting tiles with a surface area of 69cm2. These large-area demonstrators contain several layers deposited by solution processing at Holst Centre and additional layers applied by conventional vacuum deposition at Solvay.OLEDs are a new lighting technology enabling flat diffuse lighting sources, and are complementary to inorganic LEDs, which are by nature well suited as spotlights. Current OLED devices are made at pilot scale by depositing many layers on glass by vacuum process. Solvay and Holst Centre were able to deposit several layers of the OLED by solution processing, which brings the use of printing technologies to produce OLEDs closer.Use of printing technologies on flexible substrates will enable large scale manufacturing of OLEDs for general lighting applications, and will bring some additional features: thin, flexible, and potentially transparent light sources that could be integrated in ceiling, walls, windows…The highly efficient flexible OLED stack was designed and optimized at Solvay. It is based almost entirely on organic functional materials develope ...

The first draft guideline, “Draft Guidance for Industry, Considering Whether an FDA-Regulated Product Involves the Application of Nanotechnology”, was published in the Federal Register in June, 2011.  The FDA is still reviewing and receiving comments on this document from the public.In April 2012 the FDA is issuing two new draft guidelines for manufacturers of food substances and cosmetics, which are also open for public comment.FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., says the guidelines provide a starting point for the nanotechnology discussion. “Our goal is to regulate these products using the best possible science,” Hamburg says. “Understanding nanotechnology remains a top priority within the agency’s regulatory science initiative and, in doing so, we will be prepared to usher science, public health, and FDA into a new, more innovative era.”FDA is working with the White House, the National Nanotechnology Initiative, other U.S. government agencies, and international regulators to focus on generating data and coordinating policy approaches to ensure the safety and effectiveness of products using nanomaterials.