Nanotechnology Blog

A coming medical revolution?

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Walt | Permalink 0

If you have been reading technology news recently, you probably noticed that there is a lot of interest in the development of the Star Trek tricorder. There is a $10 million US prize being offered by xprize.org [1] with 10 finalists having been identified. While this “device” is gathering attention, there are other developments that are occurring. In IEEE’s Spectrum magazine there is a number of articles on health technology [2]. There are some developments that provide some significant promise.

From among the IEEE articles, a temporary tattoo, the Biostamp [3], will stretch with skin movement. It can be powered wirelessly and include flexible circuitry. Three examples show one sensor that reacts to solar radiation, another that is a chemical monitor to sweat, and a third that electrically monitors blood pressure. The object of these monitors is to provide information in near real time. The question is what do we do with the information?

There has been significant publicity about the Apple watch with additional capabilities. Professional athletes are applying devices similar to these to improve their performance. These biometric “gadgets” can provide many different insights to a person’s performance [4]. The article mentions a number of devices. The “Readiband” is an electronic wristband that measures the quality of sleep, which can be used as a predictor of the following day’s performance. There are compression sensors for both arms and legs that can provide information about an athlete’s favoring one limb over the other, which may indicate a probability of upcoming injury. Some can also be used to modify harmful behavior. As the devices are further developed, the transfer to widespread application is only a matter of time.

A third area that is developing in nano-fluidics. This interest is driven by the expectation that this technology will provide portable chemical and biological analysis systems that can be applied for point of care diagnostics devices. A more detailed review is available [5]. There are many applications for both analysis and treatment. One example of treatment is a drug delivery system [6].

So what do these devices mean for the future? There is an ongoing effort to create a comprehensive medial patient record. The addition of sensors that are worn most of the time can provide a more comprehensive picture of the individual’s health situation as opposed to data obtained during an office or emergency room visit. This topic will be addressed in a future blog.

References:

Nanotechnology, Nanotechnology Health

An interesting trend in electronics

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Walt | Permalink 0

While there is much being published about the continual shrinking of electronics, there are a number of other activities that have been developing. One of the efforts is directed at reducing the amount of discarded electronics that end up in landfills. This becomes especially important as the Internet of Things (IoT) creates numerous wearable (and discardable) devices.

One of the ways this can be done is to create environmentally friendly electronics. A team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin Madison has worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create semiconductor chips made almost entirely out of wood! [Ref. 1] Their contention is that the majority of the semiconductor material is employed to provide a structure to hold the actual electronics. They created a cellulose nanofibril for the foundation of the electronics. More details are available in the referenced web publication.

Another approach to reducing the amount of waste is to have the electronics self-destruct. Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed het triggered self-destruction electronic devices. The indication is that they could also create a RF controlled trigger to initiate the process. “The heat-triggered devices use magnesium circuits printed on very thin, flexible materials. The researchers trap microscopic droplets of a weak acid in wax, and coat the devices with the wax. When the devices are heated, the wax melts, releasing the acid. The acid dissolves the device quickly and completely” [Ref. 2]

Researchers in China have created a light-emitting, transparent and flexible paper. “The researchers developed a thin, clear nanocellulose paper made out of wood flour and infused it with biocompatible quantum dots—tiny, semiconducting crystals—made out of zinc and selenium. The paper glowed at room temperature and could be rolled and unrolled without cracking.” [Ref. 3]

As a side note, it is interesting how science fiction can find its way into reality. While it is too early to indicate success, researchers have found a phenomena that “occurs when injecting tiny grains of Lithium into a plasma undergoing a particular kind of turbulence then, under the right conditions, the temperature and pressure rose dramatically. High heat and pressure are crucial to fusion.” [Ref. 4] Have we taken another step toward fusion power generation? Star Trek Di-lithium crystals anyone?

References:
1. http://www.rdmag.com/news/2015/05/new-kind-wood-chip?et_cid=4591867&et_rid=658352741&type=headline
2. http://www.rdmag.com/videos/2015/05/mission-possible-device-will-self-destruct-when-heated?
3. http://www.rdmag.com/news/2015/05/toward-green-paper-thin-flexible-electronics?
4. http://www.rdmag.com/news/2015/05/tiny-grains-lithium-dramatically-improve-performance-fusion-plasma?

Misc Ramblings, Nanotechnology

Memristors

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Walt | Permalink 0

This blog is a slight variation from the typical nanotechnology ones. The frequency of the mention of memristors has been increasing. Memristors are novel components of circuits which improves in performance as their size moves into the nano realm.. I have been fortunate to be in attendance for a Stan Williams, HP VP and Senior Fellow, presentation at UCLA in December 2007, where he presented the concept of the memristors. There is a posting of a more recent talk that he has given on the memristor. [1] The fact that it has taken seven years to start being brought into the popular press is not surprising.

The first question is: What is a memristor? Electrical circuits contain passive elements of resistors, capacitors, and inductors. A memristor is a fourth classification of an electrical circuit that maintains a time relationship between current and voltage between two terminals. [2] Leon Chua [3] proposed the concept of the memristor in 1971 as a component that related electric charge and magnetic flux. It took until 2008 for HP researchers to find the memristor based on an analysis of a thin film of titanium dioxide. The memristor electrical resistance is not constant but a history of the current, including direction, that has flowed through the device. A key attribute of the device is that when the poser is turned off, the memristor “remembers” its existing state. Miniaturization into the nano realm actually is beneficial for memristors in that the functionality becomes stronger as their feature size shrinks.

The next question is: So What? There are many possibilities. Since the device has a memory when power is turned off, it acts like non-volatile RAM. The device retains the state information unlike binary “on” and “off” states. The potential exists to create devices that have a number of stored states. This will result in less power consumption to maintain more data than current approaches. At a Las Vegas conference in June 2014, HP announced a plan to develop a system by the end of the decade. They are projecting to have memristor based DIMMs that combine the high storage densities of hard disks and the high performance of DRAM. [5] It will be interesting to watch the development of memristors and the resulting applications. Keep watching for memristors as circuitry continues to decrease in size.

References

Electronics, Technology

Graphene revisited

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Walt | Permalink 0

Graphene has been in the news lately. Given that graphene has superior electrical mobility compared to silicon and is some 200 times stronger than steel, it is understandable that there is an interest. Recently, researchers at UC Riverside [1] have developed a means of creating magnetism in graphene while keeping its electrical properties. The key to the process was to use a laser molecular beam epitaxy to grow a mono-layer of graphene on an insulating sheet of yttrium iron garnet (YIG). The resulting graphene incorporated impurities of the YIG into its structure to create the magnetic effect without disrupting the electrical properties of the graphene. Applications yet to be determined, but a new “spin” on graphene.

One issue with graphene is that the majority of processes require multiple steps at very high temperatures. Caltech researchers have developed a process where they grow electronic grade graphene using lower temperatures in a shorter time. [2] They claim that this process will produce larger size amounts of graphene (in the centime ranges) than the conventional high temperature techniques, which produce graphene in the millimeter range. As with a lot of scientific breakthroughs, a couple of fortunate “accidents” created the larger size graphene. Investigating the produced material resulted in a better understanding of the process and led to the ability to also create “custom” graphene with “different” properties.

Researchers at Rice University have found that the symmetry of the structure on which graphene is grown has a critical impact on its resultant shape. The edges of the graphene are important to its resultant electrical properties, which affects its usefulness. [3] The atoms for a specific arrangement that is a function of the underlying structure. Materials that are formed on one type of grain structure will have the same shape. The researchers indicated that the differences can be envisioned a cutting a cube in different was. It is possible to end up with a square, a rectangle, or even a triangle.

An issue with graphene in the current manufactured form is that there are small imperfections in the lattice. This condition inhibits the usage of large-scale graphene. However, researchers at Northwestern, the University of Minnesota, and Penn State have shown the possibility of using the imperfections in graphene as a means of improved water filters and fuel cells. [4] Their theoretical modeling shows improved flow through the lattice areas that have the missing carbon atoms.

Researcher continue to explore other material and other applications. Researchers at the University of Minnesota are working on Black phosphorous. [5] They have shown that phosphorous that is 20 atoms thick has improvements in efficiencies over graphene. Depending on the number of atomic layers, the material can be tuned to different optical wavelengths. The potential for optical computing and optical interconnects is significant.

It is important to remember that all of these developments at the atomic scale began in earnest with the discovery of the buckeyball (C₆₀). As researchers have learned how to develop materials in the nanometer region, it should not be surprising that other applications are being developed. Sub-micron carbon spheres have been produced. The possibility of this material being employed as an oil additive to reduce engine friction should not come as a surprise. Research is opening new doors for application that were impossible only a few years ago.

References:

[1] http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/tech-edge/4438843/Magnetized-graphene-could–change-the-course-of-human-civilization-?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150311&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150311&elq=79e323ad8ccd4929ac06288c37e7ed80&elqCampaignId=22030&elqaid=24735&elqat=1&elqTrackId=fa969d31243c4a5baa51c1ca08afc498

[2] http://www.rdmag.com/news/2015/03/cool-process-make-better-graphene?et_cid=4469906&et_rid=658352741&type=cta

[3] http://semiengineering.com/system-bits-march-17/ & http://www.rdmag.com/news/2015/03/symmetry-matters-graphene-growth?et_cid=4466707&et_rid=658352741&type=cta

[4] http://www.rdmag.com/videos/2015/03/graphene-membrane-could-lead-better-fuel-cells-water-filters?et_cid=4468801&et_rid=658352741&type=cta

[5] http://www.rdmag.com/news/2015/03/black-phosphorous-new-wonder-material-improving-optical-communication?et_cid=4443587&et_rid=658352741&type=cta

Nanotechnology, Technology

Scientific/Medical Research Results

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Walt | Permalink 0

In the last few weeks, we have been learning that “scientific” or “medical” research results may contain erroneous information. [Ref. 1] There is currently an outbreak of measles that is impacting a number of people. The Disneyland measles incident that started over Christmas vacation has been traced to unvaccinated people. Some people are pushing mandatory vaccinations. [Ref. 2] What is happening now is that there is a greater awareness of the severity of certain diseases. [Ref. 3] There are some interesting articles on how various diseases can spread based on the percentage of the population that have immunity to the disease. [Ref. 4] The discussion on the vaccination issue revolves around some false research results on autism that became a popular belief through wide-spread distribution on today’s communication media – the Internet. There are also sites that indicated unvaccinated children are less prone to diseases. [Ref. 5] Although, an attempt to review the referenced report turns up no information. The report appears to be no longer available. Consequently, these particular claims can not be validated.

There is a report this week from the medical community in the UK that childhood peanut allergy is developed by lack of exposure to peanuts during a child’s first 11 months. [Ref. 6] This is contrary to the previously given direction by medical authorities.

The question is how does one proceed. If only there were a simple answer. There is a plethora of contradictory information available on the Internet. A large quantity of published news articles are based on a single scientific/medical release. So, quantity alone is insufficient.

Unfortunately, in today’s environment of rapid publication and widespread of all information, whether accurate or erroneous, we have not developed the ability to separate fiction from fact. This “wild-west” approach to dissemination of information requires that each of us really think about the information we are receiving. We are overloaded with sources of information and can not pre-determine which will be factual and which are not. Each area of interest requires that we evaluate both sides of any issue to determine the validity of the claims. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer or directive. It requires individual effort on each of our parts.

References:

Misc Ramblings, Nanotechnology Risk Management

Nanotechnology Regulations

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Walt | Permalink 0

What is the purpose of regulations? Regulations are rules/laws or directives created and maintained by an authority that is intended to govern conduct/actions. Ideally, the purpose of the regulation is to ensure the safety of the public and prevent situation that may cause harm. In many cases, a vocal group may create a sufficient presence to prevail/prevent the action they are interested in moderating.

How do we create regulations? In many cases, investigations are made (hopefully, but neutral parties) and finding are developed so that recommendations can be provided. Many governmental agencies will then provide a period of time for public review and comment. Taking the public input, the agencies will then develop and publish their regulations with an effective date. Normally, there are consequences for non-compliance. So how can this go wrong?

One potential problem is that scientific research has a number of efforts that are not scientific in the true sense. If there is a hypothesis that the investigation is testing, then a proof that the hypothesis is not true should result in rejecting the hypothesis. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Human nature creates an ownership in efforts after a period of time. My observations put this at between three and one-half and four years. After that time, many people tend to develop an identification with the effort and are reluctant to accept an outcome that is different from that which was anticipated. At this point do they change the hypothesis or try to modify the experiments or data included to validate the original hypothesis?

Another point is that regulators are not normally unbiased experts in the field they are regulating. Their intentions a good, but the effect of what they are trying to regulate may not turn out the way they intended. The city of Berkeley, California is one example that I think provides an interesting perspective. In December 2007, the city passed an ordinance (regulation) that any nanomaterials brought into the city for research must have a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). At that time, there were not any MSDS available on carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Since developing an MSDS takes not insignificant time or effort, there were two choices. The first was to stop all efforts in CNTs. If you had been working in this area for some time, it would require giving up your work and probably your funding. This is not really acceptable. The other option was to find a material that is very close to what you are working on and employ that description to your material. Well, graphite consists of carbon and probably has some nanotubes somewhere in a batch of material. Is that an acceptable substation of an MSDS? Is this what the regulation intended? Were there other choices for the researchers? Who really benefited?

Why this blog on regulations? There are regulation by the both the EU and the U.S. that are attempting to cover potential situation that might occur. The issue that exists with over-broad regulations is that they are inaccurate. If the regulation stipulates the handling and transportation of nanomaterials, how does one differentiate among the various sizes within the classification of what is a nanomaterial? Does 80 nm versus 25 nm make a difference? In the case of some metals, the answer is absolutely yes. Since, precise measurement of size distribution for a large quantity of nanomaterials is extremely challenging, are batches of nanomaterials with a half-width of 2 nm and 20 nm to be considered the same material? Since there are estimated to be at least 10 to the 200 power different nanomaterials, there is no means of testing each and every one of them. As always, proceed with caution.

Nanotechnology, Nanotechnology Risk Management

Nanotechnology Education Sources

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Walt | Permalink 0

Just having come from a conference on nanotechnology education, I thought that it might be interesting to review some of the sites/tools available within the United States. This is not an all-inclusive list but only a sampling of available resources. The NSEE (Nanoscale Science and Engineering Education) workshop was focused on identifying needs in developing curriculum to educate from K-12 through post graduate and workforce individuals. This National Science Foundation meeting involved people from academia, government, and industry. The attendees represented a number of the leading nanotech countries from around the world. The findings and recommendations will be published in 2015.

Nano-Link is an NSF funded center providing nanotechnology education led by Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount, Minnesota. With over 30 nano specific courses available, the Center mentors and supports colleges in the creation and implementation of nano based survey courses, diploma and certificate programs as well as 2 year AAS degree programs. Nano-Link provides modularized educational content for grades K-14, and provides Hands-On Educator Workshops. Nano-Link is an alliance of over 12 colleges and universities with a nanotechnology focus throughout the US. Graduates from the Nano-Link alliance schools are in high demand working in a myriad of market segments. Their web site is http://www.nano-link.org/.

NACK (Nanotechnology Applications and Career Knowledge) is another NSF funded center hosted at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania. NACK support development of two-year degree programs in micro- and nanotechnology across the country. It emphasizes hands-on laboratory education and attention to the full range of micro- and nanotechnology applications; offers professional development programs in micro- and nanotechnology for secondary and postsecondary educators. NACK is committed nanotechnology education through its network partnerships with community colleges and research universities. Their web site is http://nano4me.org/.

Nanotechnology Safety Education Courses were developed at Texas State University and University of Texas at Tyler under an NSF grant. (Full disclosure: I am involved in the efforts described in this paragraph.) The development of two modular courses was focused on the need to insert nanotechnology education across the broad spectrum of majors at a university and not just address the tightly focused nanotechnology related degrees. These courses will be released to the general public in 2015 after the completion of the second round of feedback from the students and evaluators. The modular nature of these courses permit insertion of various modules into existing course, which insertion has been very successful. In 2015, there will be a Nanotechnology Safety Certification program announced in conjunction with a major national organization.

NanoHUB is the web portal of the Network for Computational Nanotechnology, which is an NSF funded effort, and is located at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. The NanoHUB site hosts a growing collection of Simulation Programs for nanoscale phenomena that run in the cloud and are accessible through a web browser. In addition to simulation devices, nanoHUB provides Online Presentations, Courses, Learning Modules, Podcasts, Animations, Teaching Materials, and more. These resources help users learn about our simulation programs and about nanotechnology in general. The site offers researchers a venue to explore, collaborate, and publish content, as well. Much of these collaborative efforts occur via Workspaces and User groups. Their web site is https://nanohub.org/.

As mentioned at the start of this blog, these are only a representation of the available resources. There are many opportunities to find specific information or programs through web searches.

Nanotechnology Education

More Science Fiction Benefits from Nano

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Walt | Permalink 0

It is amazing the way science fiction can influence the real world. Most recognize the cell phone as an outcome of the “Star Trek communicator”. Sure, it is not attached to our shirt/blouse and we just tap it to talk. The cell phone has provide the opportunity to communicate with almost any place in the world. The Motorola original mobile phone pre-dated Star Trek. Advances in electronics has enabled the reduction in size while increasing the functionality. There are literally billions of these communication devices throughout the world. The individual circuit elements are in the nano size realm.

The crew of the “Enterprise” (The Star Trek vessel) would select their meals from a computer and have a “replicator” create the food. In my December 31^st, 2013 blog, I covered 3-D printing of food. There are pictures of chocolate, sugar, and deep fired corn dough. While not the basis of everyday fare, it showed the potential. The Small Business Award in March 2013 was aimed at developing the consistency of traditional food along with taste and appearance. There is significant interest from NASA for this technology. Without a food replicator, carrying food on long space voyages becomes a problem that requires providing space in the vehicles for large quantities of food or space for some type of agricultural section to grow the food. The replicator provides an improved means of carry the food if only the constituent parts are required, and they can be safely stored for long periods of time. This same technology can provide food for people in inhospitable regions of our planet.

An article this week [1] covers a device being developed that can diagnoses hundreds of diseases using a single drop of blood. Dr. Eugene Chan and his team at the DNA Medical Institute have created a handheld device (rHEALTH) that can accomplish this using a single drop of blood. The claim is that patients will give 1,500 times less blood than would otherwise be required for all the tests. The device uses nanostrips and reagents to send the sample through various lasers that perform the necessary analysis to provide diagnoses for the person. This device is currently going through the approval processes. There is also a wearable, Bluetooth device that can provide additional information to the device. Is this the first implementation of the Star Trek Tricorder?

Along with these advancements, there have been advances in bionics (for example my February 6, 2014 blog). The ability to create artificial limbs that are controlled via brain waves and provide the ability of sensing are under development (Star Wars). The sensing mechanisms need to be small and integrated. A bionic hand needs to have all the movements of a normal hand, which includes the ability to determine hot/cold, pressure, slipperiness, to name a few. These functions require multiple sensors in each finger, for example. As the sensors increase in number, the size needs to decrease toward the nano realm.

It will be very interesting to watch how quickly these develop to everyday products like the cell phone did. Nanotechnology is enabling a change, for the better, in everyday life.

References:

[1] http://www.wired.com/2014/11/device-diagnoses-hundreds-diseases-using-single-drop-blood/

Nanotechnology, Science

Nano-Safety – A Real Approach

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Walt | Permalink 0

Two interesting reports have emerged in the last couple of days. “Nanoparticle safety: The quest for the gold standard” [1] by Dr. Harald Krug, a toxicologist, at Empa, the Swiss interdisciplinary research institution for material sciences and technology. His work, which included evaluating several thousand studies on the risks associated with nanoparticles, has determined that the majority of reported efforts contain poorly prepared experiments. Empa is working to develop new standards for nanomaterial experiments.

One of the key findings is that the researchers “maltreat their laboratory animals with absurdly high amounts of nanoparticles.”[1] He points out that the quantities employed in some cases are sufficient to cause cells to die from creating a barrier layer that nutrients and oxygen can not penetrate. Empa is collaborating with research groups and industry to address the problem of inappropriate experiments and is anticipating the release of pre-validated methods for laboratory experiments.

A second report “High Throughput Heuristics for Prioritizing Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals”{2] which is summarized in the article “Scientists rank thousands of substances according to potential exposure level”[3]. The latter article indicates that risk of any substance is based on the potential hazards a chemical has along with the level of exposure. This becomes more important as the industry adds about 1,000 new chemical substances every year. This effort is directed at providing knowledge that will be important in future research.

These two efforts mentioned above indicate that we are starting on the correct path to identify what needs to be classified as truly dangerous and to remove the “hype” from “research” publications that are meant to create concern in the general public without real facts.

On this Halloween Day, it is good to report on efforts that are aimed at taking the “fright” out of some published reports and learn that good scientific work will be done to provide accurate information.

References:

[1] http://www.empa.ch/plugin/template/empa/3/152403/—/l=2

[2] http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es503583j

[3] http://www.rdmag.com/news/2014/10/scientists-rank-thousands-substances-according-potential-exposure-level?

Nanotechnology Safety

Nanonickel – increased danger or not?

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Walt | Permalink 0

Recently published reports indicate that a researcher has developed a reaction to nickel nanoparticles [1, 2]. “A 26-year-old female chemist formulated polymers and coatings usually using silver ink particles. When she later began working with nickel nanoparticle powder weighed out and handled on a lab bench with no protective measures, she developed throat irritation, nasal congestion, “post nasal drip,” facial flushing, and new skin reactions to her earrings and belt buckle which were temporally related to working with the nanoparticles. Subsequently she was found to have a positive reaction to nickel …” [2]

This single incident has been employed to point out the dangers of working with nanomaterials. Since nanoparticle nickel is the cause of this reaction, it is interesting that a quick search on the web turns up a few interesting facts. A report [3] that quotes an article in the Pediatrics journal starts with an incident where an 11 year-old had a “.. body rash that appears to be caused by his use of an Apple iPad. The popular tablet is reportedly a potential source of causing nickel allergy reactions”. Notice the plural of the word “reactions”, which indicates that this is not an isolated case. Later in the article, it quotes Sharon Jacob, a dermatologist at Rady Children’s Hospital, “national data showing that about 25 percent of children who get skin tests for allergies have nickel allergies, versus about 17 percent a decade ago.” There is at least one web site that indicates they sell a Nickel Allergy kit and coating material for covering nickel to prevent a reaction from skin contact with nickel. [4]

This brings us back to the original incident that blames nickel nanomaterial for the cause of the workers problems, while implying it was the nanoparticles that were the cause and not related to the overall known problem with allergy to nickel regardless of the size. This is similar to a situation about 2004, when nano coal dust was shown to have a detrimental effect on human lungs. It had been known that coal dust had a serious detrimental effect on human lungs.

I would prefer that researchers looked at potential other causes before crying “wolf” based on nanomaterials being involved. These type of publications create negative impressions on nanomaterials and also on scientific research. There are many applications of nanomaterials that are being safely developed that will improve human health. We currently use many materials that are dangerous if not properly applied. Why should nanomaterials be considered in the same light?

References:

[1] http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2014/06/nickel-allergy-case-highlights-nanoparticle-unknowns

[2] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajim.22344/abstract

[3] http://www.hngn.com/articles/36072/20140714/mysterious-rash-ipad-electronics-afflicting-children-nickel-allergy.htm

[4] http://nonickel.com/pages/about-us

Nanotechnology Risk Management, Nanotechnology Safety