Nanotechnology has been around for a while. There have been lots of promises resulting in\na few solid applications, a number of promising medical advances, and a number\nof possibilities, which are still in the research stage. What is often overlooked is the advances made\nin science to be able to evaluate the new materials. Microscopy has advanced to the point where pictures\nof bonding between atoms can be recorded. \nModeling capabilities have improved to the point where some material\nproperties can be predicted. There is the\nability to layer 2-D sheets of materials to create desired properties. It is possible to determine substitute\nmaterials for applications that have a requirement to not employ certain\nchemicals or materials. As researchers\nlearn more about the properties of material, they are able to develop new materials\nto solve existing problems that have arisen due to existing material hardness\nor toxicity of materials currently required. \nBelow are two examples of work being done that demonstrate the above\nstatement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Research at IIT Bombay [Ref. 1] has been focused on changing\nthe material in Piezoelectric Nanogenerators (PENGs) in order to be able to\nincorporate energy harvesting devices into the human body. The detractor has been the need to use highly\ntoxic ceramics, of which lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is a primary\nexample. The researchers worked with a\nhybrid perovskites that should not have had the ability to produce spontaneous\npolarization. (Perovskite refers to any\nmaterial that has the same type crystal structure as calcium titanium oxide. Perovskites have had a major impact on the\nsolar industry in the last few years.) This\nwork demonstrated a far greater piezoelectric response than the best non-toxic\nmaterial, BaTiO3<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the original results, the researchers considered\nenhancements of incorporating the material into a ferroelectric polymer. The results were surprising in that they\ndoubled the power over their original material. \nThey have achieved a production of one volt for a crystal lattice\ncontraction of 73 picometers. There is\nmuch work yet to be done, but there is a long list of possible medical applications\nthat could apply this material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Work performed at Zi\u2019an Jiaotong University is based on a\nsoft dielectric material that creates voltage when bent [Ref. 2]. When certain materials are non-uniformly\ndeformed, the strain gradient creates a separation of positive and negative\nions, which develops a voltage across the material. This action can be observed in many different\ndielectric materials. Unfortunately,\nthis effect is strongest in brittle ceramic materials. The brittleness property makes the materials\nunsuitable for applications, like stretchable electronics. The researchers have developed a process to\nadd a layer of permanent negative charges within certain materials. The material at rest, no stress, has no\nvoltage between the top and bottom of the material. If a bar of the material is clamped on both\nends and the middle of the bar subject to a deforming process, high voltages\ncan be developed. The researchers\nreported measuring -5,723 Volts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea is that with new tools and the resulting knowledge obtained,\nit is possible to look at applications that are needed that currently require\nmaterials that are not suitable for the environment of the applications. In many cases this environment is inside the\nhuman body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nanotechnology has been around for a while. There have been lots of promises resulting in a few solid applications, a number of promising medical advances, and a number [..]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nano"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}