Nanoscienceinfo

Source: EurActiv.com / 12 February 2008
http://www.euractiv.com/en/science/commission-cautious-nanotech-research/article-170236

The Commission has called on member states to respect the precautionary principle in research on nanoscience in order to anticipate its potential environmental, health and safety impacts.  “Member states should apply the precautionary principle in order to protect not only researchers, who will be the first to be in contact with nano-objects, but also professionals, consumers, citizens and the environment in the course of N&N research activities,” states the Commission code of conduct for responsible nanosciences and nanotechnologies (N&N) research, adopted on 7 February 2008. (more…)

By staff reporter, LabTechnologist.com / 6 Feb. 2008
http://www.labtechnologist.com/news/ng.asp?
n=82978-tu-delft-bionanoscience-emerging-scientific-disipline-the-kavli-foundation-nanotechnology

Delft Technology University (TU Delft) in the Netherlands, has decided to create a new bionanoscience department in a clear indication of what it feels is one of the key up and coming scientific fields. Over the next decade, TU Delft will invest €10m derived from its assets in the new department, which will form part of the university’s Kavli Institute of Nanoscience. The Kavli Foundation will also donate $5m (€3.4m).
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Source:  Nanowerk News, January 24, 2008
http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=4209.php

The Naughton Institute, a €100 million state-of-the-art new science facility at Trinity College Dublin which will house Ireland’s first purpose-built nanoscience research institute, the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) and the world’s first Science Gallery was officially opened by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern TD, at 4pm, January 23, 2008. CRANN has received substantial government investment, €74 million of which has come in research grants through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). (more…)

Source: MTB Europe, 5 February 2008
http://mtbeurope.info/news/2008/802005.htm

Nanoscience Europe (NanoSci-E+) has announced a call for proposals for nanoscience research funding in Europe.  Proposals must include organisations from at least three qualifying European countries (Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom).
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Source: Nanowerk News/ February 20, 2008

http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=4620.php

The government is planning to appropriate NT$23 billion (US$726 million) to fund the second stage of the “Taiwan National Science and Technology Program for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology” slated for 2009-2014, officials at the cabinet-level National Science Council (NSC) said Tuesday. The first stage, which began in 2003 with NT$17.8 billion in funding, will conclude by the end of this year, officials told reporters. (more…)

Source: PhysOrg.com/ Texas A&M University /Feb 8, 2008
http://www.physorg.com/news121700723.html

Sometimes simpler is better. Engineering researchers at Texas A&M University have developed a new way to produce ultra-thin electricity-conducting wire that is simpler and faster than existing processes.  “Other methods used to produce nanowires use high temperatures and high pressure,” said Subrata Kundu, a post-doctoral researcher in the research group of Hong Liang, an associate professor in Texas A&M’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. “This method is much simpler and faster.”
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Exotic materials and cheaper substrates could lead to better photovoltaics.
By Tyler Hamilton, February 06, 2008
Source: MIT TechnologyReview.com
http://www.technologyreview.com/Nanotech/20163/

Researchers at McMaster University, in Ontario, say that they have grown light-absorbing nanowires made of high-performance photovoltaic materials on thin but highly durable carbon-nanotube fabric. They’ve also harvested similar nanowires from reusable substrates and embedded the tiny particles in flexible polyester film. Both approaches, they argue, could lead to solar cells that are both flexible and cheaper than today’s photovoltaics.
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“Power shirt” would harvest energy from physical movement
Atlanta, Feb. 19, 2008
Source: Photontics Online /Georgia Institute of Technology
http://www.photonicsonline.com/content/news/article.asp?DocID
=%7BA1EAAE9B-543F-4792-B859-1A3CC3DBC823%7D&Bucket=Current+Headlines

Nanotechnology researchers are developing the perfect complement to the power tie: a “power shirt” able to generate electricity to power small electronic devices for soldiers in the field, hikers and others whose physical motion could be harnessed and converted to electrical energy.  The February 14 issue of the journal Nature details how pairs of textile fibers covered with zinc oxide nanowires can generate electrical current using the piezoelectric effect. Combining current flow from many fiber pairs woven into a shirt or jacket could allow the wearer’s body movement to power a range of portable electronic devices. The fibers could also be woven into curtains, tents or other structures to capture energy from wind motion, sound vibration or other mechanical energy.
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Source: Science: Daily, Feb. 19, 2008
Adapted from materials provided by National Institute of Standards and Technology.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080219203507.htm

Chemists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have been the first to measure significant amounts of copper incorporated into zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires during fabrication. The issue is important because copper plays a significant–but not well-understood–role in important optical and electrical properties of the nanowires. Previous experiments found only trace amounts of copper.
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By Michael Berger, Nanowerk LLC, February 1, 2008
Source: Nanowerk.com Spotlight
http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=4343.php

The vision of revolutionary bottom-up nanotechnology is based on a concept of molecular assembly technologies where nanoscale materials and structures self-assemble to microscale structures and finally to macroscopic devices and products. We are a long way from realizing this vision but researchers are busily laying the foundation for nanoscale engineering. Assembling nanoscopic components into macroscopic materials is an appealing goal but one of the enormous difficulties lies in bridging approximately six orders of magnitude that separate the nanoscale from the macroscopic world. Until machinery capable of automated and industrial-scale nano-assembly can be built, the parallelism of chemical synthesis and self-assembly is necessary when controlling materials at the nanoscale. (more…)