Tag Archives: Cameron Chai

Teijin Fibers Limited update

Teijin Fibers was the first company to create a product based on the nanostructures seen on a Morpho butterfly’s wing. The textile was featured in my July 19, 2010 posting about an Australian designer, Donna Sgro, who created a dress made from the company’s Morphotex product. Sadly, the textile is no longer in production as of this April 5, 2012 notice on the AskNature.org website,

Teijin Fibers Limited of Japan produces Morphotex® fibers. No dyes or pigments are used. Rather, color is created based on the varying thickness and structure of the fibers. Energy consumption and industrial waste are reduced because no dye process must be used.

In 2011, Teijin Fibers Limited stopped manufacturing Morphotex.

In the latest news about Teijin Fibers, the April 11, 2012 news item by Cameron Chai on Azonano notes,

Teijin Fibers, a company of Teijin Group, has revealed that Srixon is fabricating its new Pro Tour golf gloves called Srixon GGG-S005 using Teijin Fibers’ Nanofront high-strength polyester nanofiber.

The Srixon GGG-S005 gloves deliver remarkable grip performance, enabled by Nanofront’s soft texture and superior frictional properties. The high-strength polyester nanofiber also provides remarkable moisture diffusion and absorption for improved comfort, making the fiber a suitable material for golf gloves.

I went to the Teijin Fibers website to find more information about their Nanofront product,

Here comes the world’s first 700 nanometer ultra fine polyester nanofiber “Nanofront™”. The new “island-in-sea” composite spinning technology has solved the problem of unstable quality associated with conventional mass-production nanofibers. The surface area woven in long fibers structure could be tens of times greater than conventional fibers. This enhances water absorption, absorbability of particulates, and anti-translucency. The texture feels soft to the skin, and reduces irritation drastically. Suitable for a variety of applications, including functional sportswear, innerwear, skin care products, antibacterial filter, precision grinding cloth, etc. Teijin “Nanofront™” opens the future for fibers at last.

The Nanofront product is also being used in New Balance Japan socks according to the company’s Jan. 10, 2012 news release,

Teijin Fibers Limited, the core company of the Teijin Group’s polyester fibers business, announced today that it is supplying its high-strength polyester nanofiber Nanofront for use in running socks made by New Balance. The socks are being marketed by New Balance Japan and sold in its directly owned shops in Tokyo and Osaka, as well as other sports retail stores nationwide from this month.

Teijin's NanoFront New Balance Japan sock (http://www.teijin.co.jp/english/news/2012/ebd120110.html)

I’m sorry to see that Morphotex is no longer being produced especially since I’ve looked at Teijin Fiber’s statement about environmentally-friendly materials,

Teijin Fibers is striving to be friendly to the global environment, humans and various other creatures to make our society sustainable. We taking initiatives to manufacture environmentally-friendly materials such as using recycled polyester materials which turn garbage into resources, and employing recycling systems for polyester products. Furthermore, we are developing synthetic fibers derived from plants based on the concept of carbon neutral materials that do not use hazardous Substances [sic] as much as possible, and materials that create color without dyestuff.

I assume that there wasn’t enough demand for a product which achieved its colour, like the Morpho butterfly, due to the properties of its structure at the nanoscale.

The company seems to be having better luck with some of their other ‘eco products’. Note: Nanofront does not appear to be one of the company’s ‘eco’ products.

Nature’s nanostructures: a new book

Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization), issued a March 21, 2012 news release announcing a new book on biomimcry (or biomimetics), Nature’s Nanostructures edited by CSIRO scientists. From the news release,

A new book, which explores how nature’s own laboratory has been producing some of the world’s most advanced nanomaterials for millions of years, has been released.

Nature’s Nanostructures, edited by CSIRO scientists Dr Amanda Barnard and Dr Haibo Guo, focuses on the animals, minerals and extra-terrestrial bodies that have been producing nanomaterials for millennia.

In the first collection of its kind, each chapter charts the complex characteristics of different nanomaterials, including the iridescent scales on the exoskeletons of beetles, magnetic particles in the beaks of pigeons and gold particles found in ores.

The book brings together studies of entomology, geology, astronomy, physics, chemistry, molecular biology and health to build a complete picture of naturally occurring nanomaterials.

“I think is it generally assumed that nanomaterials are a relatively new phenomenon but some nanoparticles have been present in animals and minerals for millions of years and are a natural occurrence,” says Dr Barnard, leader of the Virtual Nanoscience Laboratory at CSIRO.

“This book uniquely charts the diversity of these naturally occurring materials. It is both humbling and comforting to realise that nature did it first and that nanomaterials are not as new as we think,” she adds.

Cameron Chai’s March 21, 2012 news item about the book on Azonano notes,

New CSIRO research on beetles and the reflective qualities of their shells is included in the book. The chapter titled ‘Photonic Crystals in Beetles’ explores 3D crystals produced by opal weevils and how these nanostructures not only create vivid structural colours, but also reflect light at virtually any angle.

The book also contains research, produced by scientists in the US and Germany, into the different levels of magneto-reception found in the beaks of homing pigeons and how the nanostructures in their beaks work as an efficient magnetic field amplifier.

The book is available for purchase through Amazon. I’ve linked to the Canadian Amazon site so the price is listed in Canadian dollars.

Amanda Barnard has been mentioned here previously in my March 10, 2010 posting and my June 16, 2010 posting.

Asia’s research effort in nano-, bio-, and information technology integrated in Asian Research Network

The Feb. 29, 2012 news item by Cameron Chai on Azonano spells it out,

An Asian Research Network (ARN) has been formed by the Hanyang University of Korea and RIKEN of Japan in collaboration with other institutes and universities in Asia. This network has been launched to reinforce a strong education and research collaboration throughout Asia.

The Asian Research Network website is here. You will need to use your scroll bars as it appears to be partially constructed (or maybe my system is so creaky that I just can’t see everything on the page). Towards the bottom (right side) of the home page,there are a couple of red buttons for PDFs of the ARN Pamphlet and Research Articles.

From page 2 of the ARN pamphlet, here’s a listing of the member organizations,

KOREA

Hanyang University
Samsung Electronics
Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute
Seoul National University
Institute of Pasteur Korea
Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology
Korea Advanced Nano Fab Center

JAPAN

RIKEN

INDIA

National Chemical Laboratory
Shivaji University
Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research
Pune University
Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (In Progress)
Indian Institute of Science (In Progress)

USA

University of Texas at Dallas
UCLA (In Progress)
f d i i ( )

CHINA

National Center for Nanoscience and Technology
Peking University

SINGAPORE

National University of Singapore
Nanyang Technological University (In Progress)
Stanford University In Progress)
University of Maryland (In Progress)

ISRAEL

Weizmann Institute of Science (In Progress)
Hebrew University Jerusalem

THAILAND

National Science and Technology Development Agency (In Progress)

I was a little surprised to see Israel on the list and on an even more insular note, why no Canada?

Getting back to the ARN, here are their aims, from page 2 of the ARN pamphlet,

We are committed to fostering talented human resources, creating a research network in which researchers in the region share their knowledge and experiences, and establishing a future-oriented partnership to globalize our research capabilities. To this end, we will achieve excellence in all aspects of education, research, and development in the area of fusion research between BT [biotechnology] and IT [information technology] based on NT [nanotechnology] in general. We will make a substantial contribution to the betterment of the global community as well as the Asian society.

I look forward to hearing more from them in the future.

British royalty and graphene

The UK’s graphene campaign is relentless (my most recent, previous comment on it was in a Feb. 6, 2012 posting). Now, they’ve brought royalty to the University of Manchester, according to a Feb. 20, 2012 news item by Cameron Chai on Azonano,

His Royal Highness, The Duke of York has made a visit to the University of Manchester to understand more about graphene and its commercializing research.

The original Feb. 17, 2012 news release from the University of Manchester about Prince Andrew’s visit notes,

In the afternoon, the Prince was invited to the Innovation Centre and met UMI3 CEO, Clive Rowland.   His Royal Highness visited UMI3 as part of his desire to see that the UK is recognised as the best place in the world for Science and Engineering.

[Clive said] “He is keen to see the University continue to develop its capabilities in this regard and promote its successes and products internationally. He is extremely enthusiastic about the potential of graphene and interested in the different applications and routes to market for it.

Given that the University of Manchester is part of a consortium competing for a 1 billion Euro funding prize for the GRAPHENE-CA FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) flagship project, this campaign is fascinating to observe. The question that arises: If this is what we can observe, what can they be doing behind closed doors?

Nanocoatings in the U.S. prison system

Apparently the US Federal Bureau of Prisons will be coating prison equipment with Nansulate. From the Nov.16, 2011 news item by Cameron Chai on Azonano,

Francesca Crolley, Industrial Nanotech’s Vice President of business development, said that recently, the company had worked with numerous correctional services to aid them with insulation, which meets the standards of a safe environment. Crolley defined that the Nansulate coating is a clean liquid-based insulation, which safely adheres to the equipment’s surface. Crolley added that the Nansulate coating used in a prison environment provides distinct advantages. Crolley also stated that the Nansulate coating can also be used to lower the temperature of hot surfaces and to enhance the equipment’s life by providing resistance to corrosion and moisture.

I found out a little more about Industrial NanoTech and its Nansulate coating on the company’s About page,

Industrial NanoTech, Inc. funds & participates in research with the world’s brightest scientists and leading laboratories. We produce materials that work for you… increasing productivity and efficiency. It’s not just talk and it’s not just theory… it’s amazing technologies.

…  Nansulate®, when fully cured, contains approximately 70% Hydro-NM-Oxide and 30% acrylic resin and performance additive. A liquid applied coating, it dries to a thin layer and provides exceptional insulation, corrosion protection, prevents mold, and prevents rust. Nansulate has proven to provide energy savings in a variety of industrial and residential insulation applications. Nansulate is also low VOC and environmentally friendly.

You can find out more about Nanosulate, which has its own website here.

I’ve included this bit about prisons and nanotechnology as I occasionally cover the military and police use of nanotechnology-enabled products and this fits in with that general theme.

Nanocrystalline cellulose Israeli style

After deriving nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) from paper mill waste, Shaul Lapidot and his colleagues at the Hebrew University developed composite foams. From the August 2, 2011 article by Cameron Chai on Azonano,

NCC foams developed by Lapidot and his team are light-weight and highly porous. The foams were further strengthened by reinforcing it with furan resin. Furan is a hemicellulose-based resin obtained from waste of raw crops, including the left outs from processing of rice hulls, corn cobs, oat hulls, and sugar cane.

The composite foams can be used in a number of applications including furniture and car interiors. Given that Israel is not noted for its forestry industry, it can’t come as a surprise that the Israelis are partnering with a Swedish company to produce this new product.

From an international perspective, we have the Brazilians working on nanocellulose fibres (my most recent posting about the Brazilian effort was June 16, 2011) with the Israelis (+ Swedes) and the Canadians focused on NCC. (I have posted about the Canadian effort many times. Here are three: Alberta’s latest NCC plans in a July 5, 2011 posting; developments in Quebec in a May 31, 2011 posting; and an interview with NCC researcher, Richard Berry in an Aug. 27, 2010 posting.)

University of Toronto research team’s efficient tandem solar cell with colloidal quantum dots (CQD)

Professor Ted Sargent, electrical and computer engineering professor at the University of Toronto, heads an engineering research team which recently published a paper about solar cells and colloidal quantum dots (CQD) in Nature Photonics. From Wayne MacPhail’s June 27, 2011 news release for the University of Toronto,

The researchers, led by Professor Ted Sargent of electrical and computer engineering, report the first efficient tandem solar cell based on colloidal quantum dots (CQD). “The U of T device is a stack of two light-absorbing layers – one tuned to capture the sun’s visible rays, the other engineered to harvest the half of the sun’s power that lies in the infrared,” said lead co-author Xihua Wang, a post-doctoral fellow.

“We needed a breakthrough in architecting the interface between the visible and infrared junction,” said Sargent, Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology. “The team engineered a cascade – really a waterfall – of nanometers-thick materials to shuttle electrons between the visible and infrared layers.”

According to doctoral student Ghada Koleilat, lead co-author of the paper, “We needed a new strategy – which we call the graded recombination layer – so that our visible and infrared light harvesters could be linked together efficiently, without any compromise to either layer.” [emphasis mine]

The team pioneered solar cells made using CQDs, nanoscale materials that can readily be tuned to respond to specific wavelengths of the visible and invisible spectrum. By capturing such a broad range of light waves – wider than normal solar cells – tandem CQD solar cells can in principle reach up to 42 per cent efficiencies. The best single-junction solar cells are constrained to a maximum of 31 per cent efficiency. In reality, solar cells that are on the roofs of houses and in consumer products have 14 to 18 per cent efficiency. The work expands the Toronto team’s world-leading 5.6 per cent efficient colloidal quantum dot solar cells.

According to the University of Toronto news item and the June 28, 2011 news item by Cameron Chai on Azonano, Sargent believes that this ‘graded recombination layer’ will be found in building materials and mobile devices in five years.

It’s always informative to look at the funding agencies for these projects. The CQD project received its funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) [mentioned in my Sept. 24, 2009 posting—scroll down 1/2 way), by the Ontario Research Fund Research Excellence Program and by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.

ETA July 4, 2011: You can get another take on this work from Dexter Johnson, Nanoclast blog on the IEEE website in his June 28, 2011 posting, Harvesting Visible and Invisible Light in PVs with Colloidal Quantum Dots.

Graphene, IBM’s first graphene-based integrated circuit, and the European Union’s pathfinder programme in information technologies

A flat layer of carbon atoms packed into a two-dimensional honeycomb arrangement, graphene is being touted as a miracle (it seems)  material which will enable new kinds of electronic products. Recently, there have been a number of news items and articles featuring graphene research.

Here’s my roundup of the latest and greatest graphene news. I’m starting with an application that is the closest to commercialization: IBM recently announced the creation of the first graphene-based integrated circuit. From the Bob Yirka article dated June 10, 2011 on physorg.com,

Taking a giant step forward in the creation and production of graphene based integrated circuits, IBM has announced in Science, the fabrication of a graphene based integrated circuit [IC] on a single chip. The demonstration chip, known as a radio frequency “mixer” is capable of producing frequencies up to 10 GHz, and demonstrates that it is possible to overcome the adhesion problems that have stymied researchers efforts in creating graphene based IC’s that can be used in analog applications such as cell phones or more likely military communications.

The graphene circuits were started by growing a two or three layer graphene film on a silicon surface which was then heated to 1400°C. The graphene IC was then fabricated by employing top gated, dual fingered graphene FET’s (field-effect transistors) which were then integrated with inductors. The active channels were made by spin-coating the wafer with a thin polymer and then applying a layer of hydrogen silsequioxane. The channels were then carved by e-beam lithography. Next, the excess graphene was removed with an oxygen plasma laser, and then the whole works was cleaned with acetone. The result is an integrated circuit that is less than 1mm2 in total size.

Meanwhile, there’s a graphene research project in contention for a major research prize in Europe. Worth 1B Euros, the European Union’s 2011 pathfinder programme (Future and Emerging Technologies [Fet11]) in information technology) will select two from six pilot actions currently under way to be awarded a Flagship Initiative prize.  From the Fet11 flagships project page,

FET Flagships are large-scale, science-driven and mission oriented initiatives that aim to achieve a visionary technological goal. The scale of ambition is over 10 years of coordinated effort, and a budget of up to one billion Euro for each Flagship. They initiatives are coordinated between national and EU programmes and present global dimensions to foster European leadership and excellence in frontier research.

To prepare the launch of the FET Flagships, 6 Pilot Actions are funded for a 12-month period starting in May 2011. In the second half of 2012 two of the Pilots will be selected and launched as full FET Flagship Initiatives in 2013.

Here’s the description of the Graphene Science and technology for ICT and beyond pilot action,

Graphene, a new substance from the world of atomic and molecular scale manipulation of matter, could be the wonder material of the 21st century. Discovering just how important this material will be for Information and Communication Technologies is the long term focus of the Flagship Initiative, simply called, GRAPHENE. This aims to explore revolutionary potentials, in terms of both conventional as well as radically new fields of Information and Communication Technologies applications.

Bringing together multiple disciplines and addressing research across a whole range of issues, from fundamental understandings of material properties to Graphene production, the Flagship will provide the platform for establishing European scientific and technological leadership in the application of Graphene to Information and Communication Technologies. The proposed research includes coverage of electronics, spintronics, photonics, plasmonics and mechanics, all based on Graphene.

[Project Team:]

Andrea Ferrari, Cambridge University, UK
Jari Kinaret, Chalmers University, Sweden
Vladimir Falko, Lancaster University, UK
Jani Kivioja, NOKIA, Finland [emphases mine]

Not so coincidentally (given one member of the team is associated with Nokia and another is associated with Cambridge University), the Nokia Research Centre jointly with Cambridge University issued a May 4, 2011 news release (I highlighted it in my May 6, 2011 posting [scroll down past the theatre project information]) about the Morph concept (a rigid, flexible, and stretchable phone/blood pressure cuff/calculator/and  other electronic devices in one product) which they have been publicizing for years now. The news release concerned itself with how graphene would enable the researchers to take the Morph from idea to actuality. The webpage for the Graphene Pilot Action is here.

There’s something breathtaking when there is no guarantee of success about the willingness to invest up to 1B Euros in a project that spans 10 years. We’ll have to wait until 2013 before learning whether the graphene project will be one of the two selected as Flagship Initiatives.

I must say the timing for the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics which went to two scientists (Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov) for their groundbreaking work with graphene sems interesting (featured in my Oct. 7, 2010 posting) in light of this graphene activity.

The rest of these graphene items are about research that could lay the groundwork for future commercialization.

Friday, June 13, 2011 there was a news item about foaming graphene on Nanowerk (from the news item),

Hui-Ming Cheng and co-workers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Metal Research at Shenyang have now devised a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method for turning graphene sheets into porous three-dimensional ‘foams’ with extremely high conductivity (“Three-dimensional flexible and conductive interconnected graphene networks grown by chemical vapour deposition” [published in Nature Materials 10, 424–428 (2011) doi:10.1038/nmat3001 Published online 10 April 2011]). By permeating this foam with a siloxane-based polymer, the researchers have produced a composite that can be twisted, stretched and bent without harming its electrical or mechanical properties.

Here’s an image from the Nature Publishing Group (NPG) of both the vapour and the bendable, twistable, stretchable composite (downloaded from the news item on Nanowerk where you can find a larger version of the image),

A scanning electron microscopy image of the net-like structure of graphene foam (left), and a photograph of a highly conductive elastic conductor produced from the foam. (© 2011 NPG)

The ‘elastic’ conductor (image to the right) reminds me of the ‘paper’ phone which I wrote about May 8, 2011 and May 12, 2011. (It’s a project where teams from Queen’s University [in Ontario] and Arizona State University are working to create flexible screens that give you telephony, music playing and other capabilities  much like the Morph concept.)

Researchers in Singapore have developed a graphene quantum dot using a C60 (a buckminster fullerene). From the June 13, 2011 news item (Graphene: from spheres to perfect dots) on Nanowerk,

An electron trapped in a space of just a few nanometers across behaves very differently to one that is free. Structures that confine electrons in all three dimensions can produce some useful optical and electronic effects. Known as quantum dots, such structures are being widely investigated for use in new types of optical and electronics technologies, but because they are so small it is difficult to fabricate quantum dots reproducibly in terms of shape and size. Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and A*STAR have now developed a technique that enables graphene quantum dots of a known size to be created repeatedly and quickly (“Transforming C60 molecules into graphene quantum dots” [published in Nature Nanotechnology 6, 247–252 (2011) doi:10.1038/nnano.2011.30 Published online 20 March 2011]).

This final bit is about a nano PacMan that allows for more precise patterning from a June 13, 2011 article written by Michael Berger,

A widely discussed method for the patterning of graphene is the channelling of graphite by metal nanoparticles in oxidizing or reducing environments (see for instance: “Nanotechnology PacMan cuts straight graphene edges”).

“All previous studies of channelling behavior have been limited by the need to perform the experiment ex situ, i.e. comparing single ‘before’ and ‘after’ images,” Peter Bøggild, an associate professor at DTU [Danish Technical University] Nanotech, explains to Nanowerk. “In these and other ex situ experiments the dynamic behavior must be inferred from the length of channels and heating time after completion of the experiment, with the rate of formation of the channel assumed to be consistent over the course of the experiment.”

In new work, reported in the June 9, 2011 advance online edition of Nano Letters (“Discrete dynamics of nanoparticle channelling in suspended graphene” [published in Nano Letters, Article ASAP, DOI: 10.1021/nl200928k, Publication Date (Web): June 9, 2011]), Bøggild and his team report the nanoscale observation of this channelling process by silver nanoparticles in an oxygen atmosphere in-situ on suspended mono- and bilayer graphene in an environmental transmission electron microscope, enabling direct concurrent observation of the process, impossible in ex-situ experiments.

Personally, I love the youtube video I’ve included here largely because it features blobs (as many of these videos do) where they’ve added music and titles (many of these videos do not) so you can better appreciate the excitement,

From the article by Michael Berger,

As a result of watching this process occur live in a transmission electron microscope, the researchers say they have seen many details that were hidden before, and video really brings the “nano pacman” behavior to life …

There’s a reason why they’re so interested in cutting graphene,

“With a deeper understanding of the fine details we hope to one day use this nanoscale channelling behavior to directly cut desired patterns out of suspended graphene sheets, with a resolution and accuracy that isn’t achievable with any other technique,” says Bøggild. “A critical advantage here is that the graphene crystal structure guides the patterning, and in our case all of the cut edges of the graphene are ‘zigzag’ edges.”

So there you have it. IBM creates the first integrated graphene-based circuit, there’s the prospect of a huge cash prize for a 10-year project on graphene so they could produce the long awaited Morph concept and other graphene-based electronics products while a number of research teams around the world continue teasing out its secrets with graphene ‘foam’ projects, graphene quantum dots, and nano PacMen who cut graphene’s zigzag edges with precision.

ETA June 16, 2011: For those interested in the business end of things, i.e. market value of graphene-based products, Cameron Chai features a report, Graphene: Technologies, Applications, and Markets, in his June 16, 2011 news item on Azonano.