 |
|
Scientists grow 'nanonets' able to snare added energy transfer
September 03, 2008Using two abundant and relatively inexpensive elements, Boston College chemists have produced nanonets, a flexible webbing of nano-scale wires that multiplies surface area critical to improving the performance of the wires in electronics and energy applications.
Researchers grew wires from titanium and silicon into a two-dimensional network of branches that resemble flat, rectangular netting, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Professor Dunwei Wang and his team report in the international edition of the German Chemical Society journal Angewandte Chemie.
By creating nanonets, the team conquered a longstanding engineering challenge in nanotechnology: creating a material that is extremely thin yet maintains its complexity, a structural design large or long enough to efficiently transfer an electrical charge.
"We wanted to create a nano structure unlike any other with a relatively large surface area," said Wang. "The goal was to increase surface area and maintain the structural integrity of the material without sacrificing surface area and thereby improving performance."
Tests showed an improved performance in the material's ability to conduct electricity through high quality connections of the nanonet, which suggest the material could lend itself to applications from electronics to energy-harvesting, Wang said. Titanium disilicide (TiSi2) has been proven to absorb light across a wide range of the solar spectrum, is easily obtained, and is inexpensive. Metal silicides are also found in microelectronics devices.
The nanonets grew spontaneously from the bottom-up through simple chemical reactions, unprovoked by a catalyst, according to Wang and co-authors, post doctoral researcher Xiaohua Liu and graduate students Sa Zhou and Yongjing Lin.
Basic nano structures are commonly created in zero or one dimension, such as a dot composed of a small number of atoms. The most complex structures grow in three dimensions - somewhat resembling the branches of a tree. Working in 2D, Wang's team produced a web that under a microscope resembles a tree with all branches growing in the same perpendicular direction from the trunk.
Using titanium disilicide intrigued Wang because of the material's superior conductivity. Late last year, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Bioinorganic Chemistry observed that a titanium disilicide semiconductor photo catalyst splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The semiconductor also stores the gases produced, enabling the simple separation of hydrogen and oxygen. So-called water splitting may play a key role in producing hydrogen for fuel.
"We're excited to have discovered this unique structure and we are already at work to gauge just how much the nanonet can improve the performance of a material that is already used in electronics and clean energy applications," said Wang.
Boston College
"We wanted to create a nano structure unlike any other with a relatively large surface area," said Wang. "The goal was to increase surface area and maintain the structural integrity of the material without sacrificing surface area and thereby improving performance."
Tests showed an improved performance in the material's ability to conduct electricity through high quality connections of the nanonet, which suggest the material could lend itself to applications from electronics to energy-harvesting, Wang said. Titanium disilicide (TiSi2) has been proven to absorb light across a wide range of the solar spectrum, is easily obtained, and is inexpensive. Metal silicides are also found in microelectronics devices.
The nanonets grew spontaneously from the bottom-up through simple chemical reactions, unprovoked by a catalyst, according to Wang and co-authors, post doctoral researcher Xiaohua Liu and graduate students Sa Zhou and Yongjing Lin.
Basic nano structures are commonly created in zero or one dimension, such as a dot composed of a small number of atoms. The most complex structures grow in three dimensions - somewhat resembling the branches of a tree. Working in 2D, Wang's team produced a web that under a microscope resembles a tree with all branches growing in the same perpendicular direction from the trunk.
Using titanium disilicide intrigued Wang because of the material's superior conductivity. Late last year, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Bioinorganic Chemistry observed that a titanium disilicide semiconductor photo catalyst splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The semiconductor also stores the gases produced, enabling the simple separation of hydrogen and oxygen. So-called water splitting may play a key role in producing hydrogen for fuel.
"We're excited to have discovered this unique structure and we are already at work to gauge just how much the nanonet can improve the performance of a material that is already used in electronics and clean energy applications," said Wang.
Boston College
Energy Transfer Current Events and Energy Transfer News RSSWalking forum report shows need to expand physical activity in schools
With childhood obesity expanding to epidemic proportions in the United States, educators, researchers and health practitioners are actively seeking to identify effective means of addressing this public-health crisis.
Looking beyond the drug receptor for clues to drug effectiveness
Antipsychotic drugs that are widely used to treat schizophrenia and other problems may not work as scientists have assumed, according to findings from Duke University Medical Center researchers that could lead to changes in how these drugs are developed and prescribed.
Researchers catch ion channels in their opening act
Each thought or action sends a million electrical signals pulsing through your body. At the heart of the process of generating these electrical impulses is the ion channel.
Radicals Shake Up Molecules in a Tug o' War
Until now, it was commonly thought that colliding molecules get the shakes as the result of energy transfer solely from the smashing of the molecules, but some new research adds a second means by which colliding molecules become vibrationally excited--it is being called the "Tug o' War Mechanism."
Berkeley Researchers Identify Photosynthetic Dimmer Switch
In a study of the molecular mechanisms by which plants protect themselves from oxidation damage should they absorb too much sunlight during photosynthesis, a team of researchers has discovered a molecular "dimmer switch" that helps control the flow of solar energy moving through the system of light harvesting proteins.
Magnet Lab researchers make observing cell functions easier
Now that the genome (DNA) of humans and many other organisms have been sequenced, biologists are turning their attention to discovering how the many thousands of structural and control genes -- the "worker bees" of living cells that can turn genes on and off -- function.
How the atmospheres of Mars and Venus are affected by carbon monoxide
Modelling of the Earth's atmosphere has acquired economic importance due to its use in the prediction of ozone depletion and in measuring the impact of global warming.
Philips patents TU Eindhoven's energy return system
An increasing number of private individuals supply their excess energy, from external energy sources (windmills and solar cells), to the electricity grid and only take energy from the grid when necessary.
Engineering chimeric polypeptides to illuminate cellular redox states
UIUC interdisciplinary team reports the design of chimeric polypeptides leading to development of noninvasive biosensors for potential application in biomedical research.
Caught in the act: The dynamic dance of enzymes
In a new study in Nature, Brandeis University Howard Hughes Medical Investigator Dr. Dorothee Kern and collaborators pull back the curtain on the secret lives of enzymes, the ubiquitous proteins that catalyze chemical reactions in the cell.
More Energy Transfer Current Events and Energy Transfer News Articles
 | Charge and Energy Transfer Dynamics in Molecular Systems by Volkhard May, Oliver Kühn This second edition is based on the successful concept of the first edition in presenting a unified perspective on molecular charge and energy transfer processes. The authors bridge the regimes of coherent and dissipative dynamics, thus establishing the connection between classic rate theories and modern treatments of ultrafast phenomena. The book serves as an introduction for graduate students... |
 | Heat Transfer Fluids and Systems for Process and Energy Applications (Mechanical Engineering (Marcell Dekker)) by Jasbir Singh |
 | Transfer of Energy (Gareth Stevens Vital Science: Physical Science) by Simon De Pinna |
 | Resonance Energy Transfer by David L. Andrews, Andrey A. Demidov Resonance Energy Transfer The resonance transfer of energy between molecules, or between sites within a large molecule, plays a central role in many areas of modern chemistry and physics. In biophysics, for example, this process defines the migration of excitation energy within photosynthetic systems (commonly the Frster mechanism). Another important area is in crystals, laser and other... |
 | Energy Localisation and Transfer (Advanced Series in Nonlinear Dynamics) This book provides an introduction to localised excitations in spatially discrete systems, from the experimental, numerical and mathematical points of view. Also known as discrete breathers, nonlinear lattice excitations and intrinsic localised modes, these are spatially localised time periodic motions in networks of dynamical units. Examples of such networks are molecular crystals, biomolecules,... |
 | Horse Sense and Horsemanship: Ranking, Partnership, Energy Transfer by Linda Weritz The relationship between horse owners, riders, and their horses can be a wonderful and very close experience. Most riders will encounter problems from time to time, which they attempt to correct, not always successfully, by seeking solutions in the riding school or by talking to horse whisperers. This book explores how mutual trust and respect form the basis of a fulfilling partnership. Every... |
 | Energy and Information Transfer in Biological Systems: How Physics Could Enrich Biological Understanding, Proceedings of the International Workshop Acireale, Catania, Italy 18 - 22 September 2002 This volume contains papers based on the workshop "Energy and Information Transfer in Biological Systems: How Physics Could Enrich Biological Understanding", held in Italy in 2002. The meeting was a forum aimed at evaluating the potential and outlooks of a modern physics approach to understanding and describing biological processes, especially regarding the transition from the microscopic... |
 | Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human Performance (Energy Medicine in Therapeutics & Human Performance) by James L. Oschman Focusing on the wealth of information emerging in the area of energy medicine, this unique resource explores mechanisms by which mind and body processes influence the body's healing and performance potential. Content draws on an extraordinary range of sources to explore theories of human energy - from physiology and biophysics, to examples drawn from the realms of "spontaneous healing,"... |
 | Energy Makes Things Happen (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Did you know that energy comes from the food you eat? From the sun and wind? From fuel and heat? You get energy every time you eat. You transfer energy to other things every time you play baseball. In this book, you can find out all the ways you and everyone on earth need energy to make things... |
 | Nonlinear Targeted Energy Transfer in Mechanical and Structural Systems (Solid Mechanics and Its Applications) by Alexander F. Vakakis, Oleg V. Gendelman, Lawrence A. Bergman, D. Michael McFarland, Gaëtan Kerschen, Young Sup Lee This monograph is the first in the new area of targeted nonlinear energy transfer in mechanical and structural systems. This concept was initially discovered by the two leading authors in 1999, and was further developed exclusively by the entire author group in the last 6 years. Since then, additional groups of researchers in the USA, Russia, UK and France have started working on this concept and... |
| © 2008 BrightSurf.com |