NANOTECH INNOVATIONS

“Nanotechnology is an area which has highly promising prospects for turning fundamental research into successful innovations. Not only to boost the competitiveness of our industry but also to create new products that will make positive changes in the lives of our citizens, be it in medicine, environment, electronics or any other field. Nanosciences and nanotechnologies open up new avenues of research and lead to new, useful, and sometimes unexpected applications.

Novel materials and new-engineered surfaces allow making products that perform better. New medical treatments are emerging for fatal diseases, such as brain tumours and Alzheimer’s disease. Computers are built with nanoscale components and improving their performance depends upon shrinking these dimensions yet further”.

This quote from the EC’s “Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies: an action plan for Europe 2005-2009” clearly indicates the hope and hype of nanotechnology, expecting to bring many innovations and new business in many areas. Nanotechnology has the potential to have impact on virtually all technological sectors as an “enabling” or “key” technology including medicine, health, information technology, energy, materials, food, water and the environment, instruments and security. This has lead to a rapid growth of interest and spending in nanotechnology R&D, growing with 20-40% annually over the last 6 years up to roughly 10 billion Euro (public and private) in 2008.

Impact of nanotechnology on defence

With the highly promising expectations of nanotechnology for new innovative products, materials and power sources it is evident that nanotechnology can bring many innovations into the defence world. In order to assess how these nanotechnology developments can or will have impact on future military operations, the NL Defence R&D Organisation has requested to compile a nanotechnology roadmap for military applications, including:

Survey of current nano- and microsystem technology developments in both the civil and defence markets.

Clarification of the impact on future military operations and

organisation, 10-15 years from now.

Guidance on how to translate and adapt such nano- and microsystem technologies into a military context.

This nanotechnology overview of current developments, expectations for time-to-market and several future concepts for military applications. The structure is as follows:

Introduction to nanotechnology

What is nanotechnology, global R&D landscape, key technologies, overall prospects for defence (technology radars)

*expected impact on future defence platforms

Possible impact on future defence

Sceneries with future concepts, outlook on possible future defence platforms and product concepts, enabled by nanotechnology, for:

- land

- water

- air

- urban

Conclusions and strategy

- civil versus defence driven developments

- opportunities for soldier system

One of the foundations of modern capitalistic society is the opportunity for continued economic growth, with the potential for ever-increasing material wealth for its citizens. For many, before the present global economic downturn, that growth seemed to stretch out of sight. But the recent real-estate slump and related financial troubles are merely potholes. The real roadblock is energy. The way forward must be paved with innovation.

The world's energy challenge has three components. Foremost is the shortage of resources. Approximately 80 percent of the energy consumed worldwide comes from fossil fuels. At our current levels of production and consumption, we will run out of known reserves in the lifetime of our grandchildren, if not sooner.

Second, those resources are concentrated in politically unstable regions. That makes the quest for energy security a matter of national security.

Third, the effects of fossil fuels on the environment cannot be denied. Petroleum and coal each contribute 40 percent of the global emissions of carbon dioxide, the most abundant "greenhouse" gas and the main cause of global warming.

Can we stabilize greenhouse gas emissions without sacrificing our standard of living? Yes, if we take immediate action to reduce individual consumption of energy; improve the efficiency of energy conversion, transport and storage; and develop renewable sources via transformational science and technology.

The study and design of materials at the nanoscale—€” on the order of billionths of a meter—€”has the potential to address the energy challenge because nanomaterials have different chemical and physical properties than bulk materials. Understanding these properties will allow scientists to tailor materials for specific uses.

Here's one such game-changing approach: using DNA to guide the assembly of new materials from the bottom up. Such reliable, reproducible nanofabrication techniques could be applied to create new energy-related materials, from catalysts to solar cells.

A team led by physicist Oleg Gang at Brookhaven National Laboratory, using the lab's Center for Functional Nanomaterials, has used DNA to link up nanoparticles in various arrangements, including 3-D nanocrystals and clusters. The idea is that nanoparticles coated with complementary strands of DNA—€”segments of genetic code sequence that bind only with one another like highly specific Velcro—€”help the nanoparticles find and stick to one another in highly specific ways. By varying the use of complementary DNA and strands that don't match, scientists can exert precision control over the attractive and repulsive forces between the nanoparticles to achieve the desired construction.

The Brookhaven team's latest advance, reported recently in Nature Materials, has been to use DNA linkers to attach some of the DNA-coated nanoparticles to a solid surface to further constrain and control how the nanoparticles can link up. This yields even greater precision and, therefore, a more predictable, reproducible high-throughput construction technique for building clusters from nanoparticles.

When a particle is attached to a support surface, it cannot react with other molecules or particles in the same way as a free-floating particle. This is because the support surface blocks about half of the particle's reactive surface. Attaching a DNA linker or other particle that specifically interacts with the bound particle then allows for the rational assembly of desired particle clusters. Controlling the number and length of DNA linkers also regulates interparticle distances and a cluster's architecture, permitting precise assembly of nano-objects into more complex structures.

Instead of assembling millions and millions of nanoparticles into 3-D nanocrystals, as was done in the earlier work, this technique allows the assembly of much smaller structures from individual particles. In the Nature Materials paper, the scientists describe the details for producing symmetrical, two-particle linkages, known as dimers, as well as small, asymmetrical clusters of particles—€”both with high yields and low levels of other, unwanted assemblies.
By arranging a few nanoparticles in a particular structure, new properties can emerge. Here, nanoparticles are analogous to atoms, which, when connected in a molecule, often exhibit properties not found in the individual atoms. The properties of these new materials may be advantageous for many potential applications.

For example, Gang's team describes an optical effect that occurs when nanoparticles are linked as dimer clusters. When an electromagnetic field interacts with the metallic particles, it induces a collective oscillation of the material's conductive electrons. This phenomenon, known as a plasmon resonance, leads to strong absorption of light at a specific wavelength. By adjusting these parameters, scientists might engineer clusters for absorbing a range of wavelengths in solar-energy conversion devices. Modulations in the plasmonic response could also be useful as a new means for transferring data, or as a signal for a new class of highly specific biosensors.

Asymmetric clusters, which were also assembled by the Brookhaven team, allow an even higher level of control, and therefore open new ways to design and engineer functional nanomaterials.

Because of its reliability and precision control, Brookhaven's nano-assembly method would be scalable for the kind of high-throughput production that would be essential for commercial applications.

A scientist at the Savannah River National Laboratory has developed a new kind of anode for lithium-ion batteries that is expected to increase the energy density four-fold—€”enough to enable the battery to power an electric car for 300 miles on a single charge.

It has long been known that the energy storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries is limited by the widely used graphite anode. For a plug-in hybrid passenger car with a 40-mile pure electric driving range, 12 kWh electricity must be stored in the Li-ion battery pack. With the typical graphite anode, the battery pack of that vehicle will weigh 150 kilos and will cost $12,000. "To build electrical vehicles with a 300-mile driving range per single charge, we must develop batteries with three to four times higher energy density and ten times lower cost," says SRNL's Ming Au. "This scale of increase calls for transformative, rather than incremental approaches to battery development."

In a typical graphite anode, lithium-ions are sandwiched into the carbon layer structure—€”a structure known as lithium intercalation—€”with every six carbon atoms accommodating one Li atom. That structure gives the graphite anode a maximum capacity of 372 Ah/kg, which converts to a theoretical energy density of 0.38 kWh/kg. In practice, that means that today's Li-ion batteries provide 0.08 kWh/kg of energy.

Dr. Au developed several low cost nanostructured anodes that increase energy density to 1.3 to 4.3 kWh/kg, a three-to five-fold increase over graphite anodes. His solution uses nanorods—€”structures less than 100 nanometers in diameter—€”of various metals and metal oxides. These nanorods have the advantage of large surface areas for lithium ions to access, which means they can bind a higher number of lithium cations than the conventional graphite design. They also have the flexibility to withstand the expansion and contraction of multiple charge/discharge cycles, which contribute high energy and power densities with expected longer cyclic life.

In addition to the improvement in energy density, Dr. Au's method of producing this new type of anode simplifies fabrication and eliminates safety and environmental concerns. Most carbon-based anodes are fabricated through a series of processes of mixing carbon, binder and conductive additives in organic solution, pasting the slurry onto the current collector and baking to remove the solvent. This method involves intensive labor, along with fire safety measures and environmental emission controls, resulting in high cost. Au's direct depositing of nanorods eliminates these processes.

In one study, aluminum nanorods were directly formed on a titanium substrate. When the aluminum nanorod anode was tested with a lithium cathode in a LiPF6 propylene- and dimethyl-carbonate electrolyte, it showed initial discharging capacity that is four times higher than graphite anodes. Cobalt oxide nanorods were also formed on a titanium substrate and tested with even greater results.

Studies of these formations have shown that numerous inexpensive metals and metal oxides can be considered for nanorod formations to elevate charge capacities of the anodes in lithium-ion batteries. Further studies are ongoing to explore other nanostructure such as nanoporous hollow spheres of metals and metal oxides, understand the mechanism of lithium reaction in anode and sustain the high-energy density through multiple charge-discharge cycles.

The replacement of graphite anodes is inevitable as the demand for battery power increases for transportation markets. Lithium-ion battery development will continue using additional metals and metal oxides with various nanostructures.

The goal of the hydrogen economy involves using hydrogen fuel cells to power vehicles, buildings and portable devices. But that can be an expensive business, as both fuel cells and electrolyzers—€”devices that run a current through water to produce hydrogen—€”currently depend on the use of expensive, noble-metal catalysts such as platinum.

"Hydrogen and fuel-cell technologies address the need to both mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and develop energy alternatives to fossil fuels," says NREL scientist Michael Heben. "Hydrogen gas is scarce, however, and cheap, efficient hydrogen production technologies will be required for its wide-scale deployment."

One inexpensive approach is found in nature. Microbes have had billions of years to figure out efficient ways to catalyze hydrogen reactions. Their solutions involve enzymes called hydrogenases, which use more abundant metals such as iron and nickel to activate hydrogen. For years, scientists have searched for ways to employ hydrogenases in electrolyzers and fuel cells.

One challenge for scientists is their inability to electrically tap into the workings of the hydrogenase enzyme, but new research being conducted by the NREL team of Heben, Paul King, Drazenka Svedruzic-Chang, Tim McDonald and Jeffrey Blackburn may point the way to solving that problem. The researchers found that under certain conditions, carbon nanotubes will spontaneously combine with hydrogenases to create an electrical connection.

In these experiments, the NREL team has used photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy to look at what happens when hydrogenase from the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum interacts with single-walled carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes normally absorb and re-emit light at wavelengths that can be measured using photoluminescence spectroscopy. After hydrogenase was added, the photoluminescence disappeared.

"This suggests that the enzyme is feeding electrons into the nanotubes as it catalyzes the oxidation of hydrogen," says King.

The resulting biohybrid has the catalytic properties of hydrogenase and the excellent electrical conductivity of carbon nanotubes. The team found that they could control the catalytic reaction by changing the pH balance and hydrogen partial pressure of the solutions. When they added oxygen, which inactivates hydrogenase, the nanotubes lit up again. In the absence of oxygen, the hydrogenase-nanotube connections continued to work for up to a week.

These initial hydrogenase-carbon nanotube results, in combination with advances made by NREL researchers in carbon nanotube separation and film deposition techniques, have led to the development of hydrogenase-carbon nanotube electrodes. In this configuration, the carbon nanotubes and hydrogenases are immobilized together on an electrode surface. The result is a significant enhancement in the electrocatalytic activity of the immobilized hydrogenase and fabrication of an electrode that can be directly incorporated into a photoelectrochemical device for solar hydrogen production.

"Our team's research demonstrates that combining hydrogenase with carbon nanotubes may offer an inexpensive alternative to noble-metal catalysts," says King. "The results suggest the possible construction of functional biohybrids of hydrogenase and single-walled carbon nanotubes for applications in a variety of hydrogen-production and fuel cell technologies. Such biohybrids could replace expensive precious-metal catalysts in electrolyzers and fuel cells."

Another everyday reality for future drivers are windscreens that no longer steam up, or paint that no longer gets dirty or surfaces that can heal itself should they be scratched. Entertainment could receive a facelift with broader adoption of paint-on television screens. Some of these innovations are hard to imagine today, but many of these are likely to make their way into our lives sooner than we think. Nanotechnology is the key enabler for these developments.

From the way we take our coffee to how drugs are delivered in our body, nanotechnology truly has the potential to change every aspect of our lives.
Nanotechnology is a body of knowledge often defined by its size and scale of implementation. It is perceived not only as the engineering on a scale of a billionth of a meter, but the creation of novel products with added functionality. The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) has defined the term as the understanding and control of matter at dimensions of roughly 1 nanometer to 100 nanometers, where unique phenomena enable novel applications.

The most important aspect of nanotechnology is the novel properties that a nanosized material can offer that its micro- or macro-sized counterpart cannot. The novel properties are due to two factors: (1) at the nanoscale, materials have a very high surface-to-volume ratio and (2) the "nano" dimensions approach characteristic quantum wave function scale excitations. Thus, the physical dimension of materials and particles in the nano range obtain a set of properties in addition to that traditionally provided by composition and structure.

Some key property enhancements facilitated by nanotechnology are expected to provide solutions to specific applications level technological problems and requirements.

However, a nanotechnology revolution that would have an enormous impact on future technology advances making the technologies today seem redundant has not occurred as some expected it to. Nanotechnology has been evolving over the years, slowly making its way into everyday products. It is an enabling technology, often enabling applications at a fundamental level.

After more than three decades of basic and applied research, nanotechnologies are finally emerging from the labs and entering commercial use. Currently, nanomaterials have been incorporated in electronic, cosmetics, automotive, medical and consumer products. According to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, the nanotechnology consumer products inventory contains more than 800 products or product lines. This represents a massive explosion of nano products in the past 2 or 3 years considering that when the inventory was first started in 2006, the number of products was estimated as 212. Currently, the largest main category of products fall under the health and fitness domain, which includes cosmetics, clothing, personal care, sporting goods, sunscreen and filtration. Further, the inventory now includes products from 21 different countries with companies based in the United States having the most products.

The nano developments that we are witnessing today are simply the tip of the iceberg. Many more applications are in the pipeline. While tracking the evolution of nanotechnology-based products, it is evident that before 2005, the focus of development mostly related to passive nano products that include sunscreens, tennis rackets, golf balls, stain resistant clothing and so on. Currently, the focus has shifted to the development of active products such as self-healing materials, self-cleaning coatings, materials that convert sunlight or stress into electricity, nanofoods such as fat-free donuts, and packaging materials that increase the shelf life of foods. In the near future these concepts may be stretched further to offer innovative products. For instance, processed food giant Kraft has taken a lead by setting up NanoteK, a consortium to develop nanotechnology food applications. The firm hopes to develop nanocapsules that can enable "programmable food," which is truly a next-generation application. These nanocapsules can carry numerous flavors, nutrients or even colors that can be release at different temperatures in a colorless beverage. A consumer can choose the flavor or color of the beverage by setting the microwave to the right frequency. The impact of nanotechnology on some key applications in the next 20 years has been highlighted above.

In the automotive and aerospace sectors, nanotechnology is expected to have a pervasive effect on the future of components and manufacturing processes. Nanocomposites and nanocoatings are the classes of materials that are receiving increased attention with regard to these applications. Current implementation of nanotechnology in the automotive sector includes coatings that incorporate nanofillers to provide a durable, ultrascratch-resistant, and self-cleaning paint surface. As an example, U.S.-based Advanced Refinish Technologies' multifunctional nanocoatings called NanoClear have been designed to extend the life of automotive aftermarket paint, automotive OEM paint, and industrial, military and marine paint surfaces. These nanocoatings allow producing an ultrascratch-resistant and self-cleaning paint surface.

For aerospace applications, nanocomposite "smart" coating materials are being designed by researchers to re-arrange their structure and chemistry on demand to adapt to variable surface conditions. These materials are also touted as "chameleon materials" because of their ability to change their surface chemistry and structure to avoid wear. Other near-term applications include the use of polymer-nanotube composites for antistatic or electromagnetic interference shielding applications; the use of nanotechnology-based fuel additives to modify the combustion process of the fuel so that it burns more efficiently and productively; ultra-strong lightweight materials for body panels, among others. In the aerospace sector as well, the current focus is on enhancing mechanical and thermal properties at lower particle loading vis-a-vis conventional materials. In the longer term, nanotechnology is expected to play a key role in morphing vehicles. BMW's shape-shifting concept car and NASA's morphing program for aircraft wings are simply glimpses of things to come.

The research community as well as the corporate sector has only now begun to comprehend the value addition that nanotechnology can provide for medical applications. Nanomaterials can facilitate enhancement of mechanical properties of medical devices such as catheters, stent-delivery balloons and implants, among others. As an example, Foster, a biomaterial solutions provider, offers Nanomed nanocomposites that have the capability of increasing the rigidity and stiffness while maintaining the polymer's inherent elongation. These materials are suitable for thin wall applications such as tubing and film. Nanotechnology is also expected to play a crucial role in targeted drug delivery. A number of firms are working in this space. For example, Avidimer Therapeutics, a company based in Ann Arbor, Mich., has developed a delivery platform based on the dendrimer technology. The firm's development consists of an inert scaffold of dendrimers, which is linked to a therapeutic or diagnostic molecule and a target vector. The target vector would serve as a guidance system that would direct the drug to the specific site. In the future, DNA linked nanoparticles could possibly allow clinical gene diagnosis and nanobots may one day enable repair of vital tissue damaged by injury or disease, or destroy cancerous tissue that has gone awry, unblock arteries, without invasive surgery.

With regard to progress pertaining to nanoelectronics, miniaturization is the drive behind these development efforts. Research pertaining to nanoelectronics revolves around solid-state quantum effect nanoelectronic devices and molecular electronic devices. Nanomaterials are being investigated for electronic devices such as transistors, flexible electronics, displays and memory devices, to name a few. Particularly, CNT-based nanocomposites are expected to find their way into devices such as flat-panel prototype devices, organic light-emitting diodes, random access memories CNT-atomic force microscope tips, and CNT-scanning electron microscope/transmission electron microscope tips.

The electronics industry poses promising opportunities for nanotechnology, as it is expected that nano-based structures and materials can allow achieving device geometries at 22 nm and below, which is difficult to achieve with conventional silicon technology. Overall, it can be said that in the next five years we can see the advent of high-speed computing devices and nanostructured flat panel displays. Working in this direction, John Rogers and his research group at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign are looking at large-area electronics in general, display-related applications in particular, with flexible electronics being a main driver. In the next 10 to 15 years nanoelectronics would possibly witness the proliferation of extremely scaled silicon complimentary metal oxide semiconductor type of applications, molecular electronics, self-assembled devices, materials and systems, and others. Another key area that is aimed at, which is at present a horizon technology, is the quantum computer. Although quantum computing devices are at least 25 years from development, the basic nanoscale building blocks of such quantum device architectures are already being explored at the basic research level.

It has been forecasted that by 2015 over 2 million workers will be engaged in nanotech-related jobs and it would be a $3 trillion industry. This projected growth has made it important to establish a suitable risk governance framework for nanotechnology that can support effective planning and investment. With engineered nanomaterials already making their way into the food chain it is imperative to act fast with regard to evaluating risks, performing life cycle assessments, setting down standards for measurement and laying down an appropriate regulatory framework.

According to a Frost & Sullivan report, published research over the past five years in the area of nanotechnology toxicity has revealed that 42 percent of the studies find that the nanomaterials tested to be harmful. This should provide the impetus for the various governing organizations to invest in nanotechnology risk assessments and to develop regulations for nanomaterials and nanotechnology. It has been noticed that the total nanotechnology funding had increased from 2005 to 2009 by $327 million with the increase in the HSE funding for the same duration to be $41.6 million. This means that the overall increase in the HSE funding has been 12.7 percent of the total increase in the nanotechnology funding for the same duration.

Although this trend highlights the importance given by the U.S. government in developing research methodologies for undertaking the HSE studies of nanotechnology, Andrew Maynard, chief science advisor for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Wilson Center, calculates that at least $50 million per year must be invested in targeted, highly relevant research into the risks of nanotechnology.

Current risk research strategies are weak and do not address the knowledge gaps appropriately. Existing regulations have been found to be inadequate to address nano risks because they are based on assumptions that don't directly apply to nanotechnology. David Rejeski, the director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies has called for the White House and federal agency policymakers to maximize the use of existing laws to improve nanotechnology oversight. Such measures would typically include defining nanomaterials as new substances under federal toxics and food laws, thereby enabling the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration to consider the novel qualities and effects of nanomaterials. Current laws that may require revision to accommodate nanotechnology include the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Consumer Product Safety Act.

Despite the developments and the wide variety of nano products that we know of today, nanotechnology is still very much a work in progress with the potential to deliver a range of benefits for future applications. As of now, only rudimentary nanostructures are being used to make improvements in existing materials and systems. Novel nanotechnology applications with radical capabilities and implications are foreseen across application sectors such as aerospace, automotive, electronics, medicine, food, textiles, construction, energy, environment and security.Nanotechnology is thus considered to be of strategic importance as it will influence almost every major industry in the future.

The delivery of technologies that could create paradigm shifts in the industry would require continued investments from both the public and private sectors. The 2010 Budget provides $1.6 billion for the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) reflecting steady growth in NNI investment. The Obama administration is set to further expand America's nanotechnology efforts, with additional federal R&D investment, including in the energy sector. Government support for nanotechnology R&D appears to be a global trend as governments in Europe, China, Japan, and other countries have also greatly expanded their investments in nanotechnology R&D over the years. The economic stimulus packages offered by various governments have focused on infrastructure development, energy, transportation and technology research. These stimulus packages have created further opportunities for various governmental and non-governmental organizations to focus on nanotechnology research and commercialization programs. However, for seamless progress of nanotechnologies, the industry at this point must give equal focus on issues of health, society and environment as it does to the commercialization of the technology.