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Cellulose nanocrystals potential wonder material
The same tiny cellulose crystals that give trees and plants
their high strength, light
weight, and resilience were
shown to have the stiffness
of steel, according to re-
search at Purdue Univer-
sity, West Lafayette, Ind.
Calculations using precise
models based on the
atomic structure of cellu-
lose show the crystals have
a stiffness of 206 gigapascals,
which is comparable to steel,
according to Pablo Zavattieri, as-
sistant professor of civil engineering.
“This is a material that is showing really
amazing properties,” he explains. “It is abundant, re-
newable, and produced as waste in the paper indus-
try.” The nanocrystals are about 3 nm wide by 500 nm long, making them too small to
study with light microscopes and difficult to measure with laboratory instruments. They
represent a potential green alternative to carbon nanotubes for reinforcing materials such
as polymers and concrete.
For more information: Pablo Zavattieri,
zavattie@purdue.edu,
https://engineering.purdue.edu.
New de-icer is light and inexpensive
Ribbons of ultrathin graphene combined with
polyurethane paint meant for cars are just right for de-icing
sensitive military radar domes, according to scientists at Rice
University, Houston. The researchers, in collaboration with
Lockheed Martin, developed the compound to protect ma-
rine and airborne radars with a robust coating that is also
transparent to radio frequencies. Because graphene is so thin,
it allows radio frequencies to pass through bulky radar domes
(radomes) unhindered. Radomes are used on military ships to
keep ice and freezing rain from forming directly on antennas.
Spray-on de-icing material that incorporates graphene
nanoribbons would be lighter, less expensive, and more ef-
fective than current methods, according to researchers.
www.rice.edu,
www.lockheedmartin.com.
Grant helps nanoparticle manufacturing
Making large quantities of reliable, inexpensive nanopar-
ticles for batteries, solar cells, catalysts, and other energy ap-
plications has proven challenging due to manufacturing
limits. A Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., research team is working to improve such
processes with a $1.5 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to support scala-
ble nanomanufacturing and device integration. Richard Robinson, assistant professor of
materials science and engineering, and Tobias Hanrath, associate professor of chemical
and biomolecular engineering, received a four-year Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research
Team grant through the NSF’s Scalable Nanomanufacturing Program. Their goal is to im-
prove large-scale, solution-phase synthesis of high-quality nanoparticles—in particular
metal sulfides—and demonstrate their integration into devices including battery electrodes
and solar photovoltaics.
www.cornell.edu.
ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES •
MARCH 2014
14
N
ANOTECHNOLOGY
briefs
A new microscope invented at
Michigan State University,
East
Lansing, allows scientists to zoom
in on the movements of atoms and
molecules. An associate professor
of physics and astronomy brought
“molecular movies” down to the
nanoscale level, where the
properties of materials begin to
change. The work has applications
in nanoelectronic technologies and
clean-energy industries. The team
is said to be one of the few in the
world actively developing electron-
based imaging technology on the
femtosecond timescale.
www.msu.edu.
Researchers at
Florida State
University,
Tallahassee, received
more than $1.4 million from the
National Science Foundation to
develop a system that will produce
large amounts of a state-of-the-art
material made from carbon
nanotubes that researchers believe
could transform everything from
the way airplanes are built to how
prosthetic limbs fit the human
body. The material, buckypaper, is
a featherweight sheet made of
carbon nanotubes that is being
tested in the electronics, energy,
medicine, space, and
transportation industries.
www.fsu.edu.
The frictional characteristics of
nanotextured surfaces cannot be
fully described by the framework of
Amontons’ laws of friction,
according to new research from
the
University of Bristol,
UK.
Using a nanosized atomic force
microscope tip to scan across a
nanodomed surface, researchers
revealed sustained stick-slip
frictional instabilities under the
velocity and load regimes they
studied. A linear dependence
between the amplitude of these
frictional oscillations and the
applied load was found, leading to
the definition of the slope as the
stick-slip amplitude coefficient.
www.bris.ac.uk.
A new compound created
by Rice University and
Lockheed Martin provides
a thin, robust ice-melting
coating for marine,
airborne, and other uses.
The active element
consists of carbon
nanotubes “unzipped” into
ribbons. Courtesy of the
Tour Group.
Illustration depicts structural details of
cellulose nanocrystals. Courtesy of
Purdue University/Pablo Zavattieri.