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A D V A N C E D

M A T E R I A L S

&

P R O C E S S E S | J A N U A R Y

2 0 1 6

1 7

NANOTECHNOLOGY

BRIEFS

Aleris, Cleveland, offers a new 7017 aluminum alloy in North America for commercial plate and defense

uses. After extensive review and testing, the U.S. Army Research Lab issued MIL-DTL-32505 for use in armor

applications. 7017 offers high strength, good weldability, and corrosion resistance. It is currently used in

Europe and Asia on combat vehicles to achieve superior ballistic protection.

aleris.com

.

GRAPHENE BOOSTS

DESALINATION EFFICIENCY

The laboratory of Jeffrey Gross-

man, a professor at Massachusetts In-

stitute of Technology, Cambridge, has

demonstrated strong results showing

that new filters made from graphene

could greatly improve the energy effi-

ciency of desalination plants while po-

tentially reducing other costs as well.

At only an atom thick, there is far less

friction loss when you push seawater

through a perforated graphene filter

compared with the polyamide plastic

filters that have been used for the last

50 years, says Grossman.

“The process of pumping seawater

through filters represents about half the

operating costs of a desalination plant.

With graphene, we could use 15% less

energy for seawater and up to 50% less

energy for brackish water,” he explains.

Another advantage is that graphene

filters do not become fouled with bio-

growth at nearly the rate that occurs

with polyamide filters. In addition, the

chlorine used to clean the filters reduc-

es the polyamide’s structural integrity,

requiring frequent replacement. By

comparison, graphene is resistant to

the damaging effects of chlorine.

For

more information: Jeffrey Grossman,

617.324.3566,

jcg@mit.edu , mit.edu

.

BORON-DOPED GRAPHENE

ENABLES SUPER SENSITIVE

SENSORS

Graphene is known for its remark-

able strength and ability to transport

electrons at high speed, but it is also a

highly sensitive gas sensor. In a study

conducted by an international research

team, graphene sensors with the addi-

tion of boron atoms detected noxious

gas molecules at extremely low concen-

trations, parts per billion in the case of

nitrogen oxides and parts per million for

ammonia. This translates to 27

×

great-

er sensitivity to nitrogen oxides and

10,000

×

greater sensitivity to ammonia

compared to pristine graphene. Re-

searchers from Pennsylvania State Uni-

versity, State College, and colleagues

believe these results will enable devel-

opment of high-performance sensors

that can detect trace amounts of many

other molecules. These sensors can be

Drawing of boron-doped graphene. Courtesy of Terrones, Penn State.

Researchers use a new SEM technique to

sculpt 3D nanoscale features in a com-

plex oxide material. Courtesy of ORNL.

BRIEF

A 4000-sq-ft nanomaterials r s arch laboratory is opening at

Cornell

University,

Ithaca, N.Y. The

C nter for Nanom terials Engineering and

Technology (CNET)

includes equipment for mate ials synthesis, phys-

ical characterization, and sc le-up. The tools can be used to develop

and analyze materials for applications including carbon capture and

conversion, electrochemical energy storage in batteries, and hydrogels

for biomedicine and drug delivery.

cnet.research.engineering.cornell.edu

.

used for labs and industries that use

ammonia or need to detect nitrogen

oxides.

psu.edu

.

USING ELECTRON

MICROSCOPES TO

BUILD 3D STRUCTURES

Researchers at the Department of

Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laborato-

ry, Tenn., have developed a unique way

to build 3D structures with finely con-

trolled shapes as small as one to two

billionths of a meter. The study demon-

strates how scanning transmission

electron microscopes, normally used as

imaging tools, are also capable of pre-

cision sculpting of nanometer-sized 3D

features in complex oxide materials. By

offering single atomic plane precision,

the technique could find use in fabricat-

ing structures for functional nanoscale

devices such as microchips. The struc-

tures grow in perfect crystalline align-

ment, which ensures that the same

electrical and mechanical properties

extend throughout the whole material.

ornl.gov.