Technology is getting smaller and smaller
By Dev Dash
William Lackowski would like to note that the idea of "grey goo" and "small nano-robot machines taking over the world" are a little far-fetched. However, nanoparticles, which have often been called "tiny robots," are expected to contribute to major advances in health care and energy conservation.
A collaborative lab for nanotechnology research is slated to open on campus in early 2006.
The new Center for Nano and Molecular Science will be located between the Experimental Science, Pharmacy and Moffett Molecular Biology buildings near 24th Street. The 5-story, $35 million lab will be a collaborative setting, where people from 11 departments, including 80 faculty and hundreds of students, are expected to work together.
"Simply being together will create new questions, new physics and more innovations," Lackowski said.
Gold nanos aren't gold
The term "nanotechnology" was coined by Japanese scientist Norio Taniguchi in 1974.
Physicist Richard Feynman, who died in 1988, was one of the first to suggest the use of objects created to "atomic specifications." Feynman said, "The principles of physics ... do not speak against maneuvering things atom by atom."
Nanotechnology in its simplest definition has been going on for more than 2000 years. Lackowski explained that medieval artists employed nanotechnology when they mixed gold chloride into molten glass to make red stained glass. Current methods are different, but the basic concept is still the same. Gold isn't gold-colored when it comes in tiny bits; it takes on new properties, such as those that cause a red hue in stained glass. The study of these new properties and their application to create products is at the core of modern nanotechnology.
Interest in nanotechnology has been generated by advances in many fields. The advent of the clean room, a room with less than one speck of dust per cubic foot, the kind where people wear "bunny suits," helped when dealing with small objects. Microscopic technologies have also improved, enabling us to see small things, like nanoparticles, in greater detail.
Reducing dependence on oil
In practical applications, nanoparticles have produced everything from more efficient lightbulbs to LCD screens that can bend. Tennis rackets, sunscreen, paint and ink stain-resistant clothing are just a few examples of products that have been enhanced through nanotechnology. Doctors use bandages coated with silver nanoparticles to combat infection while helping a wound heal.
Much work is being put into strengthening current materials. "People are ... incorporating nanoparticles into concrete, steel, polymers, to make them much stronger and more durable," said Lackowski.
Funding for this research is done through a variety of sources, governmental and private. Departments such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network and private sponsors such as Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and companies in industries from medicine to paint and glass all contribute because of the potential they see in this field.
In the future, one sector to watch is energy conversion. Conventional solar cells convert 10 percent to 20 percent of sunlight into energy at a relatively high cost. With nanotechnology, it's possible to increase that efficiency three- to fourfold. This level of power "would greatly reduce our dependence on oil," Lackowski said.
An average American home can be powered by solar power with about 5 square meters of panels at 20 percent efficiency. At 80 percent, the efficiency rate expected when these panels are improved by nanotechnology, 1.25 square meters of panels would be required, reducing the cost from $16,000 to $4,000 and opening solar power to people across the socio-economic spectrum.
It is hard to predict the future of this field. Perhaps libraries could eventually be stored on a single chip, Lackowski said, and mp3 players could hold not 15,000, but 15 million songs.
This light won't burn out
To address the need for diverse contributions to the nanotechnology field, Brian Korgel, a chemical engineering associate professor, founded the Doctoral Portfolio program.
Students in the program are from eight different departments in the natural sciences and engineering colleges, said Korgel. The program is described as an "educational experiment" to create a rich academic setting for students working in nanotechnology.
There is opportunity for students of different educational backgrounds to contribute to nanotechnology research. Lackowski added that the center is dedicated to undergraduate outreach and education.
Challenges of funding, the potential for failure and ethical questions face nanotechnology's pioneers. In a field this new, years of work can induce large expenses and sometimes fail to develop a product. Ethical dimensions of the nanotechnology debate include toxic waste disposal. These arguments are to be expected in almost any field of study, but working with nanoparticles reduces the amount of toxicity to miniscule quantities.
Lackowski said that the health consequences associated with this field are minimal. The federal government mandates multiple trial periods for medicines, including those concocted through nanotechnology. The health risk associated with the synthesis of nanoparticles is much lower than that of traditional chemical synthesis because fewer ingredients, toxic or not, are used.
UT scientists have started their own ventures in nanotechnology. Korgel invented a light called Innovalight that never burns out.
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