When you talk about nanoparticles, you may begin to visualize those little robots that a certain cartoon character developed to help him with certain tasks and deeds. These are nano-bots and are not what scientists in universities in Mexico have developed in order to help clean water of toxic substances in less than an hour.

How this happens seems to need the power of the sun or of ultraviolet light to complete the purification process. What the researchers in these universities used was titanium oxide nanoparticles that have been made to adhere to glass with the use of heat.

Once water in these glass containers that have been treated with these nanoparticles is hit by sunlight or by UV rays, the water is then purified.

This same concept is actually being used by certain companies who purify water but not as their main water purification mode. Instead, the use of nanoparticles for purification is a secondary method used with other water purification methods to further remove toxins and dirt from water.

What these companies do is to add porous nanoparticles to water-purifying membranes to help increase their water purification efficiency and to enhance productivity without compromising quality. This method is often seen as doubly effective as current water purification methods and would help with increasing volume while reducing energy requirements.

This new idea for purifying water is paired off with reverse osmosis and is seen as the new solution to the ever-increasing need for clean drinking water in a time when water supplies are fast disappearing. This new technology for making fresh water can be used with desalination and can make fresh water out of saltwater faster and with the use of less energy.

This may seem too good to be true since saltwater has seldom been purified with the use of membranes like the one used in reverse osmosis due to the energy needs that are required by such an action.

The use of nanoparticles in this equation seems to not only help purify water effectively by removing the toxins that can be found in the water being cleaned, it also helps increase the production of clean water due to the water-attracting or hydrophilic properties that this membrane now has due to these nanoparticles.

While this may seem way too idealistic, the company that seems to have developed this technology is set to put out their water purification system for commercial use in the coming year. Sounds too good to be true? Probably, but imagine if this produces what it says it can produce.

You will be able to solve the water pollution problem that a lot of countries around the world are experiencing—and all you will need is this new nanoparticle water purification system and a salt water source and you have water that you can drink safely.

Since they can literally be particles from any substance, they are also versatile enough that they can be used in many types of technological applications, from delicate electronics to revolutionary medical procedures. Most of all, you should be interested in the nanoparticle for one very important reason—it’s going to change your life.

Researchers have already developed a series of products based on nanoparticles, some of which have been released for public consumption. Nanotechnology has given rise to house cleaning chemicals that appear to have miraculous effects; the nanoparticles inside these cleaning fluids have been engineered on the molecular level so that when they encounter unwanted dirt or grime, they “eat” it. Housewives everywhere can rejoice in the knowledge that it will soon be common practice to spray the dirt and watch the nanoparticles make it magically disappear.

They might also be interested in self-cleaning fabrics. In some cases the nanoparticles inside these materials have been similarly engineered to “eat” stains; in others nano-hairs have been applied in a thin, invisible layer over the fabric itself so that stains cannot penetrate.

In both cases, the resulting fabric is either extremely stain-resistant or virtually impossible to soil. Most of these successes have been with wool and silk, but other fabrics are being stain-proofed daily. Eddie Bauer has already released a line of stain-proof khakis.

But perhaps the timeliest use for nanoparticles lies in their medical applications. Their pathogen-sized proportions naturally make them prime candidates for the fight against various unwanted invaders of the human body; they can be injected into your bloodstream to fight viruses and bacteria in much the same way as your immune system’s helper-T cells do.

This can either give you a much-needed boost, or in the case of AIDS sufferers it may make the difference between life and death.  For those with severe auto-immune diseases like HIV and AIDS, nanoparticles could essentially serve as a synthetic immune system.

It seems likely that nanoparticles will also be key players in the fight against cancer. Our current cancer treatments tend to be traumatic and painful for the patient while at the same time providing unpredictable levels of success, especially when it comes to chemotherapy. Chemotherapy uses the bloodstream, and—as the name “circulatory system” suggests—this method of transportation distributes the lethal chemical throughout several parts of the body in its quest to find the cancer’s location.

By doing so, it kills off healthy, useful cells along with malignant tumors. And since the chemical dosage is typically not fine-tuned to the molecular level, some cancer cells may still survive this treatment. If even one malignant cell lives and makes a comeback, then the chemotherapy will have been a painful and costly failure.

But nanoparticles can be equipped with sensors and cameras as well as cancer-killing drugs. They would then be able to swim through the bloodstream, using their sensors to locate the exact site of the cancer where it grows. Their cameras could beam back images to doctors and nurses, or in some cases the nanoparticles could also be equipped with fluorescent markers and/or iron oxide cores so that they can be located on both optical imaging devices and MRI.

In essence, researchers could track these tiny particles as they make their way through the human system and deliver doses of anti-cancer drugs to the cancer site, killing off every last molecule of the tumor without painful side effects or unnecessary damage. This would not only make cancer treatment much less uncomfortable for patients, but also faster and more effective.

Some other universal applications of the nanoparticle include:                           

Optical. Nanoparticles could be engineered and used for anti-reflection product coatings, producing a refractive index for various surfaces, and also providing light based sensors for use in diagnosing cancer.

Magnetic. Nanoparticles have the potential to increase the density of various storage media, and also when magnetized they can improve the detail and contrast of MRI images as previously alluded to.

Thermal. Specifically engineered particles could improve the transfer of heat from collectors of solar energy to their storage tanks. They could also enhance the coolant system currently used by transformers in these types of processes.

Mechanical. Nanoparticles could provide improved wear and tear resistance for almost any mechanical device. They could also give these devices previously unseen anti-corrosion abilities, as well as creating entirely new composites and structural materials that are both lighter and stronger than those we use today.

Electronic. Because of their tiny size, nanoparticles are inherently poised to aid in the production of high performance delicate electronics; they may provide not only materials with a high rate of conductivity, but also sleeker parts for small consumer electronics like cell phones. And when it comes to advertising, nanoparticle electronics can create digital displays that are more electricity-efficient, less expensive to produce, brighter in color, and also bigger.

Energy. Nanoparticle batteries would be longer-lasting and have a higher energy density than those we use today. Metal nanoparticle clusters could also have revolutionary applications for hydrogen storage; they could also produce extremely efficient fuel cells by acting as electrocatalysts for these devices. Nanoparticles may also pave the way for practical and renewable energy; they have already demonstrated an ability to improve solar panel efficiency many times over. Not only that, but when nanoparticles are used as catalysts in combustion engines, they have shown properties that render the engine more efficient and therefore more economic.

Biomedical. You may soon find that your wounds are dressed with antibacterial coatings of silver nanoparticles. Nanoparticles have also been used to produce “quantum dots,” which can detect diseases, as well as interactive foods and drinks that change flavor and color based on your tastes, or in some cases may even alter their nutrient content based on your state of health.

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One of the most effective recent experiments using this principle involves silver nanoparticles, which researchers at the University of Utah have organized into a microscopic white light-emitting mirror that has a wide range of useful applications in the future of the medical industry.

Apparently this nano-mirror works in tandem with a microscope to reveal not only the outer but also the inner microscopic structure of a specimen. The only requirements for the specimen: it needs to be nearly opaque as well as a biological substance. So far, some of the key elements on which this new technique has been tested include the iridescent scales of the photonic beetle, malignant tumor cells, and other key body materials such as bone.

The leader of this new study is John Lupton, an associate professor at the U of U who says that since carbon is a semi-biological substance, this technique may also be applicable in areas like the airplane industry. Plastics built of carbon-fibers are the latest material being used in constructing aircraft tails, wings, and fuselages.

The silver nanoparticle mirror combined with a microscope offers a unique opportunity to test these aircraft parts for fatigue related to stress and decay that build up over time from natural wear and tear. By anticipating this fatigue ahead of time, the aircraft industry might be able to replace parts and save lives.

Microscopes in general have always used white light, and their basic function has changed very little since their invention in the 17^th century. But if a specimen does not naturally have enough contrast or detail, it can be difficult to get an accurate close-up view. This is because the microscope passes white light through its subjects in order to provide the clear, accurate picture that they have become famous for.

Before nanotechnology stepped in, the most significant upgrade this machine had undergone was limited to the invention of electron microscopes. They are powerful enough to provide a detailed close-up of even the tiniest structures, yet at the same time they are too expensive to be widely used. This means that they are not always readily available for researchers and scientists. And, as Lupton points out, their effectiveness is limited; they cannot be used universally on every type of sample.

These problems were the main motivator for the Utah team. Before their efforts, others had tried to enhance or revise the microscope’s abilities by using a fairly common practice known as laser microscopy or sometimes fluorescence microscopy.

In this technique, scientists make the microscope specimen emit light by using a laser on it. In some cases the specimen naturally reacts with the laser in this way; in others, it becomes necessary to inject or “label” the specimen with a dose of fluorescent dye which the laser then activates. The main difficulty with this process arises when a researcher is dealing with a specimen that cannot naturally be laser-lit and yet doesn’t respond well to the fluorescent dyes—since it turns out that when activated by the laser, such dyes produce toxic chemicals that almost categorically kill any living cells they come into contact with.

Having taken all of these issues into account, Lupton and his team realized that engineering nanoparticles might solve everything. They avoid using fluorescent labels completely. Rather, they have created a cluster of nanoparticles that naturally emits white light, which they then place under the specimen in order to provide white light from both sides and enhance researchers’ ability to see clearly.

They also adjusted the technique so that instead of a conventional laser, they use infrared. This type of light wavelength seems to interact better with the silver nanoparticles that they chose to use, says Lupton. When excited or activated by the laser, these silver particles form “plasmonic hotspots,” which collect and gather the resultant white light into concentrated areas and then shoot them up through the specimen, working in tandem with the microscope’s white light on the other side.

The white light transmitted by these super-emitting white light nanoparticles can then be broken into a spectrum which reveals detailed and useful information about the specimen’s structure and composition. In other words, examining something up close has never been easier.

The University of Utah team, led by Lupton, wanted to solve these problems in order to address a potentially lucrative opportunity. Scientists have been trying to build an ideal photon crystal that could be used to manipulate light waves in the visible spectrum—they believe that if they could do this, they could transform the technology into ultrafast optical computing systems that run entirely on visible light as opposed to electricity. Without the photon crystal structure, this dream is impossible. With it, you have the next generation of computers, machines that make our computers look as old-fashioned as typewriters do now.

The difficulty lay in developing this photon crystal properly, and scientists were simply at a dead end…until they found a Brazilian beetle whose semi-opaque green shell appears to exhibit the exact characteristics they were looking for. Dubbed the “photonic beetle,” the outer layer of this insect’s wing case has a perfect photon crystalline structure. Scientists were ecstatic and wanted to study their discovery further—but hit a wall when their conventional microscopes proved insufficient for the task. Visible light scatters when it hits the shell’s scales, thwarting the essential task of viewing their inner structure.

That’s where Lupton and his team stepped in. To this date, they have developed a mirror built of microscopic silver nanoparticles that react very strongly with infrared laser to illuminate the beetle scales for research. Researchers have also successfully used the new microscopy technology to view the intimate details of tumor cells, human bone samples and other important amorphous materials. Such a breakthrough, with its implications for medicine and technology, could drastically affect the way we function in the future.

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Nanotech is expected to take over both science and technology in upcoming decades, so our future may soon be closely related to what suppliers of engineered nanoparticles choose to do with their businesses.As is often the case with major advances, the medical community stands to gain the most from this new technology.

Nanoparticles have been used for such a diverse range of medical applications that it is almost impossible to name them all; researchers have engineered blood nanoparticles to create a synthetic blood cell that can enhance human performance many hundreds of times over; they have likewise invented a “nanobone” that is stronger and more effective than natural human bone; and so on and so forth. But when it comes to cancer research, the results of using engineered nanoparticles are really startling.

Researchers at the University of Central Florida have found a way to engineer nanoparticles so that they become weapons in the fight against cancer. In their experiments they used a pharmaceutical drug known as Taxol, which is commonly used in chemotherapy.

The problems with chemotherapy are numerous; one of the reasons it tends to be so painful and unpleasant for the patient is because our current system for delivering the drug is limited to intravenous transfusion. Putting a strong chemical into the bloodstream is like using a jackhammer to hammer in a nail.

The circulatory system will indiscriminately distribute anything it carries to many, if not all, parts of the body. This means that a good deal of the healthy tissue in our bodies gets damaged or even destroyed along with the malignant tumors that the drug was meant to attack. Not only this, but the blunt effects of chemotherapy do not have the delicate control necessary to ensure that every molecule of the tumor is eliminated; if even one particle of malignant tissue survives the treatment the cancer has the possibility to re-grow, making the chemotherapy a failure. So how do we solve these problems?

For UCF assistant professor J. Perez, the answer was simple: use nanotechnology. The main difficulties associated with chemotherapy arise from our inability to interact with viruses, cancers and other pathogens at the molecular level; but nanoparticles are small enough that they can do so.

Perez and his group of researchers engineered specific nanoparticles so that they could identify and target only cancer cells. The particles were each equipped with a dose of Taxol so that when they encountered the malignant tumor tissue, they could then release the drug and kill off the cancerous cells one at a time. If this system of nanoparticle drug delivery were widely adopted for cancer treatment, much of the pain and discomfort resulting from chemotherapy treatment would thus disappear while at the same time increasing Taxol’s effectiveness.

Perez and his team accomplished this feat by attaching the delivery nanoparticles to a folic acid derivative; for cancer cells this vitamin is equivalent to an irresistible junk food. They draw the nanoparticles in, only to find that they are carrying poisonous Taxol. By then it’s too late.

The researchers also equipped each nanoparticle with a magnetic core composed mainly of iron oxide, as well as a strong fluorescent dye. Both of these traits make the particles easy to track and control once they are inside the human body.

The fluorescent nature of the nanoparticles allows doctors to follow them using optical imaging technology, while the iron oxide allows them to be tracked using an MRI machine. Doctors and patients would virtually be able to sit and watch the cancer being destroyed in one session. It also means that doctors will be able to see exactly what is happening and respond to new developments almost the minute they unfold.

Perez’s team also provided a failsafe mechanism for the cancer-killing nanoparticles; they can be engineered with or without the drug and used as contrast agents for the cancer. In this situation, if no cancer was found to exist in the patient’s body, the biodegradable nanoparticles would simply detect the absence of malignant tissue and instead of binding to any tissue surface they would continue passing from the bloodstream and get processed out of the body by the liver.

The iron oxide core serves a double purpose in this scenario. If no cancer exists, then there is no need for an MRI to track the nanoparticle, so as the liver eliminates it, the iron core is processed out and used to nourish the body. Since the majority of today’s population is always a bit low on iron, this actually does some good.

Other cancer solutions that use nanoparticles have been proposed and many more probably will be brought forward in years to come, but what sets the Perez team’s innovations apart is the dual nature of their specially-engineered nanoparticle.

They not only use the particle to perform both the diagnostic and therapeutic functions in one blow, but have also constructed and modified the nanoparticle in such a way that it is at the same time biocompatible and biodegradable. It sounds simpler than it is; combining four brilliant characteristics into one microscopic vessel is actually quite a feat.

Engineered nanoparticles like these have the potential to do almost anything. From treating dangerous diseases at an early stage to literally supplementing the immune system for people with autoimmune deficiencies such as AIDS sufferers, they can go anywhere and everywhere because of their extremely tiny size. They can also be used to modify almost any substance, from delicate electronics to the fabric your clothes are made out of.

Researchers have already developed “self-cleaning” fabrics whose nanoparticles actually “eat” stains; Eddie Bauer recently debuted its self-cleaning khakis. But no matter what engineered nanoparticles are used for, one thing is certain: they are out to change the world.

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Hence, any discussion of nanotechnology—its processes, its applications, its impacts—must of necessity revolve around one of the tiniest things in the world: the nanoparticle.Wondering what are nanoparticles? A nanoparticle is defined as the smallest unit that can still behave as a whole entity in terms of properties and transport.

Typically, your average nanoparticle will measure anywhere from 100 to 2500 nanometers (or in other words, extremely small.) Ultrafine nanoparticles are classified as even tinier than that, weighing in at only 1 to 100 nanometers in size.

This microscopic particle holds the key to much of what science hopes to accomplish in the near future. In some cases when a substance is broken down into its individual nanoparticles it suddenly assumes behaviors and characteristics that were not previously associated with the unit as a whole.

This seems to have something to do with the overall number of surface atoms; the more individual pieces there are, the more surface area there is, and a surface atom tends to react differently than one that is at the center of a substance.

This unique size and behavior also bridges the scientific gap between large materials, which are often too bulky to interact on a delicate scale, and molecules or atoms, which do not exhibit the large-scale properties that nanoparticles are capable of.

Having such capabilities means that nanoparticles are extremely versatile, so it is difficult to discuss one overarching purpose for the nanoparticle in future technology. As a matter of fact, the nanoparticle will probably be everywhere doing everything.

For example, researchers have recently discovered that individual silicon nanoparticles can be affixed to a piece of paper in order to create an electricity-conducting circuit without recourse to the creation of a metallic or plastic chip. If the technology is refined enough to be released publicly, it could revolutionize the entire electronics industry.

Paper is many times cheaper than either silicon or plastic and also much more cost-effective and environmentally friendly to produce. If we could design and manufacture delicate electronics on the nanoscale and use a paper base for them, we could greatly reduce our technological carbon footprint while at the same time increasing our efficiency.

This is all thanks to the fact that nanoparticles typically are better at conducting an electrical current than elements that have not been broken down into particles. Hence, they don’t need the silicon base that most microchips are famous for.

This doesn’t mean that the Silicon Valley days are over; far from it. It simply means that while silicon will continue to be a major player in the technology industry, it will have to be broken down into particles and adjust to the demands of nanotechnology.

Actually, it turns out that silicon nano-components, also known as transducers, are the perfect materials for constructing what nanotechnologists call the nanorobot. This tiny mechanical entity, also known as a nanobot, has the potential to drastically alter everything in our lives but especially the way we practice medicine. The ideal nanobot has not yet been fully developed, although it is anticipated that they will make their public debut sometime in the next 25 years.

Researchers want to achieve a microscopic autonomous robot that measures no more than six nanometers across and can be controlled by remote. Swarms of these nanobots could clean your house, and since they’re invisible to the naked eye, their effects would appear to be magical. They could also swim easily and harmlessly through your bloodstream, which is what medical scientists find exciting.

With such technology at their disposal, doctors could simply inject a team of nanobots into a patient and automatically be able to identify and destroy everything from bacteria and viruses to cancerous growths. Nanobots are small enough that they can interact with these pathogens and malignant tumors on a molecular level—and this is something that no trained surgeon, however skilled he or she may be, can do effectively.

Humans are simply too big. Nanobots, however, are so tiny that they can even rebuild damaged tissue one cell at a time; they can repair bleeding veins and remove cholesterol buildup from a clogged artery. They could also provide revolutionary new insight into the human body. Scientists expect that the nanobots will be fully capable of supporting a tiny camera system on their microscopic bodies, so that as they swim through the human system they can send data back to doctors and researchers.

There is so much we still don’t know about our own bodies that we could discover with tools like these. It has even been suggested that nanobots could swim harmlessly up through the spinal column and investigate the way the human brain functions on a cellular level, thereby solving one of the greatest mysteries of nature.

All of these possibilities grow directly from the implications of the nanoparticle. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to interact so effectively with the molecules and atoms of different substances, including our own bodies.

Nanotechnology has even been developed to the point where if the natural substance doesn’t change simply by being broken down into particles, scientists can go in and manually adjust their properties in order to create the effect they want.

In some cases this means mixing them with another substance; sometimes it means coating the larger material unit with a layer of its own modified nanoparticles in order to increase and magnify its abilities, as has been recently discovered with solar panels—their ability to absorb ultraviolet light was increased tenfold when the normal silicon panels were coated with an altered layer of silicon nanoparticles. But in all cases it has been shown over and over again that nanoparticles are the future of technology, and that this future will be glorious indeed.

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Today we can see hard proof that it has become a full-blown reality, as more scientists and research groups devote themselves wholly to the pursuit of nanotechnology.

Each of these groups is likely to find a new and different application for nanotechnology, since it is an extremely universal discipline.

And many of them are filing patents, which are becoming progressively more focused on final products rather than parts or processes. The nanotechnology revolution is underway.

Most professionals agree that the importance of nanotechnology can’t be measured and that it is probably the single most influential technology for future generations. The National Science Foundation estimates that by 2015 the global nano-market will have raked in an impressive $1 trillion or more every year, which would potentially qualify it as the fastest-growing industry in human history.

For those who think that the telecommunications and information technology boom of the late 90’s was big, watch out. The number of nanoparticle patents being filed every day has skyrocketed hundreds of times over in just the last three or four years and shows no signs of slowing. Everyone knows that nanotechnology is where it’s at.

The difficulty comes when you realize that small components of everyday products are already becoming infused with differing amounts of nanotechnology. Because the industry is so new and safety testing is having a hard time catching up, in some cases manufacturers are reluctant to label themselves as nanotechnology producers. If the market shows an upswing, they will most likely rebrand in order to cash in on it. This makes it especially difficult to calculate the actual growth of the nanotechnology industry sector.

But researchers have found that many products incorporate nanotechnology even if they don’t call it by that name, leading us to believe that before long, you’ll see this new science cropping up in all sorts of unexpected and familiar places.

National governments are not quite so shy about stepping up their participation in nanotechnology research. Every political force wants to have a stake in the cutting-edge scientific breakthrough of the moment; it has even been suggested that Chinese industry leaders are counting on nanotechnology gains to put them ahead of the United States in the economic race. The U.S., of course, is countering that by funding a whole host of nanotechnology-related research groups.

One is reminded of the nuclear arms race between America and Russia, except with a dry technological twist. The Cold War was a war of economies but also a war of potential destruction. This race smacks of nothing but economic ambition, yet it goes to show that competent national leadership considers nanotechnology to be serious business. It is also a telling sign when national leadership wants to garner as many nanoparticle patents as possible in the government’s name as a sign of personal prestige.

In 2002 alone, global governments funded $2 billion worth of nanoparticle research, with the United States contributing $604 million of that figure (it rose to $774 million the following year, and in 2004 had risen as high as $847 millilon.) Typically the government likes to put its investments in very safe places.

The U.S. alone is responsible for 1/3 of worldwide nanotechnology spending with nearly $1 billion invested in the market, and 40 other countries have invested serious money into the development of nanotechnology and producing nanoparticle patents for their nations. The European Union has set aside more than $1 billion for nano-research and Japan has reached similar figures. None of this funding includes private investments, which are many times greater than those sponsored by government agencies.

Here are some other quick facts about nanotechnology and nanoparticle patents:

~Both public companies and private ventures are estimated to have spent about $3 billion on nanotechnology research and development alone in 2003.

~Since the year 2000, the United States government has diverted more than $3 billion for nanotechnology development, making it one of the biggest projects in U.S. government history. Currently nanotechnology is the most heavily-funded science project the U.S. has invested in since the Apollo space missions, and is poised to surpass them.

• More than 700 top-ranking companies are currently devoted to nanotechnology.
• Close to 100,000 scientists have now become certified to work in the nanotechnology industry.
• Small tech jobs related to nanotechnology constitute one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy, thanks in large part to the universality and versatile applications inherent in the field of nanotechnology. The medical industry has seen huge gains as a direct result of incorporating nanotechnology into their innovations. The majority of nanoparticle patents are either directly related to the medical industry or have larger implications in regards to medical use.
• Nanotechnology startups are considered among the best startup investments in the economy, with close to $500 million invested annually in recent years. Venture capital has increased between 200 and 400% in some cases.

Although critics of the nanotechnology market warn against large investments because of the slow product output that the industry has so far managed to put forth, others say that official numbers do not give an accurate picture of the actual revenue flow.

Eddie Bauer has already released self-cleaning stain-repellant khakis that operate with nanotechnology. Various mattress companies have latched onto nano-foam, which is a high-performing memory foam similar to Tempur-Pedic’s name-brand product. Various fabrics, such as silk and wool, have been nano-engineered to the point where they can actually “eat” stains instead of getting ruined, thereby promising a revolutionary change in the clothing industry. And in the medical field, the possibilities are virtually endless.

Nano-researchers have used particle technology to create synthetic bone that matches natural bone yet can outperform it in multiple ways, as well as synthetic blood cells that can enhance human performance many times over. With all the inventions and innovations it has spurred, it seems that everything nanotechnology touches turns to gold.

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Researchers have applied this versatile technology to a wide array of products, and the latest to be enhanced is the silicon solar panel.

Researchers at the University of Illinois worked with several institutions in Saudi Arabia to increase the efficiency and performance of the conventional solar panel, and found that by using nanoparticles of the same material the solar panels were made out of, they could create a thin coating for the panel that would enable it to perform all its normal functions with greater speed and efficiency.

The silicon nanoparticles the team applied to their solar panel measure only 1 nanometer in diameter and were not obvious to the naked eye, yet they increased the solar panel’s abilities by 60%, according to physicist Munir Nayfeh of the University of Illinois. Many of these gains took place in the ultraviolet light spectrum, but a 10% increase in functionality was also observed in the visible light spectrum when the silicon nanoparticles were increased to 2.85 nanometer size.

Without the coating of nanoparticles, normal solar panels typically function in the visible light spectrum. Researchers knew that the ultraviolet spectrum provided huge untapped resources of energy, but were unsure how to access the UV rays properly; conventional solar panels don’t handle UV rays very well. Some types of solar panels filter out UV rays entirely and others inadvertently absorb the rays, which can actually cause heat damage instead of the desired electrical current.

Then, in 2004, Munir Nayfeh came along and drew up a brilliant plan showing how adjusting the size of silicon nanoparticles and applying them in a separate coating could provide solar panels with the ability to process UV rays the same way that they had typically processed visible light, and in some cases, with greater efficiency than anticipated.

Nayfeh assembled a team of university researchers and got to work. The first step in the process involved physically breaking the silicon material down into silicon nanoparticles, after which they could be molecularly engineered to alter their properties if necessary. The desired chemical change was achieved by dispersing the silicon cells into a solution of isopropyl alcohol and mixing the two elements together.

The silicon nanoparticles could then be effectively applied to the solar panel’s surface and as the isopropyl alcohol evaporated over time, the silicon particles remained firmly affixed and evenly distributed on the surface of the panel. Energy gains of up to 67% were recorded, and most impressively for solar panel enthusiasts, ultraviolet light could now be harnessed as energy.

As a nice little finishing touch, Munir Nayfeh designed the coating process to be extremely cost-effective for solar panel manufacturers, so that his updated version of this earth-friendly classic is a winner for everybody involved.

This huge leap forward in the development and use of silicon nanoparticles reached its peak in late 2007 and early 2008. More recently, researchers have been able to develop a new method of synthesizing silicon at the nanoparticular level, resulting in a whole new set of possibilities for this useful material. The synthesis has a surprising effect on the nanoparticles—it makes them fluorescent. Researchers anticipate that this will ultimately help lab technicians to track the way that drugs are absorbed by human cells.Whilst researching the scientists need to wear nanoparticle masks.

Dr. Klaus von Haeften is one of the key researchers on this project. He explains that processing the silicon nanoparticles in this updated way allows lab technicians to have independent control of every aspect of each particle; they can change the particle size and alter its surface properties to suit their needs. Pre-programming the particles in this way is what allows them to be so easily modified into fluorescent particles. The research team expects that among other things, fluorescent nanoparticles will revolutionize the way that electronic chips behave in technology and also increase their integration density, something that the modern market holds in very high esteem.

The team of scientists who discovered how to make the particles fluorescent tried a number of different methods before hitting on the one that finally worked. They ultimately reduced the nanoparticle size to a mere few hundred atoms and mixed these tiny altered particles with water. To their delight, the resulting fluorescent glow was strong enough that it lasted more than three whole months before fading.

This study took place at the University of Leicester. Soon other scientific departments inside the school were getting involved, with researchers from the Department of Chemistry making headway in the new synthesis process as well. They thought that perhaps the silicon nanoparticles were processed in the right way to make them good candidates for cancer treatment—they would hook treatment drugs to each particle and then send the combined dosage into a patient’s bloodstream to test its effectiveness.

The procedure worked even better than expected, since the fluorescent light emanating from each individual particle made them extremely easy to track once they had been introduced into the system. Silicon is a perfect drug vehicle because by nature, it has no outstanding characteristics of its own. Silicon is a benign, neutral substance that, when rendered fluorescent, becomes an excellent marker for tracking biological materials of a sensitive nature. This means that if it became part of regular cancer treatment procedures, it might have the potential to lessen any unpleasant side effects that would come as a result of the normally harsh chemotherapy.

Silicon is revolutionizing the technological and medical industry in its nanoparticle form. The ramifications of silicon nanoparticles’ ability to withstand a number of different forces while still achieving high performance levels makes it a perfect element to use in the development of the nanotechnology field.  It’s a surprising development for a material that made its debut at the dawn of the computer age and was then promptly degraded as a plastic surgery insert for several years afterward.

Now silicon is back to make another big splash in the technological world, and it’s bigger—or should we perhaps say smaller?—and better than ever.

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These masks have been equipped with a filtration system that uses clusters of nanoparticles to remove microscopic biological pathogens from the air, and they were a huge success in Asian countries where the SARS epidemic hit hardest.

Now that the initial fear has faded, nanoparticle masks are once again on the margins of public attention. But the fact remains that they can perform an array of useful functions and may become indispensable in the event of a future disease outbreak.

How do nano-masks work? A molecularly enhanced particle coating is put on the mask’s filter; the nanoparticles in the coating have a tendency to cluster together enough to create a layer of ions that works together with trace amounts of chlorine to catch and eradicate any undesirable particles they encounter.

The key difference between a nanoparticle mask and a mask with a normal filter is this process of eradication. Masks that have not been treated with nanoparticles can sometimes strain molecules from the air, but these harmful agents don’t disappear.

Instead, they sit on the mask’s filter and sometimes they can even breed and grow in this sheltered environment, ironically producing a high concentration of dangerous material in the mask itself, which has been designed to keep such substances out. Nanomasks, on the other hand, completely destroy every harmful particle they catch. This is why their popularity skyrocketed during the mass scare of the SARS epidemic.

Nanotechnology expert Kenneth Klabunde explains that nanoparticles have a life of their own and can attract, catch, and “eat” harmful bacteria and viruses without recourse to a traditional filtration system.

According to Klabunde, the four basic advantages of nanoparticles are as follows: they are abrasive enough to cut through the micro-bodies of bacteria; the chemical makeup of the nanoparticles reacts with bacteria to “soften” them; they can both attract and aggregate with bacterial bodies; and when combined with chlorine, as is done in the nanomasks, these nanoparticles can essentially “suffocate” the bacteria. In other words, the bacterial particle becomes deprived of oxygen and dies, after which the nanoparticles “eat” its dead body.

Gruesome though it may sound, it’s wonderful news to people caught in an epidemic. Nothing makes them feel safer than knowing that nanoparticle masks give them four layers of protection in one.

Unlike most nanotechnology that you may be familiar with, these nanoparticles have not been manipulated on the molecular level; they are merely broken down into extremely small pieces. Expert Steven Glapa describes it as a clever form of industrial chemistry, adding that many types of “smart” coatings use basically the same process.

In terms of nanotechnology as a discipline, these nano-masks represent the most basic form of nanoparticle research on the market. Most other nanotech products have been altered somehow, not simply ground into a powder and painted on. Its main effectiveness lies in the way that the nanoparticles naturally react to the chlorine additive, without which the mask would have no special function. With it, the mask becomes a super-filter.

Nanoparticle researchers also claim that these masks have a wider application, since at their most basic level they represent the ability to coat a filtering system with a layer of nanoparticles to increase its effectiveness. Anything that can be filtered can be super-filtered with this technique, and such an efficient nano-defense allows for removal of microscopic bacterial, biological, chemical, and viral agents.

Researchers anticipate that the filtration technology will eventually be used in air filters of all kinds, from asthma and allergy relief to industrial-grade toxin-removing air filtration systems. They also foresee direct applications in terms of water sanitation. Scientists are hard at work on a nano-filter that could easily be used in third world countries.

Water pollution is still a huge problem in many developing nations and causes hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths each year. Nanoparticle researchers hope that by adapting the nanoparticle mask’s technology to create a simple, cost-effective universal filter, they can save lives and improve standards of living across the world.

Nanoparticle goggles can be used in conjunction with masks, but so far they have served an entirely different section of the population. Canadian researchers are developing extra-sensitive infrared night-vision goggles for general military consumption, and they’re doing it with nanoparticles.

They’ve discovered that if they take a glass or silicon chip and apply a coating of conductive nanoparticles (also known as quantum dots) the end result is an infrared detector that can perform up to 10 times better than traditional models.

These updated goggles address an age-old problem faced by users of the conventional infrared night goggles. Older models relied on small amounts of reflected starlight in order to function, but their Achilles heel was that they became completely useless if the sky was overcast or the moon was hidden by clouds.

This older technique is based on near-wave infrared. The newer nanoparticle goggles can pick up both short-wave and near-wave infrared, which allows them to function in even extreme low-light conditions.

Edward Sargent, a professor at the University of Toronto and a leading nanoparticle researcher, was the first to discover this new infrared-enhancing technique. He realized that by evenly coating a silicon chip with quantum dots, he could achieve higher levels of infrared receptivity.

His technique involves sulfide nanoparticles that are only four nanometers wide. He bonds them to an oil-based molecule to keep them moving freely, then spin-coats and dries the solution onto the silicon chip in order to achieve an even distribution of quantum dots.

He can then tweak the resulting chip around to achieve slightly different effects if desired. He also equips his superior-performance chips with super-photoconductive properties: while each light photon that encounters the chip normally bounces off and activates a single electron, Sargent was able to engineer his chips so that they can trap every photon and keep it in circulation, achieving maximum energy gains and increasing the electrical current’s flow.

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These nanostructured metal powders (in some cases they may even be alloys) are typically reduced to their particle size using metal salts or some type of corrosive alcohol.

Copper nanoparticles constitute some of the most versatile and useful metal nanoparticles currently in production.

In electronics manufacturing it has been found that thin films of extra-small copper particles exhibit a peculiarly strong electrocatalytic behavior, making them prime candidates for many types of electric processes.

Researchers at Yangzhou University in China conducted a series of experiments involving copper nanoparticles which they stabilized with cysteine and used the resulting mixture to coat individual electrodes of indium tin oxide.

Once the electrodes have been altered in this way, they are more capable of transferring electrons back and forth to establish an electrical current. They also respond efficiently to the effects of nitric oxide and other nitrate derivatives, which makes them useful electrochemical sensors.

What does all of this mean? In March of 2009 the University of Helsinki decided to find out what could be achieved by utilizing the conductive properties of copper particles. The University’s Polymer Chemistry Research Group found that the fundamental properties of the copper changed dramatically when they were reduced to a billionth of their original size.

The tiny copper nanoparticles have more atoms on their surface than on the inside, which causes a variety of characteristics but most importantly makes their melting temperature very low. Researchers then applied a heat treatment known as “sintering” and found that afterwards, the copper particles could be used to create patterns and layers of an electricity-conducting nature. They decided to apply these interesting designs to paper.

It seems that many types of metal particles can achieve these results when coated with a polymer layer, turning them into excellent electrical conductors. Scientists can design intelligent formations and print them onto the paper in such a way that they anticipate using paper instead of expensive silicon boards and chips in the not-too-distant future.

The Polymer Chemistry Research Group didn’t necessarily intend to make such a discovery in their work with copper nanoparticles. They were actually conducting a routine test of various compounds that could protect copper nanoparticles during the manufacturing process and had decided to try out polymers and compounds made of smaller molecules.

They rotated through several combinations before settling on polyethylene imine and tetraethylenepentamine as good candidates. Sure enough, these polymer layers contained the right level of oxidization to be effectively sintered to the surface of the paper.

Researchers then measured the electrical conductivity of the recently-applied particle layer and were both pleased and surprised to find that at a certain temperature they could cause rapid re-growth of the particles.

These properties turned the nanoparticles into ideal conductors of electricity and gave researchers a brilliant idea. Their findings may have revolutionized the world of electronics by providing paper as a cheaper, more malleable substance on which to imprint electronic code. Soon, microchips will be flexible and inexpensive, as will motherboards.

Metal nanoparticles have served a variety of functions over time, but gold nanoparticles are some of the most popular. They are non-toxic and appear to have endless medical applications; it has also been found that ingesting liquid gold nanoparticles has extremely beneficial effects on human health.

But gold nanoparticles can be costly, and scientists are looking for ways to replace these expensive nanoparticles with others that behave just as well. Copper nanoparticles are now thought to be the best substitute for the process that allows fuel cells to last longer and perform better.

The U.S. Department of Energy sponsors an institute known as the Brookhaven National Laboratory, which has been conducting a series of x-ray experiments using copper nanoparticles as a replacement catalyst for gold nanoparticles in a fuel cell reaction sequence.

Traditionally the problem posed by fuel cells has been their harmful byproducts, since the main source of energy for these cells is hydrogen. Hydrogen makes a wonderful “food” for the fuel cell but its byproduct often contains large amounts of poisonous carbon monoxide.

Not only is this dangerous to humans and their environment, it’s also bad for the fuel cell mechanisms themselves. The carbon monoxide circulates within the fuel cell until, over time, it has corroded and destroyed the costly platinum catalysts inside the fuel cell that allow it to convert hydrogen into a usable form of electricity.

Scientists anticipate that by mixing the carbon monoxide byproduct with water, they can effect a chemical transformation that will produce relatively harmless amounts of hydrogen gas as well as carbon dioxide, this reaction is known as a “water-gas shift.” It does an extremely effective job of turning almost all the deadly CO into carbon dioxide and hydrogen.

What the Brookhaven Laboratory researchers wanted to do was to find a different way to create and sustain this process within the fuel cell. They found that by using a metal support coated with either gold or copper nanoparticles, they could achieve transformation without the cumbersome and difficult task of directly applying water to the cell while it functioned.

They were even able to maximize catalytic efficiency further by using tiny nanoparticles less than 4 nanometers wide and applying them to a support base made of a metal called cerium oxide, otherwise known as ceria.

As it turns out, copper nanoparticles react wonderfully with ceria and can achieve even higher levels of catalytic activity in this process. Gold was traditionally used because its reliable tendency for reactivity made it a solid choice, but despite the well-documented effects of gold nanoparticles, researchers were put off by its large price tag.

It took quite a bit of experimentation and the Brookhaven Laboratory scientists ran through a number of methods (spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, absorption) before finally hitting on the thing that worked: nanotechnology. Copper performs at nearly the same level as gold and is much more cost-effective.

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Tiny molecular particles of gold are suspended in a fluid (usually water) and if the gold particles are extremely small, the liquid appears to be an intense shade of red. If the particles are on the larger size, the liquid will be a dirty yellow color.

When gold is broken into nanoparticles it can break many different ways, depending on the process. Researchers have found particles in an assortment of shapes including rods, cubes, cap-shaped pieces, and spheres.

Nanotechnology is fairly new to our civilization, but it turns out that colloidal gold has been around since ancient times—and it was originally used to stain glass. It was rediscovered by Michael Faraday in the 1850s and almost immediately became one of science’s favorite substances.

Gold nanoparticles are highly useful for a wide range of processes including general nanotechnology, electronics manufacturing, and the synthesizing of rare materials.

In 2005 it was discovered that coating bacteria with nano-gold renders it extremely useful as a coating for electronic wiring. The bacteria carry a negative charge and the nano-gold carries a positive charge after being treated with nitric acid.

These coated bacteria are able to absorb water and conduct a more efficient electrical current after the gold has been introduced, making them more efficient and more cost-effective elements of electronic production.

Colloidal gold is also extremely useful in the medical field. Medical personnel are still investigating the possibilities for silver nanoparticles, but lab technicians have found that injecting gold nanoparticles into rats can relieve many symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.

Similarly, they also found that if they implanted gold beads near arthritic joints in dogs, the gold beads acted as pain relievers and enabled the dogs’ joints to function almost normally. Since current arthritis medication is often woefully ineffective, this research is a big step forward–and as odd as it sounds, the day may soon come when general arthritis treatments will involve injecting gold particles into humans.

Gold nanoparticles may also provide the cure for Alzheimer’s. This terrible disease ravages the human brain with a buildup of plaque and betay-amyloid fibrils which affect our motor skills and memory functions, among others. Scientists have discovered that a combination of colloidal gold and microwave radiation can destroy these harmful plaques and fibrils, allowing the brain to heal itself and resume normal functions.

Investigations are also underway to determine whether conventional radiation therapy might not be improved and rendered less traumatic with the addition of nano-gold. But perhaps the most groundbreaking application of all lies in cancer treatment. Colloidal gold has been used in conjunction with intravenous spectroscopy to both identify and target malignant tumors in the human body.

The gold nanoparticles are introduced into the veins and guided by a spectroscope to locate problem tumors; they are then injected into the tumor along with an antibody to stop the tumor’s ability to grow and, in some cases, shrink its size.

In many cases medical scientists favor rod-shaped gold particles because they reflect infrared light more efficiently and their size allows them to circulate inside the bloodstream more easily. The shape of a gold nano-rod also lends itself well to the task of piercing a tumor’s mass.

The miraculous qualities of nano-gold were understood in a different way by the ancients, who devoted massive amounts of time and energy to alchemy and labeled a primitive form of colloidal gold the “Elixir of Life.” Many alchemists studied and searched their whole lives to find a means of creating a potion made from liquefied gold, believing that it would cure all sorts of bodily ailments and strengthen mental and physical capabilities.

There are many extant writings discussing the Elixir of Life, but it is not clear whether the formula was ever discovered. (However, a 16^th-century alchemist named Paracelsus ultimately claimed that he had created the elusive potion.) Scientists knew that it could be done, since the ancient Romans had used colloidal gold in various concentrations to create stained glass.

The Romans found that they could get several colors out of the same gold particles simply by adding water and diluting the potion. They achieved stunning shades of yellow, red, and even mauve through this method.

Modern medicine considers gold nanoparticles capable of creating works of art in many other ways. Using nano-gold’s incredible ability to detect the exact location of cancer cells, researchers hope to have an effective cancer-fighting system in place by 2011.

They anticipate using microscopic nano-gold vessels to carry antidotes to the exact location of the cancerous growth, rather than inundating a patient’s sytem with high levels of toxic chemotherapy chemicals. Instead, it might be possible to target and kill the tumor on the spot by weakening it with gold nano-rods and then inject an ultimate cancer cure to kill off the dangerous cells completely.

The only remaining piece of the cancer-cure puzzle would then lie in finding such an ultimate cure for cancer itself, and scientists think they may have found that, too. The dye that is used to color your jeans and the ink in your ballpoint pen has the potential to team up with gold nanoparticles and kill cancer stone-dead.

This deep blue dye is pthalocyanine and it reacts with light in such a way that scientists can activate and deactivate them using simple, harmless light sources. Pthalocyanine is so responsive that they can even do this once the dye particles are deep inside your body at the location of a cancerous cell.

Up to this point, scientists were not sure how to get the dye inside a human body; every chemical vehicle they tried would predictably reject the dye cells.

But after extensive research, scientists have discovered that modified gold nanoparticles will transport pthalocyanine without any problems and, due to its cancer-seeking characteristics, the nano-gold actually plays an active part in the process. Strangely enough, you may find that a combination of blue jean dye and molecular gold will save your life someday.

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