Nanotechnology

[junglelord]

Nanotechnology linear thread. The ability to create nanoparticle technology is a very interesting science that blends nature and technology.
http://www.nanotoday.com/pdfs_nanotoday ... h_news.pdf

[junglelord]

More evidence that the nano world is all about geometry where structure truly meets function head-on.
This one example kills an age old thought about Geckos and their ability to climb glass walls.
It is not due to chemistry and glue as was thought.
Gecko-feet based on geometry not chemistry!

Geckos have long inspired scientists and super-hero fans alike with their ability to scamper up vertical walls and cling to ceilings with a single toe. In recent years, people have attempted to create materials that match those spectacular abilities, in the hope of creating new advanced adhesives, or even car braking systems.
Now US chemists claim to have made one based on nanotubes that it is 10 times stickier than some gecko feet. Even more impressively, like a real gecko foot, it can also be easily unstuck with a tug in the right direction.
Gecko's superhero toes are covered in microscopic hairs, known as setae, with even smaller branches at the tips, called spatulae.

These ensure that a gecko's foot has a large surface area in contact with any surface, maximising the weak but ever-present attraction between adjacent molecules known as the van der Waals force.
Glass gripperChemists led by Liming Dai of University of Dayton, Ohio and Zhong Lin Wang of Georgia Institute of Technology, made their artificial setae by growing nested carbon nanotubes on a silicon wafer.
They controlled the growth process to make a forest of vertical nanotube trunks turning into a canopy of tangled ends on top. The curly entangled mess acts like natural spatulae – when pressed against a surface, they have a large contact area and hence a strong hold.

The new material was tested for stickiness on surfaces ranging from Teflon to sandpaper. Attached to a glass surface, a 4mm2 piece of the material can support over 1600 grams when pulled roughly parallel to the surface (see video, right).
That is around 10 times better than some species of gecko and three times better than the best artificial competitor.
But removing a pad of the material is simple, unlike some rival materials. Pulling it perpendicular to a surface means only the tips of the nanotubes remain in contact with the surface, and the setae will easily loosen their grip. A weight of 160 grams on the tiny sample is enough to do that.

New glue?
Kellar Autumn from the Lewis and Clark College, Oregon, was the first to suggest that the gecko's stickiness was down to geometry rather than the chemistry of its feet (see Gecko's gravity-defying trick explained). "The ability of this material to support large shear loads and to detach easily is very encouraging," he told New Scientist.

He points out, though, that although a person can easily stick the material to a surface, it requires much more force to apply than real gecko setae. A 4 millimetre2 piece of the new material needs about 2 kilograms of force to stick, compared to the few grams required by a real gecko or some synthetic rivals.

Liming thinks his material should still be able to replace glue and other forms of adhesion. For example, because nanotubes are excellent conductors, the carbon setae could replace solder in electronics. The material could also be valuable in the vacuum of space, where traditional adhesives dry out quickly, he says.

As for superhero suits, Liming says: "We will exploit this possibility, if there is a serious need."

Economics is likely to play a deciding role too – carbon nanotubes are not cheap to produce. But the price has already declined more than a thousand fold over the last few years as fabrication processes have improved. Liming says dropping prices will eventually make it possible to produce his material in rolls rather than one-off sections.

http://technology.newscientist.com/arti ... -glue.html

[junglelord]

Nanotechnology and superconductors from the Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials
http://www.cnam.umd.edu/RESEARCH/Nanophysics.html

Geometry is the heart of this science. Crystal geomtry is a important nanotechnology field. Crystal geometry is variable, which introduce different properties for different arrangments.

CONDENSED MATTER RESEARCH AT CNAM

Condensed matter (CM) physics is perhaps most famous as the field that produced the transistor 60 years ago. This discovery has transformed society on a global scale and is an example of how support of basic research today could lead to transformative technologies of the future.

CM deals with the properties of large aggregations of atoms or molecules, including their magnetic and electrical characteristics, and the ways in which the quantum properties of atoms influence those of their neighbors and of the material as a whole.
CM investigations are responsible for our knowledge of the "super" properties of matter in unusual states, such as superconductivity (absence of electrical resistance) and superfluidity (absence of viscosity or liquid friction), both of which are fundamentally quantum phenomena. Superconductors are now making their way into the electric power grid and wireless telephone infrastructures.

Another traditional CM subject involves the study and manipulation of atoms in various sorts of orderly geometrical arrangements. In a crystal, such as the silicon materials used to make microchips or the layered oxide arrays of superconductors, component atoms align themselves to form regular, repeating, three-dimensional patterns with consistent spacing. Even seemingly minor changes in the pattern can have dramatic effects on the material's chemical and electrical properties. The study of how these seemingly minor defects influence the gross electrical properties of matter is an area of intense interest for both fundamental and practical reasons.

Much of CM physics revolves around the idea of “emergent properties.” Atoms are known to have certain properties governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. However when a large number of identical atoms are brought together in a regular array qualitatively new properties emerge, many of which are very difficult to predict from knowledge of the properties of the individual atoms. Examples include superconductivity, ferromagnetism, and ferroelectricity. CNAM researchers are actively investigating these emergent properties on a number of fronts.

Issues of particular interest in CNAM include correlated electron physics, e.g. superconductivity, reduced-dimensionality electron systems, quantum-based mesoscopics, spintronics, quantum condensed phases and semiconductors

[junglelord]

The search is on to understand the implications of structure at the nanolevel and how we can accomplish function without doping. Its really quite incredible and proof that structure and function are never seperate.

Published online: 27 March 2007

Abstract Physical properties of electronic and photonic materials can be significantly modified by partial altervalent/aliovalent chemical substitutes. The modification arises from the subtle interplay between the competing/cooperating effects of the electron and lattice structural variations, which are induced by the different charge and atomic radii of the substituents. To understand these effects, it is necessary to isolate the electronic and crystallographic contributions to the particular physical property to arrive at a fundamental understanding of the underlying dominant mechanism. Intrinsic properties amplified nanomaterials/nanoparticles is a newly developed technique which can experimentally discriminate lattice structural effects from electronic contributions to physical properties by exploiting the nanosize dependence of lattice structure to modify the structural parameters without resorting to chemical doping. In this work, we demonstrate a separation of structural and electronic effects on superconducting critical temperatures (T c ) of MgB2 and YBa2Cu3O7-x, and also on emission behavior of ZnO. The results show that the superconductivity of MgB2 is extremely sensitive to lattice parameter variation while T c of YBa2Cu3O7-x is more sensitive to electronic structure. The effects of the lattice and electronic structures on the emission behavior of ZnO are complex and the structural variations make different contributions to the behavior in the particular conditions.
Keywords Lattice - Nanotechnology - Doping - XRD refinement
http://www.springerlink.com/content/12826h3111x4hh64/

[junglelord]

The crystal lattice structure, geometry and superconducting states. The latest findings on how geometry explains superconductivity on the nanoscale. Its clear that geometry is the secret to structure and function can never be seperated.

Recent findings by a team of researchers from Japan and the United Kingdom could prove essential in explaining the origin of superconductivity in organic materials*, and pave the way for the development of new organic materials. The origin of superconductivity has been attributed to magnetic interactions, but this has never been fully accepted because some non-magnetic insulators can become superconducting.

Sketch of the patterns corresponding to the three types of charge transport in ET salts.

Takashi Yamamoto from RIKEN’s Advanced Science Institute (now at Osaka University) and his colleagues have studied the charge states of ß"-type ET salts, which are a type of molecular charge-transfer salt. Until now, ?-type ET salts have been studied intensively as organic superconductors. Their crystal structure consists typically of two-dimensional molecular sheets intercalated by counter ions.

Yamamoto and colleagues focused on the ß"-type ET salts because they were convinced of the necessity to study how molecular charges and crystal structures are connected to the insulating, metallic and superconducting states of organic materials.

The team considered that the geometric arrangement of the molecules was the key element in determining the type of conducting state. If only one counter ion is present per every two molecules, then half of the molecules are charged and the other half are neutral. In this case, only a geometrical pattern that minimizes the interaction between charged molecules occurs. The charges are localized in a so-called charge-ordered state, and the material is insulating.

Crystal structures, however, are not always that simple: when two counter ions are present per every three molecules, there is not always a single preferred configuration, and several geometrical patterns with different formation energies can occur. Most importantly, the charges are not necessarily localized to specific sites.

The technique used by Yamamoto and colleagues—vibrational spectroscopy—allowed them to investigate both the geometry of the molecular arrangement and the average time charges spend on specific sites. They confirmed that when the system is in an insulating state, the formation energy of one geometrical pattern is much lower than all other possibilities. In the case of a metal, several patterns had the same formation energy. Finally, superconductivity occurs when different patterns have different but close energies. In this case, the measurements also showed that charges fluctuate among sites within the crystal.

The observation is a breakthrough in understanding the pairing mechanism that yields superconductivity, according to Yamamoto. “The correlation between conducting behavior and the crystal structure will open the door to new organic materials, including superconductors, by using the crystal engineering method or organic synthesis.”

Yamamoto, T., Yamamoto, H.M., Kato, R., Uruichi, M., Yakushi, K., Akutsu, H., Sato-Akutsu, A., Kawamoto, A., Turner, S.S. & Day, P. Inhomogeneous site charges at the boundary between the insulating, superconducting, and metallic phases of ß"-type bis-ethylenedithio-tetrathiafulvalene molecular charge-transfer salts. Physical Review B 77, 205120 (2008).
Posted September 19th, 2008

http://www.azonano.com/News.asp?NewsID=7723

Here is an excellent ROM called Nanotechnology. Be sure to view the free example on Quantum mirage effect.
In a quantum mirage the electronic signature of an impurity atom placed inside the quantum corral is projected to the other side of the corral without moving the original atom. This is dependent on geometry and the nature of the substrate and the impurity. The sea of electrons is nicely visible as a distributed layer.
http://nanotech.nanopolis.net/courses.html

[junglelord]

Nanotechnology Image Gallery. A wonderful study of structure and function.
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/05na ... allery.htm

[junglelord]

Nanodot technology will change the computer forever. What an amazing time of geometry and the nanoscale world.

Nanoscience, Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Research
(Professor Jagdish Narayan’s group at NCSU)
http://www.mse.ncsu.edu/nnnr/

Professor Narayan and his colleagues started nanomaterials research in the late 1970s and published the first seminal paper on nickel colloids (nanodots) in crystalline ceramics in Physical Review Letters in 1981. These nanodots produced exciting modifications in optical and mechanical properties of ceramic materials and led to numerous publications, a U.S. patent and an IR-100 Award. The nickel nanodots grew epitaxially inside their MgO host, despite the lattice misfit ranging from 3.0 percent to 31.3 percent on different faces. This crystal growth is now understood to occur via domain matching epitaxy, where integral multiples of lattice planes match across the interfaces. This research has now been extended to thin films, where nanodots can be grown in a controlled way via 3-D self-assembly with a recent US Patent. The nanodot/nanograin has also been used in bulk and thin films to produce novel mechanical properties, making tougher and stronger materials for coating and related applications. Connected nanodots or layers of varying thickness have also been used for quantum confinement of carriers in GaInN/GaN superlattices and enhanced light emission efficiency. Kopin Corporation, working with NCSU, has used this “nanopocket” technology to create next-generation high-efficiency Kopin CyberLite LEDs.

Magnetic nanodots stand to revolutionize information storage. Assuming 1 bit of information in each 6nm nanodot, we can achieve information storage beyond 10 Terabits per chip. One terabit can store 25 million pages of information. Selected papers related to nanostructured materials, addressing electronic, photonic, optical and mechanical properties are shown below.

[junglelord]

Geometry and mechanical stress for nanowires.

We have performed atomistic simulations of the tensile loading of and copper nanowires to investigate the coupled effects of geometry and surface orientation on their mechanical behaviour and properties. By varying the nanowire cross section from square to rectangular, nanowires with dominant surface facets are created that exhibit distinct mechanical properties due to the different inelastic deformation mechanisms that are activated. In particular, we find that non-square nanowires generally exhibit lower yield stresses and strains, lower toughness, elevated fracture strains, and a propensity to deform via twinning; we quantify the links between the observed deformation mechanisms due to non-square cross section and the resulting mechanical properties, while illustrating that geometry can be utilized to tailor the mechanical properties of nanowires.
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0957-4484/18/30/305704

[junglelord]

Geometry and liquid crystal displays. I think its clear if you venture into the nanoscale jungle with no knowledge of geometry and the secrets inside, then you will parish. Structure and function cannot be seperated.

Modelling post-aligned bi-stable nematic liquid crystal display
M. Zyskin
University of Bristol, UK

Keywords:
liquid crystal, PABN, numerical simulations, initial configuration, topological classification, energy bounds, harmonic maps

Abstract:
In existing liquid-crystal display technologies, each display cell supports just a single stable configuration. To produce optical contrast, a voltage must be applied to re-orient the molecules. Refreshing the pixels in this way consumes substantial power and limits the resolution of the display. A number of research groups world-wide are seeking to develop alternative technologies based on bi-stable liquid crystal cells. Bi-stable cells support two (or more) stable configurations with contrasting optical properties. Power is needed only to switch from one stable configuration to another. Successful implementation would lead to displays with higher resolution and requiring significantly less power than is currently possible, and would constitute a breakthrough in display technology.
One of mechanisms where bi-stability was shown to exist is post-aligned bi-stable nematic device (PABN): in a geometry of periodic arrays of rectangular posts, there are two stable configurations of nematic, tilted and planar, with optically distinct properties.

We propose a new approach towards modelling stable configurations of nematic in geometry of polyhedral posts (periodic or otherwise), which require less computational resources then existing methods. Using director field model, we establish topological classification of nematic configurations in polyhedral geometry with appropriate boundary conditions (often a mixture of tangent, normal and periodic), and allowing for defects. We give minimal energy bounds for configurations of various topologies, and identify topological types with low energies. We produce test configurations of a given topology, with a small number of free parameters (in one-constant energy approximation, those test configurations can be constructed in such a way that they are close to actual energy minimizers). Numerically minimizing energy with respect to free parameters gives a good insight on stable configurations of nematic, in particular on singularities which it may develop, and provide very good trial configurations for a more realistic, but requiring substantially more computational resources numerical modelling (such as Q tensor and molecular simulations).

For periodic arrays of rectangular posts, with tangent boundary conditions on faces, our results include topological classification of director fields, energy bounds, and simple test configurations close to energy minimizers. We use those test configurations to find numerically two topologically distinct energy-minimizing configurations.
http://www.nsti.org/Nanotech2006/showab ... absno=1007

[junglelord]

Nanotechnology is an expression of the relationship of geometry to quantum effects.
We can control quantum effects with geometry and create functions that are not normally amplified.
Nanotechnology really is a powerful statement of the effects of geometry on matter and function and how the relationship that structure and function cannot be seperated is a quantum knowledge.
The language of nature teaches lessons to nanotechnology.
Biomimetic nanotechnology
Researchers mimic biology to form nanoscale devices
Nice slide show of nanotechnology in biology
http://www.nanohub.org/resource_files/2 ... edited.ppt

Nanotechnology involves the creation and manipulation of complex structures on the scale of nanometers— something organisms have done for about 3.8 billion years. Using DNA, RNA, and a huge variety of proteins, living cells build complex molecules and nanoscale organelles, and create nonliving materials, such as tooth enamel, with nanoscale structures. So it is logical for nanotechnologists to seek to duplicate organisms’ own techniques to try to create new nanomachines from the bottom up.

Although biomimetic nanotechnology is in its infancy, with no applications yet reaching commercialization, the barriers in some cases lie mainly in scaling up production processes to industrial levels. In others, researchers must make significant basic breakthroughs to bridge the gap between laboratory experiments and usefulness.

Imitating nature
Researchers are exploring several ways to imitate biology at the submicrometer level. One approach tries to inorganically duplicate biological materials that have extraordinary properties. A recent successful example of this comes from a study of geckos at the University of Manchester’s Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology in England. The little lizards have a remarkable ability to cling to almost any surface, no matter how smooth, even when they are upside down (Figure 2). To imitate nature, one must first understand it. Not until 2000 did researchers determine that the gecko’s sticking abilities stemmed from the 200-nm-wide keratin hairs that coated the soles of their feet. Capillary forces cause hairs with that diameter to stick to films of water or wet surfaces. Equally strong van der Waals forces enable them to attach to dry surfaces as well. Each hair exerts only 10–7 N of force, but they are densely packed enough to collectively have an adhesive force of 10 N/cm2— enough to suspend a 100-kg mass from a patch 10 cm on each side.


Figure 2. Geckos can cling even to smooth surfaces when upside down because of capillary and van der Waals forces between the surface and densely packed 200-nm-wide keratin hairs on the soles of their feet (left). Fibers patterned with electron beam lithography from a plastic film (right) achieved an adhesion almost 30% as good. (Center for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology, University of Manchester, U.K.)

Inspired by these findings, the Manchester team attempted to reproduce the gecko hairs as an array of plastic fibers. These rigid fibers, however, did not work because only a few of them would make contact with an uneven surface, and the fibers lacked sufficient strength to resist breaking when the adhesive was pulled away from the surface. So the team tried a polyimide plastic film and patterned the fibers using electron beam lithography. They found that if the fibers were too close together, they stuck to each other, which reduced their stickiness to the surface. The optimum geometry proved to be a spacing of 1.6 µm, a diameter of 500 nm, and a length of 2 µm. With a flexible backing applied to the fibers—so that they could more easily accommodate irregular surfaces— the team achieved an adhesion of 3 N/cm2, almost 30% that of the real gecko. This adhesion strength would be sufficient to suspend a man with just adhesive gloves covering his palms.

Although the experimental version of gecko tape lasted through several cycles of attachment and detachment, the team contemplates making future versions based on hydrophobic materials, such as the gecko’s keratin. In concept, these materials would not stick to each other and would last longer. Of course, researchers must develop less expensive techniques than electron lithography to mass-produce such tape.

Building with proteins
Dropping in scale from hundreds of nanometers to 10 nm brings researchers to the realm of large molecules. Organisms build structures with proteins, so a second major biomimetic approach uses natural or newly designed proteins to create nanostructures. For one thing, natural proteins can form repetitive, crystalline structures to serve as substrates for arrays of nanomachines or for nanoelectronics.

Bacteria form a one-molecule-thick layer of crystalline proteins on their exteriors, called S-layers, which repeat on a 10-nm crystalline grid. A number of groups, including Uwe Sleytr and colleagues at the Center for Nanobiotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, in Vienna, Austria, seek to use bacterial S-layers as superstructures for artificial arrays. This effort involves first chemically removing the S-layer from the bacteria and breaking it up into individual molecular subunits. The subunits, when placed in solution, reassemble into ordered arrays on solid supports, such as silicon wafers, metal electrodes, or synthetic polymers (Figure 1). Once an S-layer attaches to a substrate, specific sensor molecules can be attached to the molecular array to form a bioanalytical sensor. For example, Sleytr’s group made a glucose sensor by binding glucose oxidase molecules to the S-layer and measuring the current passing through the electrodes as the oxidase reacted with the glucose. Another application under development uses S-layers as photoresists in conventional lithography. Exposure to UV light destroys the S-layer proteins in the same way that exposure to radiation changes a conventional photoresist. However, S-layers are only 5–10 nm thick, much thinner than conventional photoresists, which makes possible the replication of narrower features.

Binding proteins
Other researchers are experimenting with proteins in a far more complex way—using their ability to specifically bind with each other and with inorganic materials as a way to build new materials. One of the characteristics of biologically produced nonliving materials, such as abalone shell and spider silk, is a hierarchical structure. That is, structures exist not just at the macroscopic level and the crystalline level, but at many scales in between. This structuring often imparts remarkable characteristics to a material, such as silk’s great strength. If researchers can design appropriate new proteins, they could be used to produce similarly complex artificial materials in an industrial process.

However, scientists as yet cannot predict the shape of proteins or their binding properties just from the sequences of their constituent amino acids, because protein- folding simulations have not advanced that far. An alternative approach selects proteins with the desired binding properties from a large number of randomly generated molecules. This can be done by the genetic engineering of bacteriophage viruses—viruses that infect bacteria— an approach pioneered by Angela M. Belcher, associate professor of materials science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and other researchers. In the first step, DNA fragments with random sequences coding for many different proteins are incorporated into the DNA of bacteriophages in such a way that one of the proteins forms on the exterior of a virus. The viruses replicate and are placed in a solution in contact with the material to which they are supposed to bind. After washing away the viruses that do not bind, the few that do attach are chemically freed from the target and allowed to replicate again. The sequence is repeated until only the protein with the strongest binding remains. That protein can then be sequenced for future use. In this manner, researchers at various laboratories are creating a library of proteins that bind to specific elements and inorganic compounds, including gold, platinum, silver, zinc oxide, gallium arsenide, and iron oxide.

One possible application of such inorganic-binding proteins (also referred to as genetically engineered polypeptides for inorganics, or GEPIs) is in the assembly of nanoparticles into specific nanoscale devices, such as quantum dots. Because protein-binding reactions occur at or near room temperature in solutions, they could be considerably less expensive than conventional vacuum techniques, such as molecular-beam epitaxy. In addition, such proteins could prove useful in creating smaller devices. A separate approach to creating nanostructures uses viruses as part of the structure itself, not just to produce the right proteins. In joint work by Belcher’s MIT group and researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, genetically engineered bacteriophages align themselves into long filaments. Their outer proteins bind with inorganic materials, such as zinc sulfide and cadmium sulfide, to form long nanowires up to 600 nm long and only 20 nm across. Heating the resulting wires to 350 °C removes the virus, leaving only the metallic wire behind. The viruses used consist of only six proteins, two of which bind with the selected inorganic material. The researchers hope to modify some or all of the remaining proteins to produce more-complex self-assembled structures than wires (Figure 4).

Structuring DNA
Producing the proteins needed for nanostructures involves DNA, of course, because it is the DNA in the virus that codes for the amino acid sequence in the proteins. But another biomimetic approach uses the DNA itself as the structural element, not proteins. The idea— developed by Nadrian C. Seeman, professor of chemistry at New York University, among others—is to unravel the two intertwined helixes at the end of DNA molecules and then stick them together with the matched ends of two other DNA molecules. Because the specific sequence of nucleic acids in a given DNA strand will only match with the corresponding sequence in another DNA strand, specific molecules can be fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, with only one possible structure at each point where one DNA strand attaches to two others. The process of joining one DNA molecule to two others occurs in organisms during meiosis, the celldivision process that produces germ cells (egg and sperm) and temporarily forms X-shaped structures called Holliday junctions. However, with appropriately designed DNA sequences, a molecule can have Holliday junctions at both ends, thus allowing them to form two- and even three-dimensional arrays. Normal DNA molecules are too flexible to form rigid scaffolding. In chromosomes, DNA is twisted into densely packed hierarchies of helixes, not a rigid array. But if two DNA molecules attach to each other twice at crossover points, the resulting doublecrossover DNA (DX DNA) is stiff. By 2000, Seeman was able to use these molecules to produce two-dimensional arrays of DNA molecules.


Figure 3. Two double-crossover molecules (red and blue) connected by a bridge element (yellow) that can be converted from B-DNA (top) to Z-DNA (bottom) by the addition of hexaaminecobalt(III) chloride (and converted back again by its removal) form the basis of a DNA nanomechanical device. The change is monitored by attached fluorescent dyes represented by the stippled circles. (Department of Chemistry, New York University)

However, progress toward the practical application of these DNA arrays has been modest. Three possible applications have been discussed. One would use the arrays,eventually elaborated into three-dimensional arrays, as scaffolding for nanoelectronic components. Specific components, attached to DNA sequences, would bind to the matching sequence in the right place in the array. A second application, perhaps closer to realization, would use the arrays to bind large biological molecules into an artificial crystal for X-ray crystallography studies. Conventionally, such studies rely on the molecules forming crystals on their own, but in many cases, natural crystallization does not occur. Putting large numbers of molecules into identical spaces in a regular array would form an artificial crystal, making crystallography studies possible. DNA arrays also could form the basis for nanomachines. In one effort in this direction, Seeman and colleagues developed a DNA structure that could be rotated back and forth between two positions. To do this, they connected two DX molecules with a DNA “shaft” that can be converted from right-handed B-DNA to left-handed Z-DNA by the addition of Co(NH3)6Cl3 (Figure 3).

Significant obstacles stand in the way of practical applications of DNA structures, which remain in the early research phase. For one thing, DNA nanomachines would appear slow, taking a relatively long time—seconds or at least milliseconds—for chemical messengers to reach a machine and change its state. Perhaps more fundamentally, researchers have not figured out how to replicate DNA structures on a large scale. In organisms, DNA molecules replicate with the aid of enzymes that unzip and rezip them. But such replication appears difficult in the complexly branched structures of DNA constructs. Clever topological tricks could possibly overcome this problem, but they have not been worked out yet in practice.

Prospects

Figure 4. DNA fragments coding for proteins are incorporated into bacteriophage viruses such that one of the proteins forms on the exterior. The viruses replicate, bind to a target substance such as zinc sulfide, and form wires from which the viruses may be removed by heating. (MIT)

Although DNA structures are not a near-term technology, other approaches seem closer to realization. At the mesoscale—the gecko tape, for example, where existing fabrication technology could produce structures imitating biological ones—obstacles to commercialization involve the usual challenges of scaling up a laboratory-created item to an industrial product and improving durability. Protein-based techniques are at an intermediate stage—neither entirely a pure research subject, nor one verging on commercial application. For the most part, these techniques aim at using biologically based processes to produce artificial structures that could, in principle, be built by entirely inorganic means. For example, many groups working with nanotubes are also looking at ways to form regular arrays that incorporate appropriate metals and other materials. One key question that remains unresolved is whether protein-based methods can come on-line faster or less expensively than nanotube- based methods.

http://physicist.org/tip/INPHFA/vol-10/iss-4/p16.html

[junglelord]

The functional aspects of the geometry of the hexagon is revealed in this indepth book. Watch how it then relates to the Icosahedron. This link does not cut and paste, sorry.
http://books.google.com/books?id=ULXZwE ... #PPA470,M1

This paper on the hexagon of graphine will explain some fundamentals of structure and function. Notice how it relates to the spiral.

On the basis of these new experimental findings on needle morphologies, I propose a new growth model for the tubular needles. That is, individual tubes themselves can have spiral growth steps at the tube ends (Fig. 4b). It is worth mentioning that the spiral growth steps, which are determined by individual hexagon sheets, will have a handedness. The growth mechanism seems to follow a screw dislocation model analogous to that developed for conventional crystals, but the helical structure is entirely different from the screw dislocation in the sense that the present crystals have a cylindrical lattice.

http://www.nature.com/physics/looking-b ... index.html

Therefore the threads do cross and infact join to every third string from the vortical center. That is the fundamental triple helix. The aether is invisible and therefore we see a double helix, but the space for the aether helix is right there, each one 120 out of phase. Look at the birkeland current or the DNA, notice it is missing one thread or rope.


I had a huge paradrigm today. This forum and the members and their links work wonders for me.
I try to explain these ideas to others as I learn and integrate them as they evolve and relate.
I found myself today thinking the primary angular momentum is the rotor and the atomic geometry is the stator.


Consider my recent work on nanotechnology. Consider your pencil lead. Imagine telling your teacher in 1970, that this material is a superconductor and stronger then steel.....They would look at you funny and send you to the special class.


Yet this is in fact true.


This shows why the graphite of your pencil as cubes is soft and writes on paper. Yet take that same material, go nano and line them up one at a time and they make hexagons. Then all of a sudden this graphine is now a superconductor and stronger then steel. Structure truly is never seperate from function. The Hexagon stator is much more integrated geometricly with the angular momentum rotor which I believe forms a six sided star. This changes the properties of the same material by changing the geometry because we now have different relationship between the rotor and stator that is totally different then the cube. Remember my finding last week of the hexagon nucleus geometry? Think about carbon hexagons! Is the body a supercomputer, superconductor? Realize the cells make tetrahedrons as they grow. Realize the diamond is tetrahedrons, while coal is the cube. Remember we are a liquid crystal? So of course we grow as tetrahedrons, not cubes. We have hexagon atomic geometry and tetrahedron cellular division with Icosahedron cellular geodesic structure. We are diamonds, not coal, we are truly liquid crystal superconductors.


When we work with nanoscales or molecular scales, We are building chassies, the motor is supplied by the universe.


But truly we are building stators for the ever present rotor.

Since the Gforce of APM is a push and a pull, it stands to reason the orbital motion of the hydrogen electron does make a six sided star or daisy flower type configuration. When they show the electron making perfect circles....thats never right.


The more you can conceptualize the electron distributed charge configuration, the easier the knowledge to build a proper stator because it must relate to the rotor.

[junglelord]

Nano Buckypaper is stronger then steel.

'Buckypaper' may build the future
Versitle material conducts electricity, disperses heat like steel or brass
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - It's called "buckypaper" and looks a lot like ordinary carbon paper, but don't be fooled by the cute name or flimsy appearance. It could revolutionize the way everything from airplanes to TVs are made.

Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are stacked and pressed together to form a composite. Unlike conventional composite materials, though, it conducts electricity like copper or silicon and disperses heat like steel or brass.

"All those things are what a lot of people in nanotechnology have been working toward as sort of Holy Grails," said Wade Adams, a scientist at Rice University.

That idea — that there is great future promise for buckypaper and other derivatives of the ultra-tiny cylinders known as carbon nanotubes — has been floated for years now. However, researchers at Florida State University say they have made important progress that may soon turn hype into reality.

Buckypaper is made from tube-shaped carbon molecules 50,000 times thinner than a human hair. Due to its unique properties, it is envisioned as a wondrous new material for light, energy-efficient aircraft and automobiles, more powerful computers, improved TV screens and many other products.

So far, buckypaper can be made at only a fraction of its potential strength, in small quantities and at a high price. The Florida State researchers are developing manufacturing techniques that soon may make it competitive with the best composite materials now available.

"If this thing goes into production, this very well could be a very, very game-changing or revolutionary technology to the aerospace business," said Les Kramer, chief technologist for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, which is helping fund the Florida State research.

The scientific discovery that led to buckypaper virtually came from outer space.

In 1985, British scientist Harry Kroto joined researchers at Rice for an experiment to create the same conditions that exist in a star. They wanted to find out how stars, the source of all carbon in the universe, make the element that is a main building block of life.

Everything went as planned with one exception.

"There was an extra character that turned up totally unexpected," recalled Kroto, now at Florida State heading a program that encourages the study of math, science and technology in public schools. "It was a discovery out of left field."

The surprise guest was a molecule with 60 carbon atoms shaped like a soccer ball. To Kroto, it also looked like the geodesic domes promoted by Buckminster Fuller, an architect, inventor and futurist. That inspired Kroto to name the new molecule buckminsterfullerene, or "buckyballs" for short.

For their discovery of the buckyball — the third form of pure carbon to be discovered after graphite and diamonds — Kroto and his Rice colleagues, Robert Curl Jr. and Richard E. Smalley, were awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1996.

Separately, Japanese physicist Sumio Iijima developed a tube-shaped variation while doing research at Arizona State University.

Researchers at Smalley's laboratory then inadvertently found that the tubes would stick together when disbursed in a liquid suspension and filtered through a fine mesh, producing a thin film — buckypaper.

The secret of its strength is the huge surface area of each nanotube, said Ben Wang, director of Florida State's High-Performance Materials Institute.

"If you take a gram of nanotubes, just one gram, and if you unfold every tube into a graphite sheet, you can cover about two-thirds of a football field," Wang said.

Carbon nanotubes are already beginning to be used to strengthen tennis rackets and bicycles, but in small amounts. The epoxy resins used in those applications are 1 to 5 percent carbon nanotubes, which are added in the form of a fine powder. Buckypaper, which is a thin film rather than a powder, has a much higher nanotube content — about 50 percent.

One challenge is that the tubes clump together at odd angles, limiting their strength in buckypaper. Wang and his fellow researchers found a solution: Exposing the tubes to high magnetism causes most of them to line up in the same direction, increasing their collective strength.

Another problem is the tubes are so perfectly smooth it's hard to hold them together with epoxy. Researchers are looking for ways to create some surface defects — but not too many — to improve bonding.

So far, the Florida State institute has been able to produce buckypaper with half the strength of the best existing composite material, known as IM7. Wang expects to close the gap quickly.

"By the end of next year we should have a buckypaper composite as strong as IM7, and it's 35 percent lighter," Wang said.

Buckypaper now is being made only in the laboratory, but Florida State is in the early stages of spinning out a company to make commercial buckypaper.

"These guys have actually demonstrated materials that are capable of being used on flying systems," said Adams, director of Rice's Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology. "Having something that you can hold in your hand is an accomplishment in nanotechnology."

It takes upward of five years to get a new structural material certified for aviation use, so Wang said he expects buckypaper's first uses will be for electromagnetic interference shielding and lightning-strike protection on aircraft.

Electrical circuits and even natural causes such as the sun or Northern Lights can interfere with radios and other electronic gear. Buckypaper provides up to four times the shielding specified in a recent Air Force contract proposal, Wang said.

Typically, conventional composite materials have a copper mesh added for lightning protection. Replacing copper with buckypaper would save weight and fuel.


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Wang demonstrated this with a composite model plane and a stun gun. Zapping an unprotected part of the model caused sparks to fly. The electric jolt, though, passed harmlessly across another section shielded by a strip of buckypaper.

Other near-term uses would be as electrodes for fuel cells, super capacitors and batteries, Wang said. Next in line, buckypaper could be a more efficient and lighter replacement for graphite sheets used in laptop computers to dissipate heat, which is harmful to electronics.

The long-range goal is to build planes, automobiles and other things with buckypaper composites. The military also is looking at it for use in armor plating and stealth technology.

"Our plan is perhaps in the next 12 months we'll begin maybe to have some commercial products," Wang said. "Nanotubes obviously are no longer just lab wonders. They have real world potential. It's real."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27239975/

[junglelord]

Pretty cool that you can model just about anything with Zome that is found in Nature
http://www.georgehart.com/zomebook/life-on-mars.html

[altonhare]

More evidence that the nano world is all about geometry where structure truly meets function head-on.
This one example kills an age old thought about Geckos and their ability to climb glass walls.
It is not due to chemistry and glue as was thought.
Gecko-feet based on geometry not chemistry!

-JL

These ensure that a gecko's foot has a large surface area in contact with any surface, maximising the weak but ever-present attraction between adjacent molecules known as the van der Waals force.

-http://technology.newscientist.com/arti ... -glue.html

Van der Waals forces are classified as chemical. The geometric arrangement of the material is designed to maximize this chemical "force".

You don't need to know any geometry to conclude that more surface area results in more van der waals interaction which results in greater "stickiness".

Geometry only comes in when one is deciding how to design the structure to maximize the surface area. But all along we were motivated by maximizing a chemical interaction.

[moses]

Plants Can Accumulate Nanoparticles In Tissues :
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 093348.htm
Mo