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They have built materials out of
metals, ceramics, polymers, proteins and the fancy carbon molecules
“bucky balls” and “nanotubes” a few molecules at
a time.
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RICHMOND TIMES DISPATCH - May 06, 2001 (Reprinted
with permission.)
Big
attention paid to small materials
It's one molecule at a time for professor
BY GREG EDWARDS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Serendipity led Virginia Tech's Dr. Rick Claus onto
a new research path, one that involves the creation of exciting new materials
by, well, uh - dipping.
Scattered around Claus' laboratories on the Tech campus
or at NanoSonic Inc., his Blacksburg business, are containers of various
colored solutions. "It looks like we're dipping Easter eggs,"
he says.
Claus and colleagues work in the hot, relatively new
field of nanotechnology. They have built materials out of metals, ceramics,
polymers, proteins and the fancy carbon molecules "bucky balls"
and "nanotubes" a few molecules at a time. Nano is a term used
to describe extremely small things.
For instance, a hair is 100 nanometers wide. By
making materials from particles as small as two nanometers, Claus infuses
them with potential that usual production methods don't provide.Materials
from Claus' labs have both commercial and scientific potential. More efficient
solar panels, cheaper eyeglasses and less-invasive surgical equipment
are possible products.
Claus' work with nanotechnology and his pioneering work
in fiber-optic sensor technology are among the accomplishments that led
to his selection this year for a Virginia Outstanding Scientist Award.
Dr. Francis Sellers Collins, head of the National Human Genome Institute,
was the year's other recipient. The award is juried by a selection committee,
making it the chief recognition for Virginians doing outstanding research,
said Dr. Walter Witschey, director of the Science Museum of Virginia.
A scientist's peers understand what is involved in doing quality research,
Witschey said.
When Claus, 49, talks about his work, he seems never
to have lost the enthusiasm for research that he must have had as a college
student. He sprinkles descriptions of what he is working on with words
such as "neat" and "cool." Jim Barney of the Magnum
Group, a California-based business development firm, describes Claus as
always positive and upbeat. "He truly does have a passion for his
work," Barney said. As soon as a project confronts Claus he jumps
on it. "There's no procrastination in this guy," he said.
Claus is a widely published researcher, who serves as director
of the Fiber and Electro-Optics Research Center at Virginia Tech and as
associate director of Tech's new Optical Sciences and Engineering Research
Center, which focuses on bio-medical
optics research. A native of Baltimore and graduate of Johns Hopkins University
with bachelor's and doctoral degrees in engineering, Claus has been at
Tech since 1977. While in Blacksburg, Claus has written 22 patents and
has been the principal researcher on 450 separate projects representing
$33 million in research funding. In 1986, he became the youngest full
professor in the history of Tech's college of engineering.
Chance and a student's bad luck led Claus to focus his talents on nanotechnology.
In 1995, Yan Jing Liu, a Chinese graduate student in
Tech's physics department, lost his advisor when the teacher failed to
get tenure. Liu, who was working with coatings and films, landed in Claus'
research center. "He worked for us for a while," Claus said,
"and coatings got real interesting." The "electrostatic
self-assembly" process that Liu was developing for making coatings
sounds deceptively simple. It involves cleaning a base material such as
glass, leaving it with an electrical charge. Then the base material is
dipped back and forth into water soluble solutions of nanoparticles, one
solution carrying a positive charge and the other a negative charge. In
between each dipping, a purified water wash removes any loosely bonded
particles. Eventually, a film of new material builds up.
The complicated part of the process, Claus said, falls
to the chemists who prepare the solutions of nanoparticles. After that,
it's easy to do. Claus says the coatings might even be applied to larger
objects with something such as a spray wand from a car wash. Using the
technique, Claus said that near-perfect coatings can be created in an
environmentally safe manner at room temperatures and pressures without
the need for a clean room.
The process is cheap to do. "We can make 99 percent
of the stuff like in a kitchen," he said.
He remembers how, when Liu first came to his center,
the student told him that he needed some equipment to continue his experiments.
"Liu said he needed fifty, and I said there's no way we can come
up with $50,000," Claus recalled. But all Liu wanted was $50 to buy
some buckets and a few chemicals.
Claus explained that materials made from smaller particles
have different properties from those made from larger particles. He used
coffee grounds as an everyday example. Coffee is better the finer it's
ground, because the smaller particles taken as a whole offer more coffee
surface area for brewing.
Creating materials one molecular layer at a time allows
researchers to control a material's electrical, optical, magnetic, thermal
and other properties. For example, Claus said coatings that are extremely
hard can be produced.
"The thing I think is really cool and the overriding
theme of all this is we can change the behavior of materials . . . the
way they respond to external stimuli," he said.
Claus and Liu formed a business to commercialize the
new technology. The name NanoSonic was picked, though sound has nothing
to do with the process. Liu just liked the word sonic, Claus said. Liu
is pursuing other projects now though he still is an owner of NanoSonic,
Claus said.The company is on Blacksburg's South Main Street in a building
whose former tenants were a bar and pool hall and a furniture store. The
company licenses patents for the technology held by Virginia Tech and
has developed its own intellectual property.
To start the company, Claus used money he had made from
the sale of another small company he owned. Funding also comes from work
NanoSonic is doing for the government and companies such as Lockheed Martin
and Motorola. Claus said he expects to double NanoSonic's current employment
of 12 in the next six months. "If we can find the people, we've got
the work," said Claus, who offers employees stock options and what
he claims are the best benefits in Blacksburg.
Materials created by the self-assembly nanotechnology
have potential applications for: integrated circuits, power distribution
and control, communications, transportation, computer hardware, biosensing,
and eyeglass lenses. By using molecules that have dipole properties like
a magnet, the molecules can be made to "line up like cadets on the
drill field," Claus said. The ability to order molecules gives materials
properties that can be used in electro-optical modulators, optical devices
that are similar to transistors in electronics.
"We're working on optical switches that, if put
together the right way, can turn light on and off very quickly and efficiently.
We can also route light in different directions," he said.
Nanotechnology, Claus said, also has the potential for
creating electricity-producing solar panels that are many times more efficient
than those currently on the market. He said he expects the photo-voltaic
work could generate some outside investment interest.
Barney of the Magnum Group, which specializes in the
ophthalmic industry, believes NanoSonic's technology has great potential
for both commercial product development and for the health-care field.
Barney, himself, is working on adapting the technology to put anti-reflective
coatings on eyeglass lenses. The process could reduce the current cost
of creating such coatings by 90 percent, he said.
Another use of the technology, Barney said, might be
to put coatings on surgical instruments used in eye surgery, preventing
the body's defenses from reacting in a way that reduces the surgery's
long-term effectiveness.
"[Claus] has the ability to take ideas that are
extremely conceptual and help you to clearly understand whether they have
a practical application in today's world," Barney said.
"He understands that what made you successful in
the past is not going to make you successful in the future."
This story can be found at : http://www.timesdispatch.com/vametro/MGB4KG4WDMC.html
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The kit...will walk students through a process called
electrostatic self-assembly...
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THE ROANOKE TIMES -Tuesday, December 11, 2001 (Reprinted with permission.)
Blacksburg company to bring nanotechnology to
high school students
By MEGAN SCHNABEL
THE ROANOKE TIMES
Earth science, biology, chemistry and ... nanotechnology?
Using a new kit developed by a Blacksburg company, middle
and high school students could soon get the chance to dabble in the cutting-edge
study of atoms and molecules.
Nanotechnology is a broad - and still growing - science
that involves manipulating molecules to create new materials. Possible
applications range from the fanciful - nanobots that would patrol inside
the body and search out infections - to the already realized - photovoltaic
cells that convert sunlight to energy.
"There's a lot of talk about nanotechnology today
- nano this and nano that," said Kristie Cooper of NanoSonic Inc.,
the company that's creating the kits. "But there's no real connection
to the education program."
The study of nanotechnology is becoming more and more
popular at the university level. Last fall, Cooper and NanoSonic founder
Rick Claus started talking about bringing it into secondary school classrooms.
"Really, science education hasn't changed that
much over 30 years, and technology has," Cooper said.
The kits, which will sell for about $100, will walk
students through a process called electrostatic self-assembly, the same
process that's used in NanoSonic's lab. It starts with cleaning a piece
of base material, such as glass, with a special process that leaves it
with an electrical charge. Then the material is dipped alternately into
water-based solutions of positively and negatively charged nanoparticles.
The oppositely charged particles attract and stick to one another, building
layers.
Depending on the materials used, the resulting coatings
display different properties: optical, electrical, magnetic, mechanical.
Materials created in this way can be used in areas including medical research
and microchip design.
The students will create optical thin films, similar
to those used in optical fiber communication systems. The kit also will
include a workbook, a CD-ROM demonstration video and a teacher's guide
that will provide lesson plans and guidance in integrating nanotechnology
into the state's Standards of Learning.
"That's the first thing we pulled out - the SOLs,"
Cooper said. "It can't just be cool. It has to be educational."
NanoSonic's work is funded through a $60,000 grant from
the Department of Education, awarded through the Small Business Innovation
Research program. The money runs out at the end of February, and NanoSonic
will apply for another federal grant of as much as $300,000 to finish
the work.
The kits are still in the prototype stage. Virginia
Tech students are evaluating sample kits now, and next month Suzan Mauney,
who teaches eighth-grade physical science at Blacksburg Middle School,
will test a kit in her classroom. She said she's always looking for ways
to give her students a closer look at the latest technologies.
"Textbooks aren't published yearly," Mauney
said. "You can imagine, with the way things are moving so rapidly
... a textbook that might have been considered cutting-edge this year
could be out of date next year."
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"We are looking at membrane materials,
similar to polyester, that are less permeable to methanol and at least
10 times cheaper."
Jeff Mecham, NanoSonic Scientist |
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RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH - August 9, 2001 (Reprinted with
permission.)
Fuel
cells offer increased efficiency with almost no emissions
BY JOAN GAIDOS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
While William Grove pondered an idea for producing
electricity in his laboratory at London's Royal Institute in 1839, an
oil lamp likely lit the room and a sooty coal stove probably provided
heat. That was an ironic setting for the amateur British physicist who
first discovered what today has become a promising clean energy alternative
- fuel cells.
"Fuel cells, in their simplest form, use hydrogen
gas and oxygen to produce electricity," said Dr. Gary Wnek, chemical
engineer and fuel-cell researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University.
"The only byproducts are water and a little heat. Some people used
to call them 'fool' cells," said Wnek, referring to the long, tortuous
past of the fuel cell. "There was a lot of investment and interest,
but little payoff." The first viable demonstration of fuel cells
was by NASA in the 1960s Gemini program. But by the 1980s, fuel cells
were still too expensive and faced technical hurdles that prevented widespread
use, Wnek said. "In the last decade, there has really been a shift
in focus to produce economical, practical fuel cells. I think we are turning
the corner."
A sampling of facilities relying on fuel-cell power
today includes a U.S. Postal Service office in Anchorage, Alaska; the
125-year-old Central Park Police Station in New York City; a wastewater
treatment plant in Boston; a beer brewery in Japan; and a gym at Fort
Eustis in Newport News. Not far behind are at least a half-dozen automakers
gearing up to roll fuel-cell-powered vehicles off the line in the next
five to 10 years. "If the technology continues to progress at the
present rate, competitively priced fuel-cell vehicles could dominate the
market within the next five to 10 years," said Edward Murphy, general
manager at the American Petroleum Institute.
Unlike the solar and wind alternative-energy markets
that dried up and blew away along with their government supports, Murphy
said, "the fuel-cell market is being driven by the private sector.
The auto industry is faced with tightening emission standards while maintaining
consumer performance expectations. . . . The only way to do that is with
fuel cells."
The core of a fuel cell is made of several layers. A
porous conductive paper lies next to platinum-coated, carbon-black particles
on the outside of an exchange membrane material comparable to plastic
kitchen wrap. The layers are sandwiched between negatively and positively
charged ends, similar to a battery. However, unlike a battery, fuel cells
do not run out of charge as long as fuel is provided, Wnek said. The layers
of specialized materials in the fuel cells break apart hydrogen gas (two
hydrogen atoms bonded together), generating electricity that is carried
out of the cell as an electric current. The ionized hydrogen recombines
with oxygen, and the returning electric current, to produce the main fuel-cell
emission - water.
By comparison, when power is produced by burning fossil
fuels, such as in a vehicle's internal combustion engine or fossil-fuel-burning
power plant, a lot of energy is lost as heat. Harmful emissions are also
produced that contribute to air pollution and greenhouse gas, according
to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a government laboratory that studies
fuel-cell technology.
"With fuel cells, there is a tremendous increase in efficiency, and
fuel cells essentially eliminate emissions," Murphy said. "These
are huge benefits for the consumer."
So why haven't fuel cells been used sooner?
In the past, "energy was cheap, and we were not
as concerned with conserving energy, the environment or pollution,"
said Dr. Michael Von Spakovsky, director of the Energy Management Institute
and a professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech.
There also have been limitations in technology, cost and alternative fuel
distribution, he said. "There is not a system in place to distribute
compressed hydrogen gas, the basic energy source for fuel cells."
However, fuel cells can be built to extract hydrogen gas from other fuels
such as gasoline, natural gas, methanol and ethanol.
Virginia researchers are on the cutting edge of fuel-cell
development, working on fuel cells that use methanol directly instead
of hydrogen gas."Methanol is appealing because we are already used
to feeding liquid fuel into cars. . . . It is more acceptable," Wnek
said. "However, there are some very real technical problems with
methanol that the industry is aggressively addressing."
One problem is that methanol penetrates an expensive
membrane layer of the fuel cell, effectively short-circuiting it, said
Dr. Jeff Mecham, chemist for NanoSonic Inc., a company founded on research
work that originated with Virginia Tech's Fiber and Electro-Optics Research
Center. The company is developing more efficient and competitively priced
direct methanol fuel cells.
The cost of materials to make fuel cells has been an
ongoing problem. The material commonly used for the exchange membrane
cost more than $74 per square foot. Multiplied by the various layers inside
a fuel cell, the cost mounts quickly, Mecham said.
"We are looking at membrane materials, similar
to polyester, that are less permeable to methanol" and at least 10
times cheaper, Mecham said.
Fuel cells have many potential applications, including
portable power for electronic devices, said Wnek. "Imagine recharging
your cell phone or laptop with a few drops of methanol."
Stationary fuel cells, which are capable of powering
homes or offices, already have hit the commercial market. International
Fuel Cells has installed its fuel cells in 15 countries, said Tom Coulbourn,
the company's Richmond representative. "These models are highly reliable
and produce very low emissions."
The city of Richmond hopes to use fuel cells within
the next few years to power its wastewater treatment plant, said Coleman
Grandstaff, manager of energy services for the Richmond Department of
Public Utilities. "The fuel cell would run off a combination of natural
gas and gas produced by the wastewater plant, mainly methane. Right now,
methane is burned off at the wastewater plant . . . that is a waste of
an energy source. If we can create electricity for the plant from it,
that would be great."
Murphy said, "Fuel cells are a prime example of
how technology continues to advance and solve problems for us. Outside
the U.S., fuel cells have the potential to improve people's standard of
living, and do it in an environmentally sound manner." As other countries,
particularly Third World countries, become more mobile, they will have
the opportunity to move directly to fuel-cell vehicles and power generation,
he said. Wnek said, "Fuel cells are here to stay."
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Perhaps one of its best features is that it works
with low-cost photolithographic processes, making it an extremely inexpensive
option.
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TECHNICAL INSIGHTS - FALL 2001
Manufacturing
at the Nanometer Level
BY LEO O'CONNOR
DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH
Although molecular self-assembly is still in its nascent
stages, researchers at Virginia Tech and NanoSonic may have already reached
a pinnacle in the field. Together, they have developed and refined a new
technique that allows the near perfect manufacture of synthesized materials
at the nanometer level, with specifically designed constitutive behaviors.
The process, known as modified electrostatic self-assembly
(MESA), was originally created at Virginia Tech. NanoSonic, a spin-off
corporation created to commercialize the process, has used it to create
an entire catalogue of self-assembled materials, including inorganic oxide
nanoclusters, noble metal nanoclusters, and other molecules. In addition,
they have used MESA to synthesize thin-film materials for use in eyewear.
Richard Claus, President of NanoSonic and one of MESA's
creators, explained that at first glance, the process seems simple. He
and his colleagues begin by dipping a chosen substrate into alternate
aqueous solutions containing anionic and cationic materials (for example,
polymer complexes, metal and oxide nanoclusters, and other biomolecules).
As they design the individual precursor molecules, NanoSonic scientists
find that they can control the thickness of the manufactured film.
Consequently, they can also control its macroscopic
electrical, optical, magnetic, thermal, mechanical, and other properties.
One of MESA's major advantages is that it allows scientists to manufacture
substrate material at room temperatures. In addition, it is environmentally
friendly, consuming almost no power and leaving no volatile organic compounds
behind.
Perhaps one of its best features is that it works with
low-cost photolithographic processes, making it an extremely inexpensive
option.
"In the broadest of senses, the wide range for
NanoSonic's MESA process generated more than $36 billion in revenues in
1997," reported Claus. "The market for these applications is
forecasted to grow at a compound annual rate of 5% over the next few years,"
he continued. The eyewear business fuels much of this growth, specifically
in lens products and treatments. Both are arenas where Claus expects MESA
to have a dramatic effect.
Over the past few years, NanoSonic acquired licenses
to nine patents from Virginia Tech. At present, they are refining the
technique in various ways and readying their first products for launch.
In the future, Claus also sees using MESA-produced films in integrated
circuit devices, power distribution and control devices, communication
devices and networks, transportation systems, computer hardware systems,
biosensing devices, and eyeglass lenses.
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E010141
0701
Copyright 2001, Frost & Sullivan, Inc., New York, NY 10006
Details: Dr. Richard Claus, President, NanoSonic, P.O. Box 618,
Christianburg, VA 24068. Phone: 540-953-1785. E-mail:
info@nanosonic.com.
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Claus thinks that the company's
work in photovoltaic materials -- those that convert sunlight to energy
-- could have the most potential for commercialization as the world becomes
more concerned about finding energy-producing alternatives to oil and
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Virginia
Nanotechnology Firm Works on Energy Alternatives
Copyright, Knight Ridder/Tribune
BY MEGAN SCHNABEL
RICHMOND TIMES DISPATCH
Aug. 30, 2001 -- Rick Claus and his colleagues at NanoSonic Inc.
make a very big deal out of very small things.
In their sparsely furnished lab, in a building that once
housed a bar and a furniture store, the company's team of scientists
is developing new materials, one particle at a time.
They're players in the increasingly hot field of nanotechnology,
which involves manipulating substances molecule by molecule, to create
custom-designed materials that can be used in fields as diverse as medical
research and microchip design.
Materials that are made from tiny particles have different properties
from those made from larger particles. As Claus explained: The finer
you grind your coffee beans, the better the beverage will taste because
the finer particles offer a larger total surface area for brewing.
Nanotechnology offers scientists the opportunity to create substances
that are very nearly perfect, because they can define the structure
of the substance on such a small scale.
The process developed at NanoSonic is deceptively simple;
it can be done at room temperature and doesn't require a clean room
or other special equipment.
Researchers start by cleaning a piece of base material, like
glass, a process that leaves it with an electrical charge. Then they
dip the material alternately into water-based solutions of positively
and negatively charged nanoparticles. The oppositely charged particles
attract and stick to each other, like Velcro. With each dip, layers
build up, creating a new material.
Depending on the materials that they use -- iron, cobalt, titanium dioxide,
copper -- the resulting coatings display different properties: optical,
electrical, magnetic, mechanical.
Claus thinks that the company's work in photovoltaic materials
-- those that convert sunlight to energy -- could have the most potential
for commercialization as the world becomes more concerned about finding
energy-producing alternatives to oil and natural gas.
While most photovoltaic devices on the market now are big,
rigid and heavy, Claus and his colleagues believe their methods can
create materials that are much easier to handle.
"What we like to think we could do is make photovoltaic
fabrics that you could roll out like plastic wrap," he said. Just
roll it out on top of your tent, he said, and create enough power to
fire up your PC. They're still working out the kinks; so far, they've
achieved success with simulated sunlight, but they're still not creating
enough current.
Recently, they've turned some of their efforts toward fuel
cell technology. Using the nanomaterials processes, they believe they
can produce fuel cell components that are less expensive and more efficient
than what's currently on the market.
The company received a federal grant for the work, which is led by chemist
Jeff Mecham, who recently completed his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech.
Scientists have been working with nanomaterials for decades,
but only recently has the field become wildly popular. Researchers believe
their work could lead to advances in biomedical devices, microchip design,
energy technology and other areas.
Last year, then-President Clinton provided $422 million
to launch the National Nanotechnology Initiative. This year, President
Bush pledged an additional $485 million in funding.
Claus said he's been amazed at the speed at which nanotechnology
has caught on. "This is great fun," he said. "There are
meetings everywhere. It's pretty exciting. And it's all new." The
flip side, he said, is that "everyone who can spell 'nano' is involved
somehow, and that has been interesting to see."
Dozens of tiny companies have sprung up in recent years
to claim their slice of the nanotechnology pie. At least one other Blacksburg
company, Luna Nanomaterials, is doing work in nanotechnology; Luna has
focused on producing molecules called buckyballs for medical research.
The impetus behind NanoSonic came in the mid-1990s when
Yanjing Liu, a Virginia Tech graduate student who had been researching
coatings and films in the chemistry department, lost his adviser and
came to study with Claus, who heads Virginia Tech's Fiber and Electro-Optics
Research Center.
His research caught Claus' attention. In 1998, they formed
NanoSonic to capitalize on the research. Today, the company has 21 employees.
It has licensed nine patents from Virginia Tech and has also developed
its own intellectual property. Liu left NanoSonic in January to work
with another Blacksburg company.
"We were doing nano when nano wasn't a big deal,"
Claus said. "It's not that we're smart or clever, but we picked
a winner."
Claus expects NanoSonic will be able to carve out its own niche in the
industry. But he doesn't foresee the company becoming a 1,000-person
manufacturer, churning out photovoltaic fabric or solar-powered cars.
"We're not going to make automobiles and we're not
going to make airplanes," he said.
In the short term, they might decide to license their technologies.
Further down the road, they might partner with a manufacturer.
"Maybe there's some things we could actually make here,"
he said.
NanoSonic already has fabrication contracts with several
companies and is participating in research programs with government
agencies. The company also has sold some products, including a robotic
machine that performs the self-assembly process.
Claus said NanoSonic will post annual revenues of somewhere
between $1 million and $10 million at the end of its fiscal year next
month.
The company isn't ready to take on venture capital yet,
he said. They're still trying to figure out which of their technologies
will be commercially viable, and
which ones are just cool science.
"We're probably just on the cusp of getting out of
survival mode," he said.
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They have created a “metal rubber”—a
substance that conducts electricity like a metal, but also stretches like
rubber to up to 250% of its original length. |
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A
sandwich that packs a punch
June 10th 2004
From The Economist print edition
Materials: A novel manufacturing technique has produced a metal
with the flexibility of rubber, which could have a wide range of uses
WHAT would an artificial muscle look like? It would move in response
to an electrical signal, just as real muscles do. It would be flexible,
to enable it to elongate and then return, unaffected, to its original
shape. And it would be robust enough to stand up to repeated flexing.
Artificial muscles that could do all this could replace bulky motors,
electromagnets and other actuators in all kinds of devices. They do not
exist yet—but their day may be approaching.
Several teams of researchers are working in the field. Already,
they have fabricated materials that flex or contract when a voltage is
applied. Researchers at SRI International, for example, a non-profit research
institute based in Menlo Park, California, have created a muscle by sandwiching
a rubbery substance between two electrically conducting layers made of
carbon particles suspended in a kind of grease. When a voltage is applied
to the outer layers, they attract one another, squashing the sandwich
and making it up to twice as long and half as thin.
This is impressive, but at small sizes, metal electrodes can
work even better than ones made of carbon. They conduct electricity better,
making them faster and more energy efficient. But there is a catch: metal
electrodes are much less flexible than carbon ones, which can constrain
the muscle's ability to flex.
Rick Claus, an electrical engineer at the Virginia Polytechnic
Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia, and Jennifer Lalli, a polymer chemist
at NanoSonic, a spin-out from Virginia Tech, believe they have solved
this problem. They have created a “metal rubber”—a substance
that conducts electricity like a metal, but also stretches like rubber
to up to 250% of its original length. This novel substance was made using
a simple and relatively low-cost technology called “electrostatic
self-assembly” in which a thin film of material is immersed in a
solution containing positively charged ions, washed to remove any impurities,
and then immersed in a second solution containing negatively charged ions
(which stick to the positive ions on the preceding layer). The process
is repeated to build up alternating layers of positive and negative ions
on top of each other.
Dr Claus has already used this process to make a flexible
kind of photovoltaic cell, made from alternating polymer and ceramic layers,
that can be sewn on the outside of a tent. To create the metal rubber,
layers of non-conducting polymers are alternated with layers of metal
ions, such as gold, silver or platinum. The material can be made in sizes
up to one foot square. The concentration of metal—as little as 2%
by volume—is low enough not to constrain the material's elasticity,
but high enough to conduct electricity.
In addition to making possible improved artificial muscles,
this material could be used to make flexible electronic circuits, antennae
or mirrors. Metal-rubber mirrors would be light and rugged, and would
be ideal for use in cameras, space probes or satellites.
Clever though it is, this novel material is unlikely, in and
of itself, to take on a starring role in high-tech products, admits Dr
Claus. Instead, he imagines it invisibly improving the efficiency and
effectiveness of existing devices. Furthermore, unlike most examples of
nanotechnology, these new materials may be able to make the elusive transition
from nano-sized materials (a nanometre is a billionth of a metre) to macro-sized
components. “Part of the reason nanotechnology has not resulted
in a lot of direct applications yet is that the technologies have not
moved from the very small scale to the people-sized scale,” he says.
“These materials are human-scale, and we think that's an important
step.”
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Metal Rubber might someday serve "morphing"
aircraft with shape-shifting wings. It might have biomedical applications
- perhaps as a component of artificial muscles - or meet other needs not
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This article is © 2004- the Times-World Corp.
New
product promising for Blacksburg firm
Date: May 13, 2004 Section: VIRGINIA Page: A1
By Duncan Adams
Even a mossbacked technophobe might confess to a nanosecond's
burst of curiosity about a patented product called "Metal Rubber."
You might lose this Luddite, though, by sharing too many details.
Details like this: Metal Rubber is made through an innovative process
based on the self-assembly of nanoparticles.
This flexible, "novel material" conducts electricity
like metal even when stretched like rubber.
Metal Rubber might someday serve "morphing" aircraft
with shape-shifting wings. It might have biomedical applications - perhaps
as a component of artificial muscles - or meet other needs not yet identified.
And it might someday push revenues through the roof for a
small, private, nanotechnology company in Blacksburg that's grown from
two employees in 1998 to 43 and has no outside investors.
The folks at NanoSonic Inc., who shy away from discussions
about annual revenues but say the company has "always been profitable,"
have begun shopping Metal Rubber to Fortune 500 companies.
"Eight people from a Fortune 500 company were in here
a couple of weeks ago," said Jennifer Hoyt Lalli, nanocomposites
group leader for NanoSonic, during an interview Tuesday at the company's
increasingly cramped quarters on South Main Street.
"Right now we are still refining Metal Rubber to the
specs these companies want," she said.
The prefix "nano," which comes from the Greek word
for "dwarf," refers to really small stuff. Stuff invisible to
the naked eye. Nano is equal to one billionth of something, so a nanometer
is one billionth of a meter. A human hair is about 60,000 to 100,000 nanometers
wide.
Researchers at NanoSonic work at the "nano" scale.
They come up with products such as Metal Rubber by manipulating molecules.
A molecule is the smallest unit of a substance that retains that substance's
properties.
Here's how NanoSonic's process of electrostatic self-assembly
works. First, researchers treat a base material, such as glass, so that
it retains a specific electrical charge. Then, they repeatedly dip the
base material into baths with ions of alternating positive and negative
charges. The oppositely charged nanoparticles, which NanoSonic makes in
house, attract and stick to one another, like Velcro. Each dip builds
up layers, creating a new material.
NanoSonic was founded in 1998 by Virginia Tech professor Rick
Claus and Yanjing Liu, then a graduate student who had been researching
coatings and films in Tech's chemistry department. Claus remains company
president; Liu left NanoSonic in 2001.
NanoSonic has exclusively licensed from Virginia Tech nine
patents covering electrostatic self-assembly processing.
Claus, whose last name is pronounced like Santa's, was traveling
this week and could not be reached for comment.
But Lalli said word about Metal Rubber is spreading.
"We get calls about it every week," she said.
Marten de Vries, NanoSonic's vice president of business development,
said company revenue sources include government research and development
funds and "prototyping funding" from defense contractors. The
company also has a portfolio of products that incorporate NanoSonic's
electrostatic self-assembly process, he said.
Lalli said NanoSonic is "bursting at the seams"
on South Main Street, and she and de Vries acknowledged that a search
is under way for a new home.
De Vries put it this way in an e-mail: "NanoSonic is
looking for a cost effective expansion solution and would like to stay
in the area."
Lalli would not say whether Metal Rubber contains any metal
or rubber. She said she preferred to talk in terms of nanoparticles and
polymers.
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Claus said in a statement that the partnership
with Lockheed Martin should be "very beneficial" to his company
and Virginia's role in nanotechnology. |
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Richmond Times-Dispatch © 2004
Jul 29, 2004
NanoSonic
and Lockheed partner on nanotechnology
NanoSonic Inc., a Blacksburg firm, has signed an agreement with Lockheed
Martin Corp. to develop nanotechnology materials and coatings.
Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of materials on an extremely
small scale. "Nano" means one-billionth.
NanoSonic is led by Richard O. Claus, who holds a chair in electrical
and computer engineering and materials science at Virginia Tech.
Claus said in a statement that the partnership with Lockheed Martin
should be "very beneficial" to his company and Virginia's
role in nanotechnology. He was in a conference in Spain this week and
could not be reached for further comment.
Making new material
The company, founded in 1998, recently announced that it has begun making
a new material called Metal Rubber that conducts electricity like a
metal but stretches like rubber up to several hundred percent of its
original length. It is being considered for medical and aerospace uses.
Metal Rubber has been mentioned as a possible component for airplane
wings that shift their shape when charged with electricity or for use
in artificial muscles.
Claus, a 2001 recipient of a Virginia Outstanding Scientist Award, and
Yan Jing Liu, a Chinese graduate student at Tech, formed NanoSonic.
Liu, who was working an electrostatic self-assembly process for making
coatings, got Claus interested in the technology. Liu is no longer with
the company.
The process sounds deceptively simple. It involves cleaning a base material
such as glass and leaving it with an electrical charge. Then the base
material is dipped into water-soluble solutions of nanoparticles, one
solution carrying a positive charge and the other a negative charge.
Film builds up
In between each dipping, a purified water wash removes any loosely-bonded
particles. Eventually, a film of new material builds up.
The complicated part of the process falls to the chemists who prepare
the solutions of nanoparticles. After that, it's easy to do and inexpensive.
Near-perfect coatings can be created in an environmentally-safe manner
at room temperatures and pressures without the need for a clean room,
Claus explained. - Greg Edwards
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Thursday, July 29, 2004 © 2004
Blacksburg
technology firm, aeronautics giant team up
By Andrew Kantor
The Roanoke Times
A local company on the forefront of small technology has partnered with
an aeronautics giant known for its military aircraft and space hardware.
Blacksburg-based NanoSonic entered into a two-year partnership with Lockheed
Martin, creators of the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117 Stealth Fighter and
the Hubble Space Telescope.
"A lot of the offerings that NanoSonic provided matched up very well
with some of Lockheed Martin's needs," explained Jeff Adams, spokesman
for the Bethesda, Md.-based company.
NanoSonic specializes in very small substances and sensors; its nanoscale
materials can be used in the manufacture of coatings and solid composites
capable of withstanding stresses that traditional components can't.
Two analogies to the visible world are helpful. A braided rope is stronger
than a single cord. And a wall of identical bricks is stronger than one
of randomly shaped rocks. In the same way, nanomaterials use the incredibly
strong bonds between atoms to create lighter, stronger and more versatile
materials. They can be linked into chains or assembled into "ultra-uniform"
layers that are resistant to heat and abrasion. When woven into other
materials, they can increase strength exponentially - a useful feature
on an airplane wing, for example.
NanoSonic's relationship with Lockheed Martin started because of the latter's
interest in transparencies, according to Jennifer Lalli, director of nanocomposites
and vice president of business development for NanoSonic. (With stealth
properties being built into many new military aircraft, such as the F-35
Joint Strike Fighter, making a window for the pilot that also absorbs
radar is critical.)
But NanoSonic showed Lockheed a lot more. While most nanomaterials are
too small to be seen without a microscope, NanoSonic's self-assembly process
makes the molecules literally put themselves together into larger, thicker
materials.
"We showed them that we can upscale this process," Lalli said.
"We've gone essentially from nano to macro."
That piqued Lockheed's interest. If NanoSonic could make large objects
out of those tough nanomaterials, how well could it control the process?
In particular, could NanoSonic create, say, an aircraft window that looks
like clear glass, but actually is made of several layers? Could it make
a windscreen with a tough (and radar-absorbing) outer skin that could
darken in bright sun and provide a heads-up display for the pilot?
Quite possibly.
"We can now tailor those mechanical and ... electrical properties
and essentially design a whole host of products for their specific needs,"
Lalli said.
And thus the agreement, which at this point is about information, not
money. According to Lalli, employees from both companies will share information
and meet quarterly.
"We're putting on paper that we want to work toward developing solutions
to problems together," she said.
Considering that Lockheed Martin had sales of almost $32 billion last
year, it's a nice agreement for NanoSonic to have.
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While most nanomaterials are too small to be seen without
a microscope, NanoSonic's self-assembly process makes the molecules literally
put themselves together into larger, thicker materials.
"We showed them that we can upscale this process," Lalli said.
"We've gone essentially from nano to macro." |
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