Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Picture of the day


Self-Assembled Monolayers - Vapor Phase Annealing


Wise Group, Penn State, Self-Assembled Monolayers - Vapor Phase Annealing


A scanning tunneling microscope image (200nm x 140 nm) of a self-assembled monolayer of n-decanethiolate on Au{111} that has been vapor-annealed in n-dodecanethiolate. The protrusions on each of the atomic steps are the 1.1 Å higher n-dodecanethiolate molecules. (click to see larger version)

Acknowledgements: Z. J. Donhauser.

To see the entire series, visit the Nanotechnology Now Gallery.

"We focus on gaining atomic-scale understanding and control of materials properties. We do this by exploring, probing, and manipulating interactions and dynamics at surfaces and interfaces. We use and extend scanning tunneling microscopy to explore the surface structures, motion, and perturbations due to adsorbed atoms and molecules and due to surface features such as substrate steps and defects. We locate, study, and try to exploit the regimes in which our intuition based on macroscopic measurements breaks down. We are exploring the phenomena to be used, the ground rules, and the ultimate limits in nanometer-scale electronics and storage. Our microscopes serve not only as probes, but also allow us to manipulate matter on the atomic scale. We can thus interrogate the properties of uniquely configured atomic-scale structures. This has required the development of new tools with atomic-scale views of the surface. One new effort in our group looks at how we can bridge the gap between conventional optical microscopies and scanning probe microscopies."

—Paul S. Weiss, Professor of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University. Weiss Group Featured Images

Quote of the day

"Nanotechnology is a suite of powerful materials synthesis and fabrication technologies that can control structure in the nanometer to 100 nanometer range - precisely the size range where size controls properties. As a technology strategy, nanotechnology will result both in new devices and products based on designer materials and engineered structure, as well as a large number of improvements to existing products and products resulting from the marriage of nanotechnology with currently-used fabrication technologies."

~Dr. Martin Moskovits, Chief Technology Officer API Nanotronics http://nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=4445

Nanotechnology Predictions

Today I thought I’d hit you with a few of my favorite predictions and statistics. While I do not necessarily agree with them all, I do respect the groups and individuals that produced them, and therefore believe that we need to pay attention to them. When taken as a whole, I believe they indicate that great deal of expedient thought needs to be given the field of nanotechnology. If there is one “for sure” you can take away from this, it is that nanotechnologies have the potential to impact society in ways both profound and unfathomable. The time to start planning for the consequent disruptive change is now.


"This technology (nanotechnology) also holds the promise of broad societal implications. By 2015, products in which nanotechnology plays a key role will require more than 2 million workers and produce about $1 trillion in products annually. These estimates are from leading experts in large companies with related nanotechnology programs in the United States, Japan and Europe."

~Mihail C. Roco, Senior Advisor, NSF and Chair, U.S. National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology. http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060205/OPINION/602050382/1002


"Nanotechnology is approaching a phase change that will see it spread exponentially across manufactured goods in the next 10 years. In 2004, $13 billion worth of products will incorporate emerging nanotechnology, less than one-tenth of 1% of global manufacturing output. In 2014, we project that this figure will rise to $2.6 trillion -- 15% of manufacturing output in that year."

From: Sizing Nanotechnology's Value Chain
http://www.nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=1248


“Energy is the largest business in the world. The growing thirst for fossil-fuel based energy by developing economies in Asia, compounded by political strife in energy-rich areas of the world, has created an unprecedented demand and a volatile supply. Solar energy has long been recognized as a potential solution - 175,000 terawatts of solar energy hit the earth every day, three-thousand times the amount we would need to power the entire world. Nanotechnology is at the forefront of solar cell development from the mechanism from capturing light to the means to convert it into electricity and conduct the power to the devices that need it.”

From: NanoBusiness 2007 to Focus on CleanTech, Highlighting Nanotechnology’s Role in Improving the Environment
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070321005760&newsLang=en


“U.S. demand for nanotechnology medical products will increase over 17 percent per year to $53 billion in 2011, says The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm. Afterwards, the increasing flow of new nanomedicines, nanodiagnostics, and nanotech-based medical supplies and devices into the US market will boost demand to more than $110 billion in 2016.”

From: Demand for nanotech-based medicine grows
http://www.smalltimes.com/articles/article_display.cfm?Section=ONART&C=Bio&ARTICLE_ID=287462&p=109

To view more worthwhile quotes, visit the Quotes page at my consulting team site.