Tiny buckyballs squeeze hydrogen like giant Jupiter (3/21/2008) Carbon cages can hold super-dense volumes of nearly metallic hydrogen Hydrogen could be a clean, abundant energy source, but it's difficult to store in bulk. In new research, materials scientists at Rice University have made the surprising discovery that tiny carbon capsules called buckyballs are so strong they can hold volumes of hydrogen nearly as dense as those at the center of Jupiter. The research appears on the March 2008 cover of the American Chemical Society's journal Nano Letters. "Based on our calculations, it appears that some buckyballs are capable of holding volumes of hydrogen so dense as to be almost metallic," said lead researcher Boris Yakobson, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Rice. The Department of Energy has devoted more than $1 billion to developing technologies for hydrogen-powered automobiles, including technologies to cost-effectively store hydrogen for use in cars.
Comments: Leave a Reply: News ::: Columbia Engineers Prove Graphene is Strongest Material. July 21, 2008 Columbia Engineers Prove Graphene is the Strongest Material Research scientists at Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science have achieved a breakthrough by proving that the carbon material graphene is the strongest material ever measured. Graphene holds great promise for the development of nano-scale devices and equipment.
It consists of a single layer of graphite atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, similar to a honeycomb. As a two-dimensional material, every atom is exposed to the surface. It forms the basis of graphite fibers used in tennis racquets and other durable products. When rolled, very useful tiny tubes called nanotubes can be fabricated. Until now, graphene’s estimated strength, elasticity and breaking point were based on complex computer modeling theories. “Our team sidestepped the size issue by creating samples small enough to be defect-free,” said Columbia Professor Jeffrey Kysar. Atoms are mini black holes? Publications - Cookie absent. This site uses cookies to improve performance. If your browser does not accept cookies, you cannot view this site. Setting Your Browser to Accept Cookies There are many reasons why a cookie could not be set correctly. Below are the most common reasons: You have cookies disabled in your browser. Why Does this Site Require Cookies?
This site uses cookies to improve performance by remembering that you are logged in when you go from page to page. What Gets Stored in a Cookie? This site stores nothing other than an automatically generated session ID in the cookie; no other information is captured. In general, only the information that you provide, or the choices you make while visiting a web site, can be stored in a cookie. Institute of Nanotechnology. Small world. By Ralph C. Merkle Xerox PARC 3333 Coyote Hill Road Palo Alto, CA 94304 merkle@xerox.com This is an extended web version of the article published in the Feb/Mar 1997 issue of MIT Technology Review. This version has greater technical detail and embedded links. Introduction Manufactured products are made from atoms. The properties of those products depend on how those atoms are arranged. If we rearrange the atoms in coal, we get diamonds. Since we first made stone tools and flint knives we have been arranging atoms in great thundering statistical heards by casting, milling, grinding, chipping and the like.
That's changing. Build products with almost every atom in the right place. One warning: in contrast to the useage in this article some researchers use the word "nanotechnology" to refer to high resolution lithographic technology while others use it to refer to almost any research where some critical size is less than a micron (1,000 nanometers). The advantages ofnanotechnology Stiffness. How Nanotechnology Works. There's an unprecedented multidisciplinary convergence of scientists dedicated to the study of a world so small, we can't see it -- even with a light microscope. That world is the field of nanotechnology, the realm of atoms and nanostructures.
Nanotechnology is so new, no one is really sure what will come of it. Even so, predictions range from the ability to reproduce things like diamonds and food to the world being devoured by self-replicating nanorobots. In order to understand the unusual world of nanotechnology, we need to get an idea of the units of measure involved. A centimeter is one-hundredth of a meter, a millimeter is one-thousandth of a meter, and a micrometer is one-millionth of a meter, but all of these are still huge compared to the nanoscale. A nanometer (nm) is one-billionth of a meter, smaller than the wavelength of visible light and a hundred-thousandth the width of a human hair [source: Berkeley Lab].
Institute of Nanotechnology.