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Rensselaer’s online research magazine |
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Nanotechnology — the ability to control materials and devices at the atomic and molecular level — is enabling revolutionary changes. |
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Nanoparticles and Polymer Chains |
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| A leading research area in the NSF Center for Directed Assembly of Nanostructures (one of only six in the country) concerns the integration of nanoparticles into a matrix of polymer chains to create new composite materials with enhanced properties. In one project, Linda Schadler, professor of materials science and engineering, is collaborating with J. Keith Nelson, the Philip Sporn Professor of Electric Power Engineering, to develop new nano insulating materials for electric power cables with greatly improved dielectric properties. |
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Measurements demonstrate two orders of magnitude improvements in voltage endurance. Schadler and Nelson also have integrated nanomaterials into thermosets, a class of polymer materials, for power generation and transmission. Their materials have higher strength, ductility, and modulus, a combination that is not achievable with conventional materials. |
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In other work, Nikhil Koratkar, associate professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering, and his group have demonstrated that integrating nanotubes into traditional materials not only increases their strength; it also dramatically improves their ability to reduce vibrations. Potential applications range from spacecraft and automobile engines to golf clubs that don’t sting and stereo speakers that don’t buzz. |
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Nanoparticles and Biomaterial |
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| Another important area of research is the combination of complex biomolecules with nanoparticles. Ravi Kane, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, and Jonathan Dordick, the Howard P. Isermann ’42 Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, have shown that enzymes are more stable, and therefore more useful commercially, when attached to carbon nanotubes or other nanostructures before they are incorporated into a polymer film. |
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Robert Linhardt, the Ann and John H. Broadbent Jr. ’59 Senior Constellation Professor in Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering, has engineered nanoscale materials, coated with heparin composites, that include carbon nanotubes, carbon fibers, and membranes with nanosized pores. He has demonstrated that these membranes could work as an artificial kidney by filtering the blood and maintaining its flow without the systemic administration of heparin to the patient during dialysis.
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The Amazing Carbon Nanotubes |
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| Rensselaer’s nanotechnology center has a particularly strong reputation in carbon nanotubes — perhaps the most enticing class of nano-materials. These nanoscale cylinders have been hailed as some of the lightest, strongest materials ever made. Rensselaer researchers are exploiting this broad portfolio of properties, beginning with the fundamental building blocks of matter and working up to devices and systems with a multiplicity of applications. |
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Nanoscale Springs, Rods, and Beams |
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| Toh-Ming Lu, the Ray Palmer Baker Distinguished Professor, leads a Rensselaer group that has been awarded a $1.15 million NSF grant to explore the potential of nanomechanical systems by making and testing springs, rods, and beams at the nanoscale. Lu envisions a wide range of applications for these devices, including more efficient light emitters and solar cells, extremely sensitive chemical and biological sensors, and super-high-density three-dimensional magnetic memory. |
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