Closest Look Ever at Graphene

10/31/2009 2:15:29 AM
Closest Look Ever at Graphene: Stunning Images of Individual Carbon Atoms From TEAM 0.5 microscope


Source

Next-generation carbon nanotube microcapsules deliver 'chemicals on demand'

Posted: October 28, 2009

Next-generation carbon nanotube microcapsules deliver 'chemicals on demand'

(Nanowerk News) Scientists in California are reporting development of a new generation of the microcapsules used in carbon-free copy paper, in which capsules burst and release ink with pressure from a pen. The new microcapsules burst when exposed to light, releasing their contents in ways that could have wide-ranging commercial uses from home and personal care to medicine. Their study appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a weekly publication ("Chemicals On Demand with Phototriggerable Microcapsules").

A new generation of microcapsules, shown above, promise to deliver "chemicals on demand" for a wide range of uses, including medicine and personal care.

Jean Fréchet, Alex Zettl and colleagues note that liquid-filled microcapsules have many other uses, including self-healing plastics. Those plastics contain one group of microscapsules filled with monomer and another with a catalyst. When scratches rip open the capsules, the contents flow, mix, and form a seal. Microcapsules that burst open when exposed to light would have great advantages, the scientists say. Light could be focused to a pinpoint to kill cancer cells, for instance, or shined over an large area to print a pattern.

The new microcapsules consist of nylon spheres about the size of a grain of sand. They enclose a liquid chemical sprinkled with carbon nanotubes. The nanotubes convert laser light to heat that bursts the nylon capsule, releasing the chemical. Using such a system, doctors, for example, might inject microcapsules containing anti-cancer drugs to specific cells and make the capsules burst upon exposure to laser light, delivering their contents precisely where and when they are needed in the body.

Source: American Chemical Society

Source

Hard Rain: Pitt-led Researchers Create Nano-Particle Coating to Prevent Freezing Rain Buildup on Roads, Power Lines

October 29, 2009
Contact: Morgan Kelly
412-624-4356 (office);
412-897-1400 (cell)
mekelly@pitt.edu

Hard Rain: Pitt-led Researchers Create Nano-Particle Coating to Prevent Freezing Rain Buildup on Roads, Power Lines

Inspired by water-resistant lotus leaves, the Pitt-developed solution repels freezing rain and provides the first evidence of anti-icing ability in superhydrophobic coatings, team reports in “Langmuir”

PITTSBURGH-Preventing the havoc wrought when freezing rain collects on roads, power lines, and aircrafts could be only a few nanometers away. A University of Pittsburgh-led team demonstrates in the Nov. 3 edition of “Langmuir” a nanoparticle-based coating developed in the lab of Di Gao, a chemical and petroleum engineering professor in Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering, that thwarts the buildup of ice on solid surfaces and can be easily applied.

The paper, by lead author and Pitt doctoral student Liangliang Cao, presents the first evidence of anti-icing properties for a burgeoning class of water repellants-including the Pitt coating-known as superhydrophobic coatings. These thin films mimic the rutted surface of lotus leaves by creating microscopic ridges that reduce the surface area to which water can adhere. But the authors note that because ice behaves differently than water, the ability to repulse water cannot be readily applied to ice inhibition. Cao's coauthors include Gao, Jianzhong Wu, a chemical engineering professor at the University of California at Riverside, and Andrew Jones and Vinod Sikka of Ross Technology Corporation of Leola, Pa.

The team found that superhydrophobic coatings must be specifically formulated to ward off ice buildup. Gao and his team created different batches made of a silicone resin-solution combined with nanoparticles of silica ranging in size from 20 nanometers to 20 micrometers, at the largest. They applied each variant to aluminum plates then exposed the plates to supercooled water (-20 degrees Celsius) to simulate freezing rain.

Cao writes in “Langmuir” that while each compound containing silica bits of 10-or-fewer micrometers deflected water, only those with silica pieces less than 50 nanometers in size completely prevented icing. The minute surface area of the smaller fragments means they make minimal contact with the water. Instead, the water mostly touches the air pockets between the particles and falls away without freezing. Though not all superhydrophobic coatings follow the Pitt recipe, the researchers conclude that every type will have a different particle-scale for repelling ice than for repelling water.

Gao tested the coating with 50-nanometer particles outdoors in freezing rain to determine its real-world potential. He painted one side of an aluminum plate and left the other side untreated. The treated side had very little ice, while the untreated side was completely covered. He produced similar results on a commercial satellite dish where the glossed half of the dish had no ice and the other half was encrusted.

A video available on Pitt's Web site shows an aluminum plate glazed with Gao's superhydrophobic coating (left) repelling the supercooled water. For the uncoated plate (right), the water freezes on contact and ice accumulates. The video can be accessed at www.pitt.edu/news2009/ice.html

Related links:Langmuir paper Gao video

Source

Nanoparticle Self-Lighting Photodynamic Therapy For Cancer Treatment

Nanoparticle Self-Lighting Photodynamic Therapy For Cancer Treatment

Wei Chen^*

Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019-0059

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been designated as a “promising new modality in the treatment of cancer” since the early 1980s. Light must be delivered in order to activate photodynamic therapy. Most photosensitizers have strong absorption in the ultraviolet (UV) – blue range, therefore, UV -blue light is needed for their activation. Unfortunately, UV-blue light has minimal penetration into tissue and its application for in vivo activation is a problem. To solve the problem and to enhance the PDT treatment for deep cancers, we introduce a new PDT system in which the light is generated by afterglow nanoparticles with attached photosensitizers. When the nanoparticle-photosensitizer conjugates are targeted to tumor, the light from afterglow nanoparticles will activate the photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy. Therefore, no external light is required for treatment. More importantly, it can be used to treat deep tumor such as breast cancer because the light source is attached to the photosensitizers and are delivered to the tumor cells all together. This new modality is refereed as Nanoparticle Self-Lighting Photodynamic Therapy (NSLPDT).

Key Words: Photodynamic Therapy, Cancer, Nanoparticles, Quantum Dots, Luminescence, Afterglow, Penetration, Radiation Therapy.

Corresponding Author: weichen@uta.edu

Source

Other articles on Wei Chen

Sonnemed Patent Filing

(WO/2009/129321) COMPOUNDS AND METHODS FOR ACTIVATED THERAPY

Pub. No.:		WO/2009/129321

Publication Date: 22.10.2009
International Application No.: PCT/US2009/040688
International Filing Date: 15.04.2009

• Description
• Claims
• National Phase
• Notices
• Document

Applicants:
SONNEMED LLC [US/US]; 10 Mt. Vernon Street, #208 Winchester, MA 01890 (US) (All Except US).
LEWIS, Thomas [US/US]; (US) (US Only).
SZULWACH, Ann, M. [US/US]; (US) (US Only).

Inventors:
BURKE, Donald; .
LEWIS, Thomas; (US).

Title:
COMPOUNDS AND METHODS FOR ACTIVATED THERAPY

Abstract:
Provided herein are compounds for detection, diagnosis and treatment of target tissues or target compositions, including hyperproliferative tissues such as tumors, using sonodynamic and/or photodynamic methods. In particular, photosensitizer and/or sonosensitizer compounds that collect in hyperproliferative tissue are provided.

Description
[Snips]
The compounds of the invention are useful as sonosensitizers, photosensitizers and/or as dual acting sensitizers as therapeutic and diagnostic agents, for example for treatment of several cancer types such as, but not limited to, melanoma, prostate, brain, colon, ovarian, breast, skin, lung, esophagus and bladder cancers and other hormone-sensitive tumors, as well as for treatment of age-related macular degeneration, and for killing cells, viruses, fungi and bacteria in samples and living tissues as well known in the art of PDT and other sonosensitizer applications.
....

The invention further relates to a method of sonodynamic therapy, which comprises administering to an individual in need an effective amount of a compound of the invention, followed by local ultrasound. The compounds of the invention are also useful for photo- and sonodestruction of normal or malignant animal cells, as desired, as well as of microorganisms in culture, enabling selective photo- and sonodestruction of certain types of cells in culture or infective agents. Thus, the invention further provides the use of the compounds of the invention for in vivo, ex-vivo or in vitro killing of cells or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi in a biological product, e.g. blood, which comprises treating the infected sample with the compound of the invention followed by ultrasound of the sample. Examples of such diseases or conditions include acne, Aids, viral hepatitis, diabetic retinopathy, infection with sars virus, coronary artery stenosis, carotid artery stenosis, intermittent claudication, or Asian (chicken) flu virus, or infections caused by intracellular infectious agents such as Clamidia, tox, ricetzia, rocky mountain spotted fever, q-fever, and others.

Source

Posted by donpatent at 2:24 PM

See also United States Patent Application 20090275548

Growing Cartilage From Stem Cells

Article Date: 22 Oct 2009 - 6:00 PDT

Damaged knee joints might one day be repaired with cartilage grown from stem cells in a laboratory, based on research by Professor Kyriacos Athanasiou, chair of the UC Davis Department of Biomedical Engineering and his colleagues.

Using adult stem cells from bone marrow and skin as well as human embryonic stem cells, Athanasiou and his group have already grown cartilage tissue in the lab. Now they are experimenting with various chemical and mechanical stimuli to improve its properties.

Cartilage is one of the very rare tissues that lacks the ability to heal itself. When damaged by injury or osteoarthritis, the effects can be long-lasting and devastating.

"If I cut a tiny line on articular cartilage (the cartilage that covers the surfaces of bones at joints), it will never be erased," Athanasiou said. "It's like writing on the moon. If I go back to look at it a year later, it will look exactly the same."

Work that Athanasiou's group began in the early 1990s at Rice University has resulted in the only FDA-approved products for treatment of small lesions on articular cartilage. (In total, Athanaisou's patents have resulted in 15 FDA-approved products.)

"This will be live, biological cartilage that will not only fill defects, but will potentially be able to resurface the entire surface of joints that have been destroyed by osteoarthritis," Athanasiou said. Currently, joint replacements using metal and plastic prosthetics are the only recourse for the one in five adults who will suffer major joint damage from osteoarthritis.

Source:
Andy Fell
University of California - Davis

Source

Nanomagnets Guide Stem Cells To Damaged Tissue

ScienceDaily (Oct. 22, 2009)

Microscopic magnetic particles have been used to bring stem cells to sites of cardiovascular injury in a new method designed to increase the capacity of cells to repair damaged tissue, UCL scientists have announced.

The cross disciplinary research, published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions, demonstrates a technique where endothelial progenitor cells – a type of stem cell shown to be important in vascular healing processes – have been magnetically tagged with a tiny iron-containing clinical agent, then successfully targeted to a site of arterial injury using a magnet positioned outside the body.

Following magnetic targeting, there was a five-fold increase in cell localisation at a site of vascular injury in rats. The team also demonstrated a six-fold increase in cell capture in an in vitro flow system (where microscopic particles are suspended in a stream of fluid and examined to see how they behave).

Although magnetic fields have been used to guide cellular therapies, this is the first time cells have been targeted using a method directly applicable to clinical practice. The technique uses an FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) approved agent that is already used to monitor cells in humans using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

Dr Mark Lythgoe, UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, the senior author on the study, said: "Because the material we used in this method is already FDA approved we could see this technology being applied in human clinical trials within 3-5 years. It's feasible that heart attacks and other vascular injuries could eventually be treated using regular injections of magnetised stem cells. The technology could be adapted to localise cells in other organs and provide a useful tool for the systemic injection of all manner of cell therapies. And it's not just limited to cells – by focusing tagged antibodies or viruses using this method, cancerous tumours could be much more specifically targeted"

Panagiotis Kyrtatos, also from the UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging and lead researcher of the study, added: "This research tackles one of the most critical challenges in the biomedical sciences today: ensuring the effective delivery and retention of cellular therapies to specific targets within the body.

"Cell therapies could greatly benefit from nano-magnetic techniques which concentrate cells where they are needed most. The nano-magnets not only assist with the targeting, but with the aid of MRI also allow us to observe how the cells behave once they're injected."

This work was supported by public and charitable funding from the UCL Institute of Child Health (Child Health Research Appeal Trust), The British Heart Foundation, the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

---

Journal reference:

1. Panagiotis G. Kyrtatos, Pauliina Lehtolainen, Manfred Junemann-Ramirez, Ana Garcia-Prieto, Anthony N. Price, John F. Martin, David G. Gadian, Quentin A. Pankhurst, Mark F. Lythgoe. Magnetic Tagging Increases Delivery of Circulating Progenitors in Vascular Injury. JACC Cardiovascular Interventions, 2009; 2 (8): 794 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcin.2009.05.014

Adapted from materials provided by University College London.

Source

INL, ISU team on nanoparticle production breakthrough

INL chemist Bob Fox and his colleagues at Idaho State University have invented a way to make extremely precise, uniform nanoparticles to order. The breakthrough could help make solar cells more efficient and speed the development of nanotechnology.

INL, ISU team on nanoparticle production breakthrough

by Mike Wall, Research Communications Fellow

Every hour, the sun floods Earth with more energy than the entire world consumes in a year. Yet solar power accounts for less than 0.002 percent of all electricity generated in the United States, primarily because photovoltaic cells remain expensive and relatively inefficient.

View the precision nanoparticles video.

But solar may not be such a marginal power source for long. Chemists at Idaho National Laboratory and Idaho State University have invented a way to manufacture highly precise, uniform nanoparticles to order. The technology, Precision Nanoparticles, has the potential to vastly improve the solar cell and further spur the growing nanotech revolution.

A scientific gold rush
Nanoparticles are motes of matter tens of thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair. Because they're so small, a large percentage of nanoparticles' atoms reside on their surfaces rather than in their interiors. This means surface interactions dominate nanoparticle behavior. And, for this reason, they often have different characteristics and properties than larger chunks of the same material.

While scientists have just begun to exploit nanoparticles, they already show great promise in a number of fields, from medicine to manufacturing to energy. For example, embedding certain nanoparticle types in building materials makes structures stronger and more corrosion-resistant. And nano-engineered transistors are smaller, faster and more efficient than traditional ones.

"Nanoparticles are the scientific gold rush of the next generation," says INL chemist Bob Fox, who helped develop the Precision Nanoparticles technology. "They'll change our lives the way personal computers have."

Because the properties of nanoparticles are so size-dependent, any little dimensional tweak can make a big difference. Thus a key to harnessing the potential of nanoparticles lies in the ability to produce them at certain prescribed sizes, with tiny margins of error. This capability has proven elusive, but it is just what Precision Nanoparticles delivers.

Precision Nanoparticles could enable photovoltaic cells to harness a much bigger chunk of the sun’s radiation spectrum. View a larger version of the solar spectrum.

A new way to make nanoparticles
A few years ago, Fox and ISU chemists Joshua Pak and Rene Rodriguez began looking for a better way to make semiconducting components for solar cells. Specifically, they wanted to improve how raw materials are transformed into semiconducting nanoparticles. The industry's established method of doing this is relatively imprecise and energy-intensive, requiring temperatures around 300 degrees Celsius.

The team hit upon the idea of using "supercritical" carbon dioxide to streamline the reaction. Supercritical fluids are a bit like a mix between a gas and a liquid. They can diffuse through solids, for example, but also dissolve substances like a liquid does. Supercritical carbon dioxide has been used for years to decaffeinate coffee.

But when Fox, Pak and Rodriguez introduced supercritical carbon dioxide into their reaction vessel, the only immediately noticeable result was a thick yellow goop.

"We thought it was a failed experiment," Fox says.

But when the chemists looked more closely, they discovered the goop was full of very small, incredibly uniform semiconducting nanoparticles. The same reaction, roughly, that industry uses to transform raw materials into semiconducting nanoparticles had taken place — but it generated a better, less variable product.

"We didn't expect that doing this would give us such homogeneity," Fox says. "That was really exciting." And because the new reaction could proceed at a much lower temperature — 65 degrees Celsius rather than 300 — it also promised to save a great deal of money and energy.

After tinkering with the reaction, Fox, Pak and Rodriguez figured out how to control nanoparticle size with unprecedented precision. They can now produce prescribed particles between 1 and 100 nanometers, hitting the mark every time with great accuracy. In July, R&D magazine recognized the breakthrough technology as one of its top 100 innovations of 2009 — a prestigious award commonly referred to as an "Oscar of invention". And in September, the work won the Early-Stage Innovation of the Year prize in the Stoel Rives Idaho Innovation Awards.

Fox, Pak and Rodriguez have licensed the technology to Precision Nanoparticles, Inc. The relatively new Seattle company is poised to begin production of tailor-made nanoparticles for the photovoltaic industry.

The chemists have manufactured nanoparticles of the semiconductor copper indium sulfide (identified here as “quantum dots”), a key component of advanced solar cells.

A better solar cell
The aims of the INL and ISU chemists — and of Precision Nanoparticles, Inc. — are to make solar cells more efficient and, ultimately, solar energy more practical.

In a solar cell, photons strike atoms of a semiconducting material — historically, silicon — knocking loose some electrons. These liberated electrons then flow in a single direction, generating direct-current electricity. The amount of energy needed to jar electrons loose is specific to each material and corresponds to only a tiny sliver of the sun's radiation spectrum. This fact explains why the efficiency of most current cells maxes out at around 20 percent.

To knock an electron free from silicon, for example, an incoming photon must have an energy of about 1.3 electron volts. This energy is known as silicon's band gap, and it corresponds to a photon wavelength of 950 nanometers or so. Photons with lower energies — and thus longer wavelengths — won't do the job. Shorter-wavelength photons will, but their energy above 1.3 electron volts is wasted, dissipated as heat. This is a big deal, because the most abundant photons from sunlight occur between 500 and 600 nanometers (which our eyes register as greens and yellows) — meaning that most current photocells waste a lot of energy.

Engineers have been working hard to harness more of the solar spectrum, to design cells that put low-energy photons to work and use high-energy photons more efficiently. One way to do this is to build composite cells with layers of different semiconductors. Slapping a film of copper indium sulfide atop a band of silicon, say, increases a cell's photon-catching power. But building such devices is expensive and technologically tricky.

"The different layers don't play well together," Fox says.

That's where the Precision Nanoparticles technology comes in. One of the many properties that changes with a nanoparticle's size is its band gap. Because Fox and his team learned how to control nanoparticle dimensions so precisely, it may soon be possible to manufacture — from a single material — semiconductor building blocks tuned to specific wavelengths of light. A photovoltaic cell made of such building blocks could capture huge swathes of the solar energy spectrum. And since the cells would contain only a single semiconducting material, they would be much cheaper, more efficient and easier to construct than current multi-layer designs.

Some cells' semiconductor nanoparticles, Fox believes, could even be tuned to pick up infrared wavelengths — heat, which radiates off rocks, buildings, roads and parking lots deep into the night.

"So your solar panel could be working long after you've gone to bed," he says.

The production process is environmentally friendly: it generates little waste and can proceed at relatively low, energy-saving temperatures.

Beyond solar power
While Precision Nanoparticles' most immediate applications come in the field of its birth, photovoltaics, potential uses don't stop there. For example, the technology could also greatly advance ultracapacitor research. Ultracapacitors store electrical energy quickly and effectively, and they may someday replace batteries in electric cars and plug-in hybrids. At least one material, vanadium nitride, has much higher ultracapacitance in nano-form — but only if the nanoparticles are of strictly uniform size, Fox says.

To fully blossom, the nanotech revolution will require the control needed to produce such uniformity. Technologies like that developed by Fox, Pak and Rodriguez may be able to provide this control, delivering particles of predictable size with predictable properties. As a result, nanoparticles could find their way into more designs, and more products.

"The only thing limiting us at this point is our imagination," Fox says.

Water-soluble fullerene (c60) inhibits the development of arthritis in the rat model of arthritis

Published Date October 2009

Kazuo Yudoh¹, Rie Karasawa¹, Kayo Masuko², Tomohiro Kato²

¹Institute of Medical Science, ²Department of Biochemistry, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Japan

Abstract: Recently, it has been demonstrated that oxygen free radicals have an important role as a signaling messenger in the development of inflammation and osteoclastogenesis, suggesting the implication of oxygen free radicals in the pathogenesis of arthritis. The aim of this study was to examine the potential of a strong free-radical scavenger, water-soluble fullerene (C60), as a protective agent against synovitis in arthritis, both in vitro and in vivo. In the presence or absence of C60 (0.1, 1.0, 10.0 µM), human synovial fibroblasts, synovial infiltrating lymphocytes or macrophages were incubated with tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) (10.0 ng/mL), and the production of proinflammatory cytokines by the individual cells were analyzed. C60 significantly suppressed the TNF-α-induced production of proinflammatory cytokines in synovial fibroblasts, synovial infiltrating lymphocytes and macrophages in vitro. Adjuvant induced arthritic rats were used as an animal model of arthritis. Rats were divided into two subgroups: control and treatment with C60 at 10.0 µM. The left ankle joint was injected intraarticularly with water-soluble C60 (20 µl) in the C60-treated group, while, as a control, the left ankle joint in the control rats received phosphate-buffered saline (20 µl), once weekly for eight weeks. Ankle joint tissues were prepared for histological analysis. In adjuvant-induced arthritic rats, intra-articular treatment with C60 in vivo reduced synovitis and alleviated bone resorption and destruction in the joints, while control ankle joints showed progression of synovitis and joint destruction with time. These findings indicate that C60 is a potential therapeutic agent for inhibition of arthritis.

Keywords: fullerene, inflammation, arthritis, synovitis, bone resorption

Source

Kanzius Machine Offers Cancer Treatment Hope

Sometimes it takes someone outside of a given field to truly come up with something remarkable, and the Kanzius Machine may be one of those stories.

Former radio executive John Kanzius was diagnosed with a deadly form of leukemia and was determined to use the time he had left to create something that would treat not only him, but the millions who are diagnosed with cancer each year.

The result was the Kanzius Machine, an experimental cancer treatment that employs a combination of either gold or carbon nanoparticles and radio waves to heat and destroy cancer cells without damaging healthy cells.

Before you suggest that it using radio waves to destroy cancer cells might sound like quackery, according to 60 Minutes cancer researchers are so excited by its promise that it is already being used in laboratory tests on animals as a prelude to official human testing.

Sadly John Kanzius died in February 2009, but the work he started goes on. The 60 Minutes story on the Kanzius Machine as follows:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Electric Buses Of the Future/Ultracapacitor/CNTs

Recharging would be done at solar-paneled bus stops.

By Emily Canal
Thursday, October 15, 2009

A popular sight from Shanghai will be brought to American University on Oct. 21, to present a green alternative to public transportation. The zero-carbon ultracapacitor bus, a vehicle powered completely by batteries capable of charging in minutes, will be unveiled at the event.

"I hope that we can educate people about technology as much as we can save the environment," said Dan Ye, the executive director of Sinautec Automobile Technologies based in Arlington. "I hope that we can replace a lot of diesel vehicles."

The ultracapacitor is a device placed inside the bus that can be recharged quickly to power the vehicle to the next destination. The model bus to be presented at American University can travel 45 miles between charges. There are also batteries placed on board to serve as a reserve energy source.

Ye said one of the advantages of the ultracapacitor is it can recharge in five to 20 minutes, compared to the three hours it can take regular buses. The battery can also be reused between 50,000 and 500,000 cycles.

"It can outlast the entire lifetime of the vehicle," Ye said. "Even after the vehicle has retired you can use the system for other applications."

Overhead chargers would be built at stops and would connect with the vehicles to give the bus the juice needed to drive to the next destination. Shanghai has been using this technology since 2006.

"The version we are showing is the version operating in Shanghai," Ye said. "I hope that in two to three years that we can ramp up the amount of power put into the vehicle using technology coming out of MIT."

Sinautec has teamed up with entities like MIT and the Stella Group, Ltd. to build a version of the bus for the streets of Washington, D.C.

"I find it exciting and more than just a job," said Joel Schindall, a professor of the electrical engineering department at MIT. "We are running out of our energy reserve … and I think it would really be an important step forward."

Schindall is also serving as the principal investigator with a group at MIT to find a way for the ultracapacitor to store more energy. Although no official contracts have been signed between Sinautec and Schindall’s group, Schindall will be speaking at the event about the carbon nanotube enhanced ultracapacitor.

"The ultracapacitor could store more energy, and right now that’s a limiting factor," Schindall said. "The buses can make good use of the ultracapacitor, but they have to be recharged frequently."

Schindall said the nanotubes are carbon atoms that look like tubular rods and resemble shag carpeting. The array of nanotubes has more surface area and can store more energy.

"I think one of the hardest things is the vicious cycle any product that is new and made in small quantities is going to cost more than a mature product," Schindall said. "It will get started but it will be a slow process."

Ye said a typical bus in New York costs between $.70 to $1 per mile for diesel to operate, and the bus usually travels about 100 miles a day. The ultracapacitor would cut carbon emission by 70 percent and cost about $.15 to $.20 to operate per mile.

"Electricity is much cheaper and if you look at the costs of the entire lifetime you would make all the money back," Ye said. "The demonstration would show that this technology is possible and its possible to run carbon free."

Scott Sklar, president of the Stella Group, Ltd. is working with the project to help add solar charging to the bus stations.

"The technology of the 1800s was great, but this is the 21st century and its time to move on," Sklar said. "I like horse and buggies and it was great technology but not in the Capital Beltway."

Sklar said the ground solar panels would face south and resemble bleachers. As passengers boarded the bus, the electronic control equipment would plug in and charge the vehicle.

Sklar said the charging process is great for popular bus stations where it takes several minutes for passengers to get on and off the vehicle. He expects the bus will need five to seven minutes to recharge.

"This is good for people who are not exposed to this stuff," Sklar said. "You can come and touch it and see it’s not as scary as it sounds."

Source

Sinautec Automobile Technologies

Forty One Seat Ultracap Bus Eleven Seat Minibus Ultracap Golf Cart Photo Gallery U.S. Oil Usage

36 FEET ULTRACAPACITOR BUS CHARGING STATION DESIGNS 11 SEAT UNTRACAPACITOR MINI-BUS 4 SEAT UNTRACAPACITOR CART Back to Top

Vehicle Size: 37 Feet 6 Inches Length
8 Feet 2 Inches Width
11 Feet 1 Inch Height
41 Passengers
Maximum Speed: 30 MPH
Power Source: 5.9 KWH Ultracapacitors
Electric Usage: 1.5 KWH per Mile
Recharging Time: 5-10 Minutes*
Maximum Range 3.5 Miles with full air conditioning
5.5 Miles without air conditioning
Bus Weight 12.5 Tons
Acceleration: 4 Feet / Second
Maximum Slope: 12 Degrees
Voltage & Current: 600-720V, 200A
Air Conditioning: 15 KW Air Conditioning
Vehicle Life: 8-12 Years
* Charging time varies depending on charging station voltage.


Ultracap Hybrid Bus
Ideal for on-campus shuttle or urban municipal bus lines. Compare to the Ultracap Bus, Ultracap-Battery Hybrid Bus offers the advantage of extended range.

Vehicle Size: 37 Feet 6 Inches Length
8 Feet 2 Inches Width
11 Feet 1 Inch Height
41 Passengers
Maximum Speed: 33 MPH
Power Source: 2.25 KWH Ultracapacitors**
60 KWH Lead Acid Batteries***
Electric Usage: 1.5 KWH per Mile
Recharging Time: 5-10 Minutes for Ultracapacitors*
6 hours for Lead Acid Batteries
Maximum Range 45 Miles with full air conditioning
Bus Weight 12.5 Tons
Acceleration: 4 Feet / Second
Maximum Slope: 12 Degrees
Voltage & Current: 600-720V, 200A
Air Conditioning: 11.6 KW Air Conditioning
Vehicle Life: 8-12 years
Battery Replacement Every 18 Months
** Lead Acid Battery-Ultracapacitor ratio can be customized to fit client's needs
*** Other Forms of Batteries available
Source

Sinautec is an Arlington, Virginia-based company that develops high energy density ultracapacitors in the transportation and utility energy storage markets. With its research partner, Shanghai Aowei Technology Development Company, Sinautec successfully developed a series of ultracapacitor municipal buses that have been in commercial use in the greater Shanghai area since 2006. “It is our goal to contribute to the Obama Administration’s efforts to improve the environment and to reduce America’s reliance on foreign oil,” said Mr. Ye.
Source

Shanghai Aowei Technology Development Company Patent Position
(Supercapacitor + carbon and/or nanotube)

Schindall ultracapacitor patent filings:
WO 2007131217
US Patent Application 20070258192

What is claimed is:

1) Engineered structure for charge storage comprising: an electrolyte disposed between two electrically conducting plates, each plate serving as a base for an aligned array of electrically conducting nanostructures extending from the surface of each plate into the electrolyte, the nanostructures having diameters and spacing comparable to the dimension of an ion of the electrolyte; and an electrically insulating separator between the two plates.

2) The engineered structure of claim 1 wherein the nanostructures are nanotubes.

3) The engineered structure of claim 2 wherein the nanotubes are single-wall nanotubes.

4) The engineered structure of claim 3 wherein the single wall nanotubes have a length in the range of 60 to 500 μm.

MIT - Technology Review Article:
Next Stop: Ultracapacitor Buses
A U.S.-Chinese venture is out to prove the benefits of quick-charge buses.

Scientists Make Desktop Black Hole

• By Brandon Keim
• October 14, 2009 |
• 2:51 pm |
• Categories: Energy, Physics
• 
  

Two Chinese scientists have successfully made an artificial black hole. Since you’re still reading this, it’s safe to say that Earth hasn’t been sucked into its vortex.

That’s because a black hole doesn’t technically require a massive, highly concentrated gravitational field that prevents light from escaping, as postulated by Albert Einstein. It just needs to capture light — or, to be more precise, electromagnetic radiation, of which visually perceived light is one form.

The desktop black hole, described in a paper submitted to arXiv on Monday, is made from 60 concentrically arranged layers of circuit board. Each layer is coated in copper and printed with patterns that alternately vibrate or don’t vibrate in response to electromagnetic waves.

Together, the patterns completely absorbed microwave radiation coming from any direction, and converted their energy to heat.

Like a near-black hole designed earlier this year and made from photon-absorbing carbon nanotubes, the material could be used in solar energy panels.

Image: arXiv

Source

Chemistry Team Seeks to Use Artificial Photosynthesis and Nanotubes to Generate Hydrogen Fuel with Sunlight

October 14, 2009

Contact: Jonathan Sherwood jonathan.sherwood@rochester.edu 585.273.4726

U.S. DOE Awards $1.7 Million to Explore New 'Green' Energy Creation

A team of four chemists at the University of Rochester have begun work on a new kind of system to derive usable hydrogen fuel from water using only sunlight.

The project has caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Energy, which has just given the team nearly $1.7 million to pursue the design.

"Everybody talks about using hydrogen as a super-green fuel, but actually generating that fuel without using some other non-green energy in the process is not easy," says Kara Bren, professor in the Department of Chemistry. "People have used sunlight to derive hydrogen from water before, but the trick is making the whole process efficient enough to be useful."

Bren and the rest of the Rochester team—Professor of Chemistry Richard Eisenberg, and Associate Professors of Chemistry Todd Krauss, and Patrick Holland—will be investigating artificial photosynthesis, which uses sunlight to carry out chemical processes much as plants do. What makes the Rochester approach different from past attempts to use sunlight to produce hydrogen from water, however, is that the device they are preparing is divided into three "modules" that allow each stage of the process to be manipulated and optimized far more easily than other methods.

The first module uses visible light to create free electrons. A complex natural molecule called a chromophore that plants use to absorb sunlight will be re-engineered to efficiently generate reducing electrons.

The second module will be a membrane suffused with carbon nanotubes to act as molecular wires so small that they are only one-millionth the thickness of a human hair. To prevent the chromophores from re-absorbing the electrons, the nanotube membrane channels the electrons away from the chromophores and toward the third module.

In the third module, catalysts put the electrons to work forming hydrogen from water. The hydrogen can then be used in fuel cells in cars, homes, or power plants of the future.

By separating the first and third modules with the nanotube membrane, the chemists hope to isolate the process of gathering sunlight from the process of generating hydrogen. This isolation will allow the team to maximize the system's light-harvesting abilities without altering its hydrogen-generation abilities, and vice versa. Bren says this is a distinct advantage over other systems that have integrated designs because in those designs a change that enhances one trait may degrade another unpredictably and unacceptably.

Bren says it may be years before the team has a system that clearly works better than other designs, and even then the system would have to work efficiently enough to be commercially viable. "But if we succeed, we may be able to not only help create a fuel that burns cleanly, but the creation of the fuel itself may be clean."

Source

Stem cell vaccine for cancer step nearer

The medical holy grail of an anti-cancer jab has moved a step closer after scientists developed a potential vaccine made from stem cells.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
Published: 7:30AM BST 08 Oct 2009

Anti-cancer jab a step closer Photo: REUTERS

Researchers have engineered stem cells to mimic some characteristics of cancer that when injected trick the body into building up a natural immunity to the disease.

The work focuses on colon cancer but the scientists believe it could be widened to provide a "universal cancer vaccine".

The novel approach by scientists in America and China is based on the principle that stem cells and cancer cells share many characteristics.

The theory is similar to a normal vaccine which mimics the disease it is vaccinating against and so builds up natural immunity.

Then when the patient is exposed to, or in danger of developing, the actual disease the body is ready to fight back.

Dr Zihai Li, of the University of Connecticut Stem Cell Institute, said the findings opened up a whole new model approach to cancer research.

"Cancer and stem cells share many molecular and biological features", he said.

"By immunising the host with stem cells, we are able to fool the immune system to believe that cancer cells are present and thus to initiate a tumour-combating immune programme.

The immunologist's colleague Dr Bei Liu, added: "Although we have only tested the protection against colon cancer, we believe that stem cells might be useful for generating an immune response against a broad-spectrum of cancers, thus serving as a universal cancer vaccine."

The latest research is the first to use human stem cells to vaccinate against cancer.

The team witnessed a 'dramatic' decline in tumour growth within the immunised mice.

The findings published in the journal Stem Cell, come just two months after scientists found a link between bacteria and many cases of colon cancer.

The breakthrough also pointed the way to vaccines or drugs to fight the disease, one of the most common forms of cancer in Britain. More than 37,000 people are diagnosed with colon cancer every year in Britain

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore believed that they have uncovered how the bacteria could be a trigger for cancer.

Dr Julie Sharp, Cancer Research UK's science information manager, said: "This is an interesting study and suggests a new approach to cancer vaccines – however scientists will need to test these ideas in clinical studies before we know if this approach can be used to treat cancer patients."

Source

Stem cells which 'fool immune system' may provide vaccination for cancer

October 8th, 2009

Scientists from the United States and China have revealed the potential for human stem cells to provide a vaccination against colon cancer, reports a study published in Stem Cells.

This discovery, led by experts in immunology, Dr. Bei Liu and Dr. Zihai Li, builds upon a century old theory that immunizing with embryonic materials may generate an anti-tumour response. However, this theory has never before been advanced beyond animal research so the discovery that human stem cells are able to immunize against colon cancer is both new and unexpected.

"This finding potentially opens up a new paradigm for cancer vaccine research," said Dr. Zihai Li. "Cancer and stem cells share many molecular and biological features. By immunizing the host with stem cells, we are able to 'fool' the immune system to believe that cancer cells are present and thus to initiate a tumor-combating immune program."

The research is the first of its kind to implicate the role of human stem cells in vaccinating against colon cancer, and represents collaboration between the prestigious laboratories of Dr. Zihai Li and stem cell expert Dr. Renhe Xu at the University of Connecticut Stem Cell Institute.

The team vaccinated laboratory mice with human embryonic stem (hES) cells and discovered a consistent immune response against colon cancer cells. The team witnessed dramatic decline in tumor growth within the immunized mice. This revealed that immunized mice could generate a strong anti-tumour response through the application of hES cells.

The team also discovered that while natural embryonic stem cells are able to provide a response, artificially induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) are not. This is significant as it challenges the theory that iPSC are the same as hES cells and may replace them at the forefront of stem cell research.

"Although we have only tested the protection against colon cancer, we believe that stem cells might be useful for generating an immune response against a broad-spectrum of cancers, thus serving as a universal cancer vaccine." " concluded Dr. Bei Liu.

Source

British scientists 'seek and destroy' cancer cells using iron nanoparticles

By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 7:07 PM on 05th October 2009

The 'nano magnets' wipe out the cancer cells without harming the surrounding tissue

A revolutionary technique that uses injections of iron nanoparticles to seek out and destroy cancer cells has been developed by British scientists.

The tiny particles are designed to roam through the body's blood vessels in search of tumour cells.

Once they have latched on to their targets, the magnets can be heated from outside the body using a magnetic field - wiping out the cancer cells without harming the surrounding tissue.

Although the technique is still at the earliest stages, British researchers believe it could revolutionise the treatment of a range of difficult to reach cancers.

The first clinical trials on lung cancer patients will start in three years, while trials for neck and head cancers are likely to follow.

Dr Mark Lythgoe, of the University College London Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, said the new treatment 'cooked' cancer cells inside the body.

'We hope to start clinical trials in three years - which means that it could be in use within 10 years,' he said.

The technique, developed at University College London, uses particles of iron oxide just a few millionths of a millimetre long.

In one version of the treatment, researchers inserted the tiny iron filings into a 'mesenchymal stem cells' or MSCs - a type of stem cell found in bone marrow.

For reasons the scientists do not fully understand, these stem cells are attracted to cancerous lung cells but not healthy tissue.

The team plan to inject tens of thousands of MSCs tagged with iron nanoparticles into a patient with lung cancer.

Once the cells have congregated in lung tumours, the scientists will heat up the iron oxide nanoparticles using a paddled-shaped wand held outside the body.

The wand generates a rapidly changing magnetic field that warms up the particles by 10C - enough to "cook" the cancer cells but leave surrounding healthy tissue unharmed.

The treatment is now being tested on animals and is expected to start clinical trials on people in three years.

A second drug - designed to target head and neck cancers - is also being developed. It uses an iron nanoparticle attached to an antibody that seeks out neck and head tumours.

In order to heat up the nanoparticles, the UCL team have created a device called a Mach - or magnetic alternating current hyperthermia

Prof Kerry Chester, one of the scientists at the University College London Cancer Institute, said: 'We know that heat kills cancer cells, but you can't use it systematically without killing the patient.

'The important thing with this approach is that you can see where the nanoparticles go. You can see them and use them for targeted therapy.'

Colleague Quentin Pankhurst, professor of physics at University College London said the iron nanoparticles had been approved for use in America and were safe.

'Iron is a fundamental part of our metabolism,' he said.

'So the body is extremely well able to cope with iron.'

A patient having the nanoparticle technique would need a daily treatment with the Mach for several weeks. The researchers say the area of heating is so small that a patient won't feel any discomfort.

Earlier this year, the UCL team used the same metal nanoparticles to 'steer' healing stem cells through the bodies of animals to treat diseased arteries.

Source

Researchers suggest quantum dots as a potential skin cancer treatment

Posted: October 1, 2009

(Nanowerk News) Resolving questions surrounding nanoparticle toxicity has led North American researchers to suggest the particles as a potential skin cancer treatment ("Photosensitization of CdSe/ZnS QDs and reliability of assays for reactive oxygen species production" – free access paper).

Dopamine-conjugated quantum dots release cytotoxic reactive oxygen species when treated with light

Jay Nadeau from McGill University, Montreal, and colleagues in the US and Canada are investigating using semiconductor nanoparticles, called quantum dots, as photosensitisers - compounds that release reactive oxygen species, such as singlet oxygen, when exposed to light. Photosensitisers can be used in photodynamic therapy, which applies the reactive oxygen species to kill cancer cells. Nadeau's team has measured the reactive oxygen species produced by quantum dots and observed their subsequent effects on mammalian cells using a series of assays.

Currently there is a lot of controversy whether quantum dots do produce reactive oxygen species, and if so which ones. Nadeau says she believes her team has finally been able to resolve the issue by standardising experiments. 'Figuring out which assays are best to use will allow you to screen compounds in a way that is valid, so will allow different groups to at least coordinate their results,' she says.

"Similar conjugated nanoparticles could potentially be used in photodynamic therapy for skin cancer treatment." According to Nadeau 'some nanoparticles don't make singlet oxygen but they do when they are connected to small molecules like [the neurotransmitter] dopamine. That opens up a whole other avenue for investigation,' she says. Her team also found that the dopamine-conjugated quantum dots can be used to kill mammalian cells but only on irradiation with UV-to-blue light. This means the quantum dots are unlikely to be toxic in the body, where the light cannot penetrate, but could have an effect on skin, the researchers claim. They suggest that similar conjugated nanoparticles could potentially be used in photodynamic therapy for skin cancer treatment.

Juan Mareque-Rivas, an expert in fluorescent nanoparticles, from the University of Edinburgh, UK, says 'this is a long overdue investigation. It is nice to see a study in which generation of different reactive oxygen species is demonstrated, quantified and rationalised, and linked to interactions with dopamine - it warns that biomolecules can enhance the phototoxicity of quantum dots.'

Nadeau's team next plans to move the project into an in vivo melanoma model, to see if dopamine-conjugated quantum dots collect in tumours. Further plans include using quantum dots to develop a cream for healing surgical wounds as well as in water decontamination.

Source: Reprinted with permission from Chemistry World (Jennifer Newton)

Source