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Competing students and
ideas:
Reactive Spaces
Maria Teresa Cortes, Andrew Bryant,
Fernando Gomez-Baquero*,
Armand Graham,
Robert Hymes#, Bradley Wood*, Natasha Jen
Reactive Spaces is a building-block architectural
system that exploits the shape-shifting properties of
different materials and makes them suitable for building
macroscopic reactive spaces. Our system allows us to create
architectural designs that react to the environment without
the use of traditional, clunky mechanical components.
Reactive Spaces vision states that the unique
properties of nanoengineered and nano-enabled shape-shifting
materials can be exploited to achieve new formal and
aesthetic effects that will usher a new arsenal of formal
effects. The architectural design of the future will not
reply on traditional, multiple, mechanically connected parts
and systems. Instead, it will employ fully integrated,
embedded “smart” materials will enable structures to have
unprecedented levels of efficiencies, performative control
and responsiveness to the human environment.
Pixtreme-Method and System for Getting Ultra-High Resolution
Images
Yuan Chang+,
Barth Bazyluk
Pixtreme technology is a novel way for getting
ultra-high resolution images by moving the image sensor
several times by micrometers, and collect image data after
every movement, and finally using a decoding process to get
N2 times(N: 2,3,4…) pixels that the image sensor
has.
The Pixtreme system basically contains two parts:
1, Diaphragm. It is shown on Pic.1. Its function is to
absorb the light on the edge of the image sensor.
2, Sensor Moving System. It is made of four piezoelectricity
crystals. Its function is to move the image sensor-CCD or
CMOS-precisely by micrometers.
Mechanism of Pixtreme technology:
Basically, in order to get a higher resolution image, we
need to increase the total pixel of the sensor-that is-try
to make every pixel smaller. But, the smaller the pixel is,
the lower the single-to-noise ratio is.
However, the goal of Pixtreme tech is to move the sensor by
micrometers. Then collect data after every movement. Then
use a decoding process to calculate the tiny difference
between data to get a higher resolution image. For instance,
if we use Pixtreme system with a mosaic sensor that has 10
million pixels (MP), we can get a 40 MP image, or 90 MP
image, or even more.
Moreover, if the Pixtreme tech can be applied to the most
commonly used Bayer sensors, we can get exact RGB value for
every pixel. Thus, the demosaicing
algorithm would no longer be needed. Meanwhile, the quality
of the image can be greatly improved.
Commercial potential:
From 2002 to 2007, the total pixel of flagship digital
cameras has increased from 11MP to 22MP-only twice. With
Pixtreme tech, the total amount of pixel can be greatly
increased, while the image quality can also be improved. It
can bring tremendous benefits to commercial photography
market. It also has a great potential in scientific and
military use.
Nanotechnology
Enabled Contraceptives for Preventing Sexually Transmitted
Mihir Tungare*, Bharat Avasarala*
Conventional latex and polyurethane materials used for
making contraceptives have their limitations in terms of
elasticity, wear and tear, degradation due to lubricants
(e.g. latex) and expiration. Besides the user behavior,
these latex or polyurethane condoms are leading to breakage,
slippage and tears in 2-4% of the cases.
Our idea is to distribute nanomaterials, such as nanofibers
or nanoparticles, in the polymer matrix material and using
the reinforced material to make a condom. The addition of
nanomaterials will render the polymer material stronger
without compromising on the elasticity, thus preventing it
from breakage. Though the
costs of such a condom may be higher than the conventional
ones, studies show that an increasing percentage of people
are willing to pay a higher price than risking exposure to a
sexually transmitted infection or HIV.
NanoTabTime
Vimal Kamineni*,
Vibhu Jindal*, Scott DeMarco#
NanoTabTime visions the long-term goal of enabling
individuals to make healthier choices for their unique
lifestyles, alleviating exponentially growing cost pressures
within the healthcare industry. NanoTabTime business is the
application of nanoelectronic sensor technology, embedded
systems, and information technology towards preventive
health maintenance.
The
focal point of the company is to provide health conscious
lifestyle, where individual or the health care professional
can track and analyze his wellbeing and fitness, seamlessly
and unobtrusively, as he goes through his daily routine. The
new approach to health care puts him in control of his
health while, at our option, providing our healthcare
professionals with vital and timely information exchange.
Where we can monitor his health himself, it also provides an
effective, personalized and improved patient care to health
care industry. The product will enable you to communicate
your health with health professionals any where, anytime
which will provide you extra security and personalized
protection when it’s needed most. In return, the health care
industry can provide long required personalized care to the
patients. The company’s strength in nanoelectronics sensor
design, rapid electronics prototyping and productization
with a novel way of communication between patient and doctor
will revolutionize the health-conscious American’s need for
engaging real-time feedback on health and fitness with
proactive measures before the need.
Hemtronix Biosensors
Vibhu Jindal*,
Michael Grignon#,
Devin Croak#
The increasing exposure and intrusion of biological
pathogens in our life have lead to many deadly air, water
and food borne diseases; to name E coli, Salmonella,
Listeria are few of the biological pathogens affecting
thousands of people every year. To combat such biological
pathogens, their detection is foremost necessary and vital
in packaged food, clinical, and environmental sector.
Therefore detection of such deadly biological pathogens by
biosensors is need for our healthy life.
HEMTRONIX Biosenors promise to reform and provide
cost effective and efficient biological pathogen detection
solution. The technological breakthrough by the company
enables 1dimensional electron gas with very high electron
concentration and mobility than any current Si FET or planar
III-Nitride HEMT device structure. The higher electron
concentration and mobility increases the sensitivity of the
device for whole cells like E Coli, DNA, RNA and
microorganisms. In addition the multi and interdigitated
electrode design by the HEMTRONIX enables the chip to be
used for both potentiometric and amperometric spectroscopy
that enhances the reliability and versatility of the sensor.
In the end the novel substrate engineering on Si substrate
to grow III-Nitride material system reduces the cost and
gives electronic response to provide feedback and automated
response.
The product will be a packaged biosensor cartridge
chip sold to customer companies who can develop their
bio-recognition layer on chip and interface it with the
electronics to sell it to the end customer.
Magneto-Catalyzed Nano-Chip
Cell Destroyers
Chris Breslin*,
Lily Alayne#
Purpose:
Nano sized chips will attach to caner cells, bacteria,
and/or viruses which then can be filtered in a purification
system.
Production:
The first part of this technology starts with a blanket
silicon wafer. The size of the wafer does not matter and
can be applied to any size available: 50, 100, 150, 200,
300, and beyond. The next step is a chemical-mechanical
polish (CMP) to get the thickness of the wafer down to
~10um. A second way to reduce the thickness that may prove
easier/better is to do a Silox cut – a process where
hydrogen is implanted into the wafer; this will allow the
entire wafer to be cut in half along the dimension of
thickness. The third step is a direct injection of
manganese into a depth from 200nm – 10um. The next step of
this process is the growth of silicon nanowires at the
surface. These nanowires will be grown to ~15um. The next
step is catalyzing these nanowires to specific strains of
cancer cells, bacteria, or viruses. The last step in the
production is dicing up these chips so that they measure 5
um X 10 um.
Procedure:
Nano-chips are injected into the blood stream. These chips
will latch on to cancer cells, bacteria, or viruses
depending on type of catalyst. The blood then is drawn into
a purification system where magnets are used to pull the
cells out of the blood.
Nanogenerator
Ted van Hoof*,
Jennifer Brown#,
Ahsan Rizvi*
Over the course of an average day your body
produces a lot of waste energy, in the form of thermal and
mechanical energy. This continuous energy flow can be
harvested by nanogenerators and used to power your cell
phone so that you will never run out of battery again.
Nanogenerators use the piezoelectric effect to
generate electricity. When you cover the fibers of your
clothes with nanowires that are made of a material with
piezoelectric properties, they will constantly brush against
each other because of your body movement, this brushing
motion will strain and stress the wires making them produce
an output current.
The cell phone industry is one of the fastest
expanding industries in the world, with already millions of
customers. The battery life of an average cell phone is
already becoming longer and longer but it is still annoying
when you have to charge your phone. If you can be your own
cell phone power source, you will never have to wait for
your cell phone to charge so that you will always be mobile.
"Microfibre–nanowire hybrid structure for
energy scavengings", Nature, by Y.Qin, X.D. Wang and
Z.L Wang
Viet United Solar
Anh Viet Nguyen*,
Maria C. Herman#
VUS is
a brand new start up solar cells company in Vietnam. VUS
aims to produce and supply reasonable cheap and high
efficiency solar power systems to remote or suburbans areas
of Vietnam. The goal of VUS is to become number solar power
company in Vietnam and South East Asia in 5 and 10 years,
respectively.
Novel Method
for Nanopackaging in the Meat Industry
Sean Teehan*
The meat packing industry is the largest segment of
the U.S. Agriculture industry producing close to 100 billon
pounds of meat and poultry in 2007 with sales that exceeded
100 billion dollars. In 2007, the meat industry set a
record for the total number of beef recalls equaling 15.
This was equivalent to 29 million pounds in a single year,
which more than doubled previous years. The reason for this
is E. coli O157:H7, the hamburger strain.
The E. coli virus (Escherichia coli)
is a bacterium that commonly lives in the intestines of
people and animals. There are hundreds of different strains
of E. coli. Some are harmless while others, the
pathogenic strains can cause serious illness. These strains
of E. coli can cause severe
diarrhea and infect the
genital and
urinary tracts.
As required the meat packing industry must randomly
sample outgoing meats. The problem with this is to run the
tests for diseases takes at least an hour, and by then the
meat could possibly have already been processed, and or was
never even tested.
In recent years nanotechnology has been used to
improve food packaging. Companies are already producing
packaging materials based on nanotechnology that are
extending the life of food and drinks and improving food
safety. By using the advantages of nanotechnology we can
attach antibodies to nanoparticles, which when in contact
with their specific pathogen (E. coli) will become
fluorescent and detectable. To make it cost effective the
nanoparticles will be incorporated into the conventional
packaging. The packaging will act as a thin film sponge for
the pathogens, and will allow more time for disease
detection between meat market and consumer.
Nanotechnology
enabled Oxygen Enrichment System
Bharat Avasarala*,
Leo Kershteyn#
Everyone is aware that one cannot live long without
Oxygen. However, many of us may be suffering from "Low
Oxygen" condition – caused by unhealthy life style and
polluted surroundings. In urban areas, high altitude zones
and polluted regions, oxygen levels can be substantially
lower than 21% and this could make the people living in
these regions prone to Oxygen deficiency illnesses.
For
fulfilling this deficiency of Oxygen to human body, many
Supplemental Oxygen intake methods are being followed as an
alternative medicine for curing disorders ranging from aging
and aches to cancer and infectious diseases. Lately, health
care professionals are prescribing Oxygen as a medication.
To meet this growing demand, many oxygen-generating devices
have been introduced to the market. However, there are some
limitations with the existing products. Here, we introduce
the most innovative oxygen generating system based on
gas-separation technology, which addresses the shortcomings
of the existing products while meeting the standards of the
industry.
NaN-O2
is an Oxygen separating system
which is used in products designed for producing
oxygen enriched air in homes & residential buildings; thus
improving the health of people at lower cost and an
efficient technology. The heart of the NaN-O2
System is a membrane that can separate Oxygen and Nitrogen
from ambient air at desired values of purity. NaN-O2
membrane is made by incorporating Carbon Molecular Sieves
(CMS) in a polymer matrix membrane. The nano-porous CMS is
both size and shape selective in nature. This special
property of the material allows molecular sieving
discrimination by permitting smaller-sized gas penetrants to
diffuse through the membrane while being impermeable to the
larger Nitrogen molecules. This ability to limit the degrees
of freedom of penetrant molecular motion effectively results
in higher entropically based diffusive selectivity than is
possible with conventional polymeric materials.
NaN-O2 System is
the optimum product to meet the requirements of the market
at minimal manufacturing costs, efficient operation, and
minimal maintenance and above all, providing health benefits
for the people living in oxygen enriched environments at low
cost and efficient technology.
Graphene Gas Sensors
Sarah McTaggart*
Graphene is a two
dimensional material of densely packed carbon atoms into a
honeycomb lattice. This flat monolayer is the building
block for all other dimensions of graphitic material and
exhibits high crystal and electronic excellence.
It has been proven
that a single gas molecule interacting with a sheet of
graphene significantly changes the electronic properties of
the graphene. Researchers claim that a single atom or
molecule can adsorb onto the graphene’s surface without
damaging the lattice structure resulting in notable change
in electrical conductance by removing or adding electrons.
Solid state gas
sensors are known for their high sensitivity, a new
generation of recent gas sensors has been demonstrated using
carbon nanotubes and semiconductor wires. Ultimate
sensitivity can be achieved if these technologies were
implemented with the use of graphene. Eventually, graphene
sensors can be used for industrial, environmental, and
military monitoring which require the detection of toxic
gases with concentrations as small as and lower than one
part per billion.
Novel Core/Shell Catalyst Electrode for Proton Exchange
Membrane Fuel Cells
Seth L. Knupp*
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are receiving
much attention today due to their unique properties and
their ability to create an efficient and clean source of
energy [1]. However, the high cost of
electrocatalysts e.g. Pt and degradation of stack
voltage are the two main factors hampering their
commercialization. The last
two decades
witnessed a 10 time reduction in Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA)
Pt loading from ca. 4 mg/cm2 to 0.4 mg/cm2.
At the anode, fast kinetics of hydrogen oxidation have made
it possible to achieve low loadings (.05 mg/cm2)
compared to conventional loadings (0.2 mg/cm2)
without any fuel cell performance reduction [2]. However,
at the cathode, the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is
highly irreversible and has sluggish reaction kinetics which
makes reducing Pt loading more challenging. Still, further
reduction in Pt loading to ca. 1/4 of the current
state-of-the-art MEA cathode catalyst layer, from about 0.4
to 0.1 mg/cm2 without any loss in cell voltage,
is needed in order to
achieve widespread
commercial
application of PEMFCs [3].
Utilizing a novel core shell electro catalyst has potential
in providing key advantages over the conventional Pt
nanoparticle:
1)
A Core shell electro catalyst has potential to:
a.
Serve as an effective source for the reactions taking place at
anode and cathode with improved specific activity vs
conventional electrodes.
b.
Provide comparable or better performance while using half the Pt
loadings of conventional electrodes. (0.1mg/cm2 )
2)
Utilizing the appropriate core will:
a.
Dramatically reduce the tendency of platinum to dissolve from the
cathode over extended use. (Au)
b.
Increase the catalytic activity of a platinum surface 90-fold
over conventional cathode catalysts used today. [5] (Ni)
QCM: Molecular Imprint Technology for detecting EColi
Mary Graham*
Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a food borne pathogen
that has been recognized as an increasing threat to public
health. It is reported that the effective dose of this
strain of E. coli is fewer than 100 organisms. Therefore
there is an increased need for low-cost, portable sensors
capable of rapid, selective, and sensitive detection methods
to meet the challenges for the accurate detection of this
pathogenic strain of bacteria. A common sensing device used
for biological applications is the Quartz Crystal
Microbalance (QCM), which detects mass-based changes through
sifts in frequency. We seek to enhance the sensitivity and
selectivity of our biosensing QCM device by altering its
mass sensitive adhesion layer through molecular imprint
technology, along with the incorporation of target specific
antibodies.
Semiconductor Waste Water Management
Shravanthi
Lakshmi Manikonda*
A semiconductor
manufacturing fab can consume upto 3 million gallons of
water per day.
New semiconductor
manufacturing fabs are trying to go ‘green’ by becoming more
environmentally friendly. New approaches are being
considered to reduce water and electricity use. Chemical
Mechanical Planarization (CMP) is an important process step
in the fabrication of chips in the semiconductor industry.
The CMP process consumes huge amounts of water. The used
water is dumped as waste. A good approach to reusing waste
water would be to incorporate an additional purification and
deionizing unit into the CMP process tool. The water could
then be treated, removing chemical components and deionized,
making it fit for reuse. This would avoid wastage of
millions of gallons of water and would aid in conservation
of water, a precious resource.
* College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, University
at Albany
# School of Business,
University at Albany
+ College of Arts and Sciences |
NanoGSO
