2008 NOV 3 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "We report the growth of ZnO nanowires on nonwoven polyethylene fibers using a simple hydrothermal method at a temperature below the boiling point of water. The ZnO nanowires were grown from seed ZnO nanoparticles affixed onto the fibers," researchers in Thailand report.

  "The seed ZnO nanoparticles, with diameters of about 6-7 nm, were synthesized in isopropanol by reducing zinc acetate hydrate with sodium hydroxide. The growth process was carried out in a sealed chemical bath containing an equimolar solution of zinc nitrate hexahydrate and hexamethylene tetramine at a temperature of 95 degrees C over a period of up to 20 h. The thickness and length of the nanowires can be controlled by using different concentrations of the starting reactants and growth durations. A 0.5mM chemical bath yielded nanowires with an average diameter of around 50 nm, while a 25mM bath resulted in wires with a thickness of up to about 1 mu m. The length of the wires depends both on the concentration of the precursor solution as well as the growth duration, and in 20 h, nanowires as long as 10 mu m can be grown. The nonwoven mesh of polyethylene fibers covered with ZnO nanowires can be used for novel applications such as water treatment by degrading pollutants by photocatalysis," wrote S. Baruah and colleagues ...read more

  2008 NOV 3 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to recent research from Tsukuba, Japan, "The fabrication, characterization, and decoration with metallic nanoparticles of nanostructures such as nanowhiskers, nanodendrites, and fractal-like nanotrees on insulator substrates by electron-beam-induced deposition (EBID) are reviewed. Nanostructures with different morphologies of whiskers, dendrites, or trees are fabricated on insulator (Al2O3 or SiO2) substrates by EBID in transmission electron microscopes by controlling the irradiation conditions such as the electron beam intensity. ...read more

  2008 NOV 3 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "The effect of the use of the triblock copolymer Pluronic P123[(PEO)(20)(PPO)(70)(PEO)(20), Aldrich] and the non-ionic polyoxyethylene-lauryl ether Brij 35 as surfactants on the textural, structural and electrical properties of nanosized TiO2 is analyzed in this work. The as-obtained samples were thermally treated at 400 degrees C to eliminate the surfactant, promote dehydroxylation and crystallize the sample," scientists in Toluca, Mexico report ...read more