Nanotechnology

  2010 MAY 3 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "Imidazolium-modified carbon nanohorn-based hybrid materials have been prepared and characterized by complementary spectroscopic, thermal and microscopy techniques, while the counter-anion of the positively charged imidazolium fragment has been identified by electron dispersive X-ray analysis. In particular, oxidized carbon nanohorns, activated upon reaction with oxalyl chloride, have been initially covalently coupled with (3-aminopropyl)imidazole, while further reaction with n-butyl bromide resulted to the formation of the N-n-butylimidazolium-modified carbon nanohorns as a stable dispersion in aqueous media," scientists in Athens, Greece report ...read more

  2010 MAY 3 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to recent research published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry, "In this article, we report a novel high performance nanocomposite made from environmentally friendly and energy conserving solventless photocurable patternable resin system. The system contains a fluoroimide acrylate oligomer, acrylate monomer, photoinitiator and SiO2 nanoparticles."

  "The fluoroimide acrylate oligomer was synthesized by reacting 2 mole equivalent of 4,4'-(hexafluoroisopropylidene) diphthalic anhydride (6FDA) with 4,4'-(hexafluoroisopropylidene) diamine (6FpDA) first to form fluoroimide dianhydride, and then further reacting with 2 moles of 2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate (HEMA). The fluoroimide acrylate oligomer was specially designed with carboxylic acid functionality. As compared with bis-phenol A acrylate oligomer, the fluoroimide acrylate oligomer nanocomposite shows an improvement in both physical properties and chemical properties. This new nanocomposite exhibits good cross hatch adhesive strength (>95% on glass) and unusually high hydrophobicity (>140 degrees contact angle). The nanocomposite also shows excellent transparency (>90% transmission at 400-800 nm for 100 mm film), high thermal stability and mechanical durability. The water absorption and the water vapor permeation of this nanocomposite are reduced to at least one quarter of those of the bis-phenol A acrylate nanocomposite," wrote C.C. Lin and colleagues, National Taiwan University ...read more

  2010 MAY 3 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to recent research from the United States, "The past ten years have witnessed the development of bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells, which have emerged as an attractive renewable energy source in response to rising energy costs and environmental pollution. In such a solar cell, charge transfer at the donor-acceptor interface is a crucial aspect that significantly affects overall device efficiency. ...read more