nanonews

oil asked:


Oil spills are a serious threat to the environment. The marine ecosystem, in particular, takes a serious pounding because of them. Several approaches have been used so far to deal with oil spill cleanups. The latest in the list is nanotechnology, which deals with structures of the size of 100 nanometers or smaller.

The idea of using a nano sponge for oil spill cleanups was first developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT.) It was found out that the thin membrane made from the dense web of potassium manganese oxide nanowires can be used as a tool to clean up oil spills and remove toxic contaminants from groundwater.

The absorbents used in the past for cleaning up oil spills, including natural absorbents like hay and cellulose as well as synthetic polymer-based solvents have been effective. But they tend to absorb water as well.

The mesh of the nanowires has tiny pores that are 10 nm wide and have the ability to absorb both water and oil. However, to keep the water off the surface, the membrane is coated with silicone to make it superhydrophobic. As a result, the oil moves up the pores whereas, the water drips off the surface.

Another factor in favor of using a nano sponge in cleaning up oil spills is that the operating cost is reduced to a great extent. It is also believed that it can be used several times. These inorganic nanowires differ from other hydrophobic structures, which were made of organic materials in their ability to handle high temperatures. While, nanowires can handle temperatures of up to 600 degree Celsius organic wires generally degrade.

The application of nanotechnology in oil spill cleanups is still in its early stages, but it is one for the future. Another green technology that comes to mind is bioremediation and a product that uses this concept effectively in cleaning up of oil spills is Oil Gone Easy S-200.

David Tanguay asked:


With all of the technology that is being continuously introduced and used, it would only seem logical in our quest for a green world to apply some of the renewable energy efforts to this spectrum. That is exactly what some scientists are looking into with their research on how nanotechnology can be used with lithium batteries.

According to Science News, a report that will be published in International Journal of Nanomanufacturing asserts that “carbon nanotubes can prevent such batteries from losing their charge capacity over time.” The batteries they are speaking of are the lithium-based batteries that are found in commonly used devices such as MP3 players, laptop computers, and cell phones.

As any of us who partake of these various technologies are quite aware of, with continued use, the battery power just seems to lose its life. As the news story reports, elements such as hot and cold temperatures help this reduction process along even more. Scientists have been researching this degradation process for awhile, and have looked into silicon to replace the universally used lithium-ion batteries. However, due to the fast rate that silicon also degrades, they have had to search even further.

This is where nanotechnology comes into play. As Science News states, “Shengyang’s Hui-Ming Cheng and colleagues have turned to carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to help them use silicon (Si) as the battery anode but avoid the problem of large volume change during alloying and de-alloying.” By introducing the carbon nanotubes to the silicon, they seem to be solving some of the problems that previously existed.

The whole process is quite amazing. “The researchers grew carbon nanotubes on the surface of tiny particles of silicon using a technique known as chemical vapor deposition in which a carbon-containing vapor decomposes and then condenses on the surface of the silicon particles forming the nanoscopic tubes. They then coated these particles with carbon released from sugar at a high temperature in a vacuum. A separate batch of silicon particles produced using sugar but without the CNTs was also prepared.”

The scientists used these two diverse batches and compared them. What they found was remarkable – the batch using the carbon produced a discharge capacity twice that of the one which only contained the silicon particles.

There seems to be many reasons that have prompted research into better material used to create batteries. Reports of fires found to be ignited by lithium-ion batteries, although rare, seem to have caused much attention to be placed on safer materials. The general complaint many have regarding the increased reduction of device batteries after continued use is likely another reason that prompted the research. Whatever the likely combination was, this new research could be monumental in how users of technological devices power up their gadgets.

Nanotechnology is not the only material researchers are using in their quest for a better battery, but it does seem to be one of the options that show much promise.