a blog by the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology
Hearing of the fire at Notre Dame de Paris a year ago broke my heart. I have only been there once in my life, but that visit is one of my most cherished memories. Before studying chemistry and joining the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, I earned a music education degree, with a major in voice …
Continue reading "Molecular music: Patterns of vibrations at the quantum level"
Before I travelled to Iceland for the first time in August the only thing I really knew about the country was “Iceland is green and Greenland is ice.” Some lessons from elementary school really stick with you forever. And yes, after arriving in Iceland I quickly realized that it is a moss-covered wonderland. But it …
Continue reading "How Green is Iceland?"
A research group at Drexel University has developed a set of material that show promise in increasing the energy storage capacity and charge/discharge speeds of lithium ion batteries. Batteries with greater storage capacity could be used to decrease the weight and energy efficiency of electric cars, for example. These materials consist of stacked sheets that are just …
Continue reading "New Nanomaterial for Increased Energy Efficiency – Friday Video"
An acronym you have probably seen a whole lot of in recent years is LED, or Light Emitting Diode. Long used only for low-intensity illumination (think of the blinking lights on the front of your computer), the new generations of LEDs are being used to replace all sorts of light sources from car head lights …
Continue reading "Explainer: How does an LED work?"
During a recent visit to Home Depot I came face to face with a lithium-ion battery, nanotechnology, and my interest in making a wooden-framed mirror. I had my eyes on some shiny, new Dewalt power tools. I decided that it would be much easier to build a wooden frame with a high quality drill and …
Continue reading "How do Lithium Ion Batteries Work? A Nanotechnology Explainer."
"You've gotta give it a taste to know!" answered the long-haired, cowboy shirt-wearing distiller dude at Madison, Wisconsin's Old Sugar Distillery. He was responding to my incessant questions about how long their liquors take to age. His answer was interesting, but I wanted numbers! After some more pointed questions, he told me that most of their liquors …
Continue reading "Liquor Aging, Tiny Barrels, and Next Generation Solar Cells"
Sustainability is a hot topic these days, even making its way into advertisements for one of the world’s biggest companies (see below). I would guess that on this very day, you have thought about sustainability, or at least encountered the idea. Maybe you saw a commercial that told you to “go green”, or read an …
Continue reading "What Does Sustainable Have To Do With Nano?"
Sustainable Nano 