a blog by the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology
California’s autumn 2018 Camp Fire wildfire was the deadliest and most destructive fire in the state’s history and the deadliest wildfire in the US in the past century.1,2 Eighty-five people have been confirmed dead with over 153,336 acres burned; the 2017 Tubbs wildfire, the second most destructive fire in the state’s history, burned through 36,807 …
Continue reading "Emerging Technology in Air Pollution Sensors: EPA Wildland Fire Sensors Challenge"
By now you’ve probably heard about Samsung’s recall of all Galaxy Notes 7s. Several years ago the entire worldwide fleet of 787 “Dreamliners” was grounded due to onboard battery fires. You might be wondering, “Why are all these batteries catching on fire? Are lithium ion batteries safe?” To answer this, let’s look at how a …
Continue reading "What’s With All Those Flaming Cell Phones? A Primer on Battery Safety"
I was surprised to learn recently that plastic bags can be turned into a new material called carbon nanotubes. Prior to this, all I had heard about plastic bags was about the environmental threat that they potentially pose, either by accumulating in wildlife or clogging landfills with slow-to-break-down waste. Many recycling techniques have been developed …
Continue reading "Turning Plastic Bags into Carbon Nanotubes"
For many people the celebration of the 4th of July is not totally complete without a good aerial fireworks show. A good firework show needs to have two essential components to deliver that thrilling experience most of us love to see—sound and color effects. Nanotechnology could make it possible for these fireworks effects to be …
Continue reading "Nanomaterials Making Their Way into Fireworks"
Since our early ancestors first learned to make fires, humans have been producing carbon-based nanoparticles. The smoke and soot from their campfires contained nanoparticles known as fullerenes and carbon nanotubes, along with many other combustion by-products. They must have thought the very crude nanoparticle preparations they created were a bit of a nuisance (depending on …
Sustainable Nano 