10-02 :: February 2010
nanotimes
49
News in Brief
Electronics //
Sharon C. Glotzer from University of Michigan in an increase in electrical current when a desk lamp
Ann Arbor, USA and her colleagues from Argonne was switched on, and a reduction when it was
IBM Scientists Demonstrate World‘s Fastest Graphene Transistor
National Laboratory, British University of Leeds, switched off. Furthermore, the researchers showed
Pusan National University in the Republic of Korea that a biofuel cell inserted in a cactus leaf could
and Jiangnan University, China, presented in generate power of 9 W per cm
2
. Because this yield
Science Express a light-controlled self-assembly was proportional to light intensity, stronger illumi-
of semiconductor nanoparticles into twisted rib- nation accelerated the production of glucose and
bons. The slow oxidation of Te2- in CdTe nano- O
2
(photosynthesis), so more fuel was available to
particles results in the assembly of 1 to 4-µm long operate the cell.
flat ribbons made of several layers of individual Victoria Flexer and Nicolas Mano: From Dynamic Mea-
CdS/CdTe nanocrystals. The researchers observed surements of Photosynthesis in a Living Plant to Sunlight
as intermediate stages unusual shapes of multipar- Transformation into Electricity, In: Analytical Chemistry,
ticle assemblies, such as ellipsoidal clouds, dog- Volume 82, Issue 415, February 2010, Pages 1444-1449,
bone agglomerates, and ribbon bunches. Compu- DOI:10.1021/ac902537h:
ter simulations revealed that the balance between
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ac902537h
attraction and electrostatic repulsion determines
the resulting geometry and dimensionality of nano-
particles assemblies. © Science The German Federal Ministry of Education and
Sudhanshu Srivastava, Aaron Santos, Kevin Critchley, Ki- Research BMBF launches a project called DaNa.
Sub Kim, Paul Podsiadlo, Kai Sun, Jaebeom Lee, Chuanlai It is about the acquisition, evaluation and effective
Xu, G. Daniel Lilly, Sharon C. Glotzer, Nicholas A. Kotov: data representation of socially relevant data and
Light-Controlled Self-Assembly of Semiconductor Nano- findings on nanomaterials.
particles into Twisted Ribbons, In: Science Express Alert,
http://www.nanopartikel.info
February 11, 2010, DOI: 10.1126/science.1177218:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1177218
The NTH School for Contacts in Nanosystems,
Germany, has been launched. It is a cooperation
Researchers at the Centre de Recherche Paul of solid state physicists at University of Technology
Pascal (CNRS) developed a biofuel cell that Braunschweig, University of Technology Clausthal
functions using the products of photosynthesis and Leibniz University Hannover.
(glucose and O
2
) and is made up of two enzyme-
modified electrodes. The cell was then inserted Focus of their scientific work is the investigation of
in a living plant, in this case a cactus. Once the tiniest structures.
electrodes, highly sensitive to O
2
and glucose, had
http://www.nth-nano.de
been implanted in the cactus leaf, the scientists
succeeded in monitoring the real-time course of
photosynthesis in vivo. They were able to observe