10-03 :: March 2010

nanotimes

News in Brief

The 4th annual NanoMaterials (NanoMaterials

2010), the leading UK nanotechnology event, focused on commercialisation of nanomaterials, will take place on June 08-10, 2010 at the Hotel Russell in London, UK.

Following its well-established format from previous years, the event will commence with 3 pre-confe- rence workshops, followed by 2-day conference comprising 2 plenary sessions and 4 application- focused symposia. Plenary sessions will present leading senior industry figures examining key issues that affect the entire supply chain - from regulati- ons to the business strategy. Presentations will also be given by researchers that have made incredible breakthroughs recently and will provide a glimpse into the latest technologies and developments that could benefit your business.

4 parallel symposia will focus at coatings, inks and pigments, printed electronics, composites and pla- stics, clean technology.The line-up of speakers will include Dr. Paul Atherton of NanoVentures, Prof. Geert Van Calster of Leuven University, Dr. Chris Shennan of Hexcel, Dr. Piers Andrew of NOKIA Research Centre, Peter Kruger of Bayer Material Science, and many others to be announced soon.

http://www.nanomaterials2010.com

German companies in the chemical industry

stronger position themselves in future markets. Respective business areas are the improvement of power and resource efficiency, alternative energy, renewal of raw material base, novel materials or improvement of products’ environmental perfor- mance. These are areas where the industry wants

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to expand future activities according to a trend sur- vey conducted by the German Chemical Industry

Association (VCI).

http://www.vci.de

Chemists around Prof. Dr. Thomas Heinze at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany,

cooperate with fzmb GmbH (Research Center of Medical Technology and Biotechnology in Bad Langensalza, Germany) and the medium-sized ma- nufacturer of cosmetics MACON. They jointly work

on cellulose particles for delivering cosmetic

substances. Thüringer Aufbaubank (TAB) contri- butes as much as EUR610,000 over the coming 2 ½ years.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Heinze, Comptence Center Polysaccha- ride Research, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Insti- tute of Organic Chemistry and Macromolecular Chemistry, Germany, Phone: +49 (0)3641-948270: http://www.uni-jena.de

Physicists at the Technical University Munich

(TUM) have developed a method that allows them to measure the behavior of electrochemical

nanosystems. Their investigations resulted in a sur-

prising phenomenon: On isolated nanoelectrodes electrochemical reactions are faster compared to macroscopic electrodes because the randomness of an occurring electrochemical reaction causes

molecular noise. In contrast to our daily expe- rience where noise is rather likely to disturb, it is constructive for nanoelectrodes. Noise makes them faster.

Vladimir García-Morales and Katharina Krischer: Fluc- tuation enhanced electrochemical reaction rates at the