10-10/11 :: October/November 2010
nanotimes News in Brief
Elsevier announced the launch of SciVerse, an in- novative platform that integrates the company’s key products and encourages the scientific community to collaborate on the development of customized search and discovery applications. Elsevier has com- mitted to releasing the APIs (application program- ming interfaces) for all of the content on SciVerse and will offer application development support tools on the site.
http://www.info.sciverse.com
A team of German researchers from four Fraunhofer Institutes recently engineered a brand new process that is particularly forgery-proof: “We add various fluorescing dyes to the entire material,” explains Dr. Andreas Holländer of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP. “With the aid of the fluorescence, we can precisely ascertain specific characteristics, and thereby recognize if we are de- aling with the original, and if the quality standards have been met.”
Fluorescence can be found in certain organic dyes: Irradiate them within a certain wave length range, and they emit their own light with a greater wave- length. The type of luminosity – i.e., wavelength and light intensity – depends on the physical and chemical properties of the materials to which the dye was applied. Various dyes react to different properties, such as pH value or viscosity. For exam- ple, a certain dye glows in a tightly-interlaced resin more strongly than in one that is not as dense.
To make a product counterfeit-proof, the resear- chers therefore add multiple dyes to the material. “In this manner, an individualized marker emerges that is exceedingly difficult to imitate,” says Hollän-
57
der. Thanks to the slight dosing, it is virtually im- possible to decode the type and quantity of the dye additives: just a few ppb (parts per billion) of dye concentrates suffice to mark the material. Another advantage: The counterfeit protection definitely cannot be removed.
“Using conventional security features, the spot with the labeling can be eliminated from the material, theoretically speaking. But that approach doesn‘t work with our technology, since the dye permeates the entire material, and itself is a component of the identification label,” says Holländer.
The new technology has already passed the first practice tests: Researchers marked barrier sheets for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and photovol- taics with dyes a development from the Fraunhofer Polymer Surfaces Alliance POLO.
Dr. rer. nat. Andreas Holländer, Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research, Phone: +49 331 568-1404; Nadine Gruber, Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research:
http://www.polo.fraunhofer.de/en/index.html
http://www.iap.fraunhofer.de/fb2/oberflaechen.html
The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, Germany, has taken its megawatt laboratory for PV inverters into operation. It is the first and currently the only laboratory in Europe where manufacturers can commission certification, in accordance with the medium-voltage grid codes that have applied since July 1st 2010, of inverters with a power rating of up to one megawatt.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79