68 nanotimes News in Brief

Researchers at the NanoScience Center of the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and at Harvard University, US, have discovered a novel way to make nanomaterials. Using computer simulations, the researchers have been able to predict that long and narrow graphene nanoribbons can be rolled into carbon nanotubes by means of twisting. The research has received funding from the Academy of Finland. The basic idea is simple and easily explained: just twist the ends of a strap on your backpack and watch what happens. Being classical in origin, the mechanism is robust and valid on the macro-, micro- and nanoscale.

Image: Graphene nanoribbons can be transformed into carbon nanotubes by twisting. © Pekka Koskinen

O. O. Kit, T. Tallinen, L. Mahadevan, J. Timonen, and P. Koskinen: Twisting graphene nanoribbons into carbon nanotubes, In: Physical Review B, Volume 85, Issue 8, February 15, 2012, Article 085428 [9 pages], DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.85.085428: 

_{http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.085428}

A new online, searchable database for materials used in nanotechnology is now available. The Nanomaterial Registry was developed by RTI Inernational at a cost of $2.9 million in federal funding. The Nanomaterial Registry (NR) provides tools for analyzing and comparing data on the biological and environmental implications of well-characterized nanomaterials. 

_{https://www.nanomaterialregistry.org}

Scientists from the department "Stuttgart Wind Energy" (SWE) at the University of Stuttgart together with engineers from the "National Renewable Energy Laboratory" (NREL) in Boulder, USA performed the world’s first control of a wind turbine with a nacelle-based Lidar system. 

http://www.ifb.uni-stuttgart.de/en/forschung/windenergie/research-projects/296-lidarswe