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Volume
2 Issue 8 - September 2009 |
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The NNN Newsletter
Business Opportunities in Nanotechnology: Impacts of the Economic Slowdown
Regards, Learn More about the
Benefits of Three-Dimensional Integrated Nanostructures for Energy Applications
Algal
Cellulose Key to Polymer Battery
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Upcoming Events September 28 - 30, 2009 September 30 - October 2, 2009 October 4 - 9, 2009 October 6 - 7, 2009 October 6 - 7, 2009
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The National Nanomanufacturing Network Newsletter Subscribe / Unsubscribe from this list. Our mailing address is: The National Nanomanufacturing Network 322 Lederle Graduate Research Center 710 N. Pleasant Street University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003 Our email address is: nnn@nanomanufacturing.org Our phone number is: (413) 577-0570 Copyright (C) 2008 The National Nanomanufacturing Network All rights reserved. Supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMI-0531171.  |
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The economic slowdown has had its effects on high technology businesses—particularly those engaged in early stage nanotechnologies—impacting issues such as investment funding, workforce, supply chain, equipment, and revenues. Broader implications for the future economic growth and proliferation of emerging nanotechnologies and nanomanufacturing capabilities remain difficult to assess. Forecast scenarios range from slight corrections of previous growth trends to complete interruptions of new technology growth and implementation. While the long-term impact will likely be somewhere in between these extremes, there have been significant changes over the past two years in key enablers for early stage nanotechnologies that will impact the transition from fundamental research to scaled manufacturing of nano-enabled products. But the synopsis is not all negative: it turns out to be a good news, bad news scenario. 
Plasmonic Imaging Lithography
While it has been known for many years that three-dimensional (3D) nanoscale architectures enhance the performance of energy storage and power generating devices, it has not been until recently that the tools to fabricate such structures are readily available for scalable processes. High surface area materials have previously demonstrated performance benefits for electrodes and catalyst supports in battery and fuel cell technologies, but new fabrication and integrated process capabilities now make it possible to address specific limitations of a given technology by enabling 3D designs. Three examples from the literature demonstrate the merits of 3D integration for power and energy storage devices.
Researchers
from Uppsala University have created a cellulose-polypyrrole composite
electrode material with the highest reported charge rate and capacity
for nonmetal batteries. This work, reported in Nano Letters, significantly
enhances the performance of polypyrrole (PPy), a conductive polymer,
by layering it thinly over a large surface area substrate. In this
case, the highly porous cellulose fibers of Cladophora algae--with
100 times the surface area of terrestrial cellulose--is coated with
a 50nm layer of PPy. 
The Fluid Interface Reactions, Structures and Transport (FIRST) Energy Frontier Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has several opportunities for post doctoral research associates. The FIRST Center will develop predictive computational models relating the nanoscale structures, dynamics and reactivities of fluid-solid interfaces in order to make transformational advances in electrical energy storage and catalysis for energy applications. 
