Stanford University researchers have discovered a new way to ‘decorate’ nanowires with coatings of metal oxide and noble metal nanoparticles that greatly improve surface area. Credit: Stanford Nanocharacterization Lab.

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High-strength silk protein scaffolds for bone repair

(PNAS) Biomaterials for bone tissue regeneration represent a major focus of orthopedic research. However, only a handful of polymeric biomaterials are utilized today because of their failure to address critical issues like compressive strength for load-bearing bone grafts. In this study development of a high compressive strength (~13 MPa hydrated state) polymeric bone composite materials is reported, based on silk protein-protein interfacial bonding. Micron-sized silk fibers (10-600 µm) obtained utilizing alkali hydrolysis were used as reinforcement in a compact fiber composite with tunable compressive strength, surface roughness, and porosity based on the fiber length included. A combination of surface roughness, porosity, and scaffold stiffness favored human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell differentiation toward bone-like tissue in vitro based on biochemical and gene expression for bone markers. Further, minimal in vivo immunomodulatory responses suggested compatibility of the fabricated silk-fiber-reinforced composite matrices for bone engineering applications.

Prominent electrochromism through vacancy-order melting in a complex oxide

(Nature Communications) Electrochromes are materials that have the ability to reversibly change from one colour state to another with the application of an electric field. Electrochromic colouration efficiency is typically large in organic materials that are not very stable chemically. Here we show that inorganic Bi_0.9Ca_0.1FeO_3-0.05 thin films exhibit a prominent electrochromic effect arising from an intrinsic mechanism due to the melting of oxygen-vacancy ordering and the associated redistribution of carriers. We use a combination of optical characterization techniques in conjunction with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and first-principles theory. The absorption change and colouration efficiency at the band edge (blue-cyan region) are 4.8×106 m^-1 and 190 cm² C^-1, respectively, which are the highest reported values for inorganic electrochromes, even exceeding values of some organic materials.

Light touch keeps a grip on delicate nanoparticles

(NIST Tech Beat) Using a refined technique for trapping and manipulating nanoparticles, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have extended the trapped particles’ useful life more than tenfold.* This new approach, which one researcher likens to “attracting moths,” promises to give experimenters the trapping time they need to build nanoscale structures and may open the way to working with nanoparticles inside biological cells without damaging the cells with intense laser light. NIST researchers’ new approach uses a control and feedback system that nudges the nanoparticle only when needed, lowering the average intensity of the beam and increasing the lifetime of the nanoparticle while reducing its tendency to wander.

New method increases the surface area of nanowires by “decorating” them with sinuous chains of metal oxide or noble metal nanoparticles

Though science has known for some time that ornamentation can greatly increase the surface area and alter the surface chemistry of nanowires, engineers at Stanford University have found a more effective method of decorating them that is simpler and faster than previous techniques. The development, say the researchers, might someday lead to better lithium-ion batteries, more efficient thin-film solar cells and improved catalysts that yield new synthetic fuels. The key to the Stanford team’s discovery was a flame. Engineers had long known that nanoparticles could be adhered to nanowires to increase surface area, but the methods for creating them were not very effective in forming the much-desired porous nanoparticle chain structures. Those other methods proved too slow and resulted in a too-dense, thick layer of nanoparticles coating the wires, doing little to increase the surface area. They dipped the nanowires in a solvent-based gel of metal and salt, then air-dried them before applying the flame. In the process, the solvent burns in a few seconds, allowing the all-important nanoparticles to crystalize into branch-like structures fanning out from the nanowires.

Materials Genome and the energy efficient soldier: University of Utah-led group gets $15 million from Army to help design new materials

US soldiers are increasingly weighed down by batteries to power weapons, detection devices and communications equipment. So the Army Research Laboratory has awarded a University of Utah-led consortium almost $15 million to use computer simulations to help design materials for lighter-weight, energy efficient devices and batteries. The consortium includes Boston University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Harvard University, Brown University, the University of California, Davis, and the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy. The Utah-led consortium calls itself Alliance for Computationally-guided Design of Energy Efficient Electronic Materials. The Army says its grant to Utah is for Multiscale Multidisciplinary Modeling of Electronic Materials. “Designing new, transformational materials for our soldiers is the aim of our Enterprise for Multiscale Research of Materials,” says John M. Miller, director of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. He says a strong foundation for that enterprise will be provided both by the University of Utah-led project, and by a related project led by Johns Hopkins University to understand how materials behave when subjected to high-velocity impacts - work aimed at developing new, lightweight materials to protect U.S. soldiers and vehicles. Miller says funding the research “also shows the Army’s commitment to the national Materials Genome Initiative.” President Barack Obama announced the initiative in June 2011 as a way to speed development and use of new materials.

Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems demonstrates power without the cord

Because of the limited lifespan, battery power is not a feasible option for many applications in the fields of medicine or test engineering, such as implants or probes. Investigators in Germany have now developed a process that supplies these systems with power and without the power cord. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS succeeded in wirelessly transmitting power from a portable transmitter module to a mobile generator module - the receiver. “The cylindrical shaped transfer module is so small and compact that it can be attached to a belt,” says Holger Lausch, scientist at IKTS. The transmitter provides an electric current of over 100 milliwatts and has a range of about 50 centimeters. As a result, the receiver can be placed almost anywhere in the body. “With our portable device, we can remotely supply power to implants, medication dosing systems and other medical applications without touching them - such as ingestible endoscopic capsules that migrate through the gastrointestinal tract and transmit images of the body‘s inside to the outside,” says Lausch. The generator module can be traced any time - regardless of power transfer - with respect to its position and location. So if the generator is located inside a video endoscopy capsule, the images produced can be assigned to specifi c intestinal regions. If it is placed inside a dosing capsule, then the active ingredient in the medication can be released in a targeted manner.

Atomic-scale visualization of electrons confirms theory of iron-based superconductors

Research at Cornell University has for the first time confirmed key theoretical predictions about how iron-based high-temperature superconductors behave. J.C. Séamus Davis, the James Gilbert White Distinguished Professor in the Physical Sciences at Cornell and director of the Center for Emergent Superconductivity at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and colleagues report in the May 4 online edition of the journal Science that they have identified gaps in the energy levels of electrons in an iron-based superconductor that were predicted by leading theories in this new field. The gaps represent electrons that have paired up with twins from adjacent atoms to form so-called “Cooper pairs” that move through the conductor without interference. The research also confirms a prediction that the energy binding the Cooper pairs varies with the direction they take when leaving an atom. Studying crystals of a compound of lithium, iron and arsenic, LiFeAs for short, that becomes a superconductor at 15K (Kelvins, or Celsius degrees above absolute zero), the Cornell researchers found three of the five possible electron bands. “There are two more pairing gaps that we should have been able to detect, and we don’t know yet why not,” Davis said. But finding these three along with the directionality is enough to strongly support the theory, he said, and the measurements give the theorists numbers to plug in to refine and extend their predictions.

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(Note: the most recent Ceramic Tech Today email—May 15, 2012—accidentally contained an older link that directs readers to this page. For readers who want to go to P. Carlo Ratto’s most recent “News from the glass and refractory worlds, please click here.)

• According to reports, Asahi Glass is considering expanding a factory it has just started building in Brazil, in order to double the facility’s planned output of automotive glass.

• Martin Marietta Magnesia Specialties LLC announced recently it would add a sixth kiln at its dolomitic lime production facility in Woodville.

• A silicon metal smelter will be setup in Abu Dhabi’s newest industrial zone KIZAD, which will supply high grade silicon to aluminium smelters in the region. The plant operated by Al Braik Investments is estimated to cost around Dh638 million.

• Montreal-based Rio Tinto Alcan hopes to seal the sale of four alumina plants by the end of September; at the end of March, Rio Tinto had received a binding offer from private equity group HIG for its three specialty alumina plants in France and one in Germany and would respond to the offer after consulting unions.

• Kerneos, a world leader in calcium aluminates, is pleased to announce that it has acquired a 54% stake in the capital of the Greek company Elmin, the leading European exporter of monohydrate bauxite.

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Here’s what we are hearing:

GE Aviation expects to add 200 more area jobs

GE Aviation Systems’ $50 million investment on the University of Dayton campus bodes well for the company and the area, the company’s president and chief executive. In the past five years, GE Aviation has added 400 jobs at its three Dayton-area plants. In 2013, the company’s new Electrical Power Integrated Systems research and development center off River Park Drive will be operating. An initial 50 people will work there, but within five years, the center should employ 150 to 200 researchers, said Lorraine Bolsinger, GE Systems president and chief executive. At the center, UD researchers will work with GE Aviation scientists and engineers to create new advanced electrical power technologies such as new power systems for aircraft, longer-range electric cars and smarter utility power grids for more efficient delivery of electricity, GE Aviation said.

Alcoa’s “smog-eating” technology to bolster sustainability at new electronics recycling hub in North Carolina

Alcoa recently unveiled one of the first commercial building installations of Reynobond with EcoClean, the architectural panel that cleans itself and the air around it, at the new Electronic Recyclers International facility in Badin, N.C. The product is installed at ERI’s Southeast regional electronics recycling hub, which is expected to create up to 200 new jobs in central North Carolina. Introduced in 2011, EcoClean was developed by Alcoa scientists through a process that leverages patented Hydrotect technology to apply a titanium dioxide coating, called EcoClean, to the pre-painted aluminum surface of Alcoa’s Reynobond architectural panels. The coating works with natural sunlight, acting as a catalyst to break down organic pollutants on its surface and in the air around it into harmless matter which is then washed away by rainwater. Ten thousand square feet of EcoClean has the smog-removal power of approximately 80 trees, equivalent to offsetting the nitrogen oxide created by the pollution output of four cars per day.

Tnemec’s insulating coatings first to include Cabot aerogel

The Tnemec Co. has introduced the first thermal insulating coatings featuring Enova aerogel by Cabot Corp. Series 971 Aerolon Acrylic and Series 975 Aerolon Epoxy are fluid-applied, high-build coatings that are designed to resist high operating temperatures when spray-applied to piping, tanks, valves or other steel substrates in refineries, processing plants and other industrial facilities. The Aerolon coatings are comparable to most conventional forms of industrial insulation. The thermal insulation properties of Aerolon coatings provide safe-touch performance on hot pipes and other surfaces to prevent serious worksite accidents. And their low K-value ratings offer thermal efficiencies that result in substantial energy cost reductions. Aerolon coatings are water-based with practically zero volatile organic compounds, minimizing environmental impact. Once mixed, Aerolon resembles a slurry that can be spray applied. Aerolon coatings are part of a complete system that includes specialty primers and topcoats, Tnemec said.

Surmet-led team wins DARPA Phase II award for ALON Manufacturable Graded Refractive Index (M-GRIN) lenses

During the M-GRIN program’s first phase, Surmet demonstrated the ability to create ALON GRIN lens blanks with axial gradients. During Phase II Surmet will develop the ability to extend the magnitude and spatial extent of these gradients, using processes compatible with large volume manufacturing. At the culmination of the Phase II effort, Surmet will use proprietary fabrication processes to produce several prototype ALON GRIN lenses and deliver them to DARPA. The University of Rochester will develop the metrology used to characterize the ALON GRIN lens blanks and lenses produced during this program. The U of R will also lead the design effort to exploit the advantages of ALON M-GRIN lenses for Advanced DoD optical systems. Ed White Consultants will guide the manufacturing readiness assessment of the MGRIN technology. Surmet will also include DoD Prime Contractors in the program to facilitate the transition of the ALON M-GRIN technology into military systems.

3M expands US Paints and Coatings Lab

3M Energy and Advanced Materials Division announced the rededication of its newly-expanded US Paints and Coatings Laboratory. With a significant investment in new analytical equipment and additional technical personnel, the 3M EAMD Paints and Coatings lab is now even better equipped to provide outstanding customer service for a growing global market. The expanded capabilities of the lab, located in St. Paul, Minnesota, will enable improved levels of technical support and formulation assistance to customers around the world. For example, 3M research specialists use American Society for Testing and Materials’ test methodology to evaluate the performance of formulations that incorporate 3M products, including 3M Ceramic Microspheres, 3M Fluorosurfactants, 3M Glass Bubbles and 3M Stain Resistant Products.

Alfa Aesar launches catalog and periodic table app

Alfa Aesar, a Johnson Matthey Company, has unveiled the Alfa Aesar App for iPhone, iPad and Android. Users of the app will have access to a fully-functional digital version of Alfa Aesar’s popular print catalog as well as reference materials. The Alfa Aesar app is available free to download from the iTunes Store and Google Play. In addition to a full listing of Alfa Aesar products and technical specifications, the iPad version will also provide users with an interactive periodic table that details properties for each element. The app also links to the Alfa Aesar website, allowing users to quickly purchase products they find within the app. Users will also be able to save catalog pages as PDFs, email content to a friend, or add notes and bookmarks.

Keyence offers super-resolution digital microscope with automated measurements

Pioneering the field of digital microscopy, Keyence has released its latest microscope system, the VHX-2000. The VHX Series digital microscope was designed to alleviate the shortcomings of traditional, optical light microscopes - shallow depth-of-field, short working distance, lack of portability and versatility, sample limitations, etc. By integrating advanced zoom optics with a CCD camera, 17″ LCD monitor, light source, controller and analysis/reporting software, the VHX streamlines testing and improves the speed and efficiency of the inspection process. With a magnification range from 0.1x - 5000x, the VHX Series enables a wide range of microscopic observation from macro-scale stereoscopic imaging to the detailed analysis of an SEM. Many lighting techniques are also supported including bright and dark field, transmitted, polarized, and differential interference observation.

Diamon-Fusion International completes large-scale coating and restoration project for Claremont McKenna College

Diamon-Fusion International Inc., a global developer and exclusive licensor of patented hydrophobic nanotechnologies, announced the completion of a coating and glass restoration project for Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. The project consisted of applying DFI’s flagship Diamon-Fusion coating to over 15,000 square feet of glass at various sections of the newly constructed Kravis Center, designed by well-known architect Rafael Viñoly-Menendez. The center consists of a five-level, 162,000 square-foot academic and administrative facility, serving as the western gateway to the Claremont McKenna campus. Through DFI’s patented nanocoating process, the treatment to the glass facade creates a water repellent effect which enables ease of cleaning and protection against scratches, abrasion and environmental elements, therefore considerably reducing the overall costs of maintenance to the building. The nanocoating is optically clear, and does not affect the natural reflection of the glass exterior.

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GE locomotive battery. Credit: GE Global Research.

Once again, Alfred University is in the news for working with a corporate partner under the auspices of a New York State technology initiative. School officials have just announced that the university and General Electric have signed a contract to develop a new generation of sodium metal halide batteries as part of a consortium funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Just a few weeks back, we wrote how research groups at the school were leveraging expertise in advanced ceramics, glass and cutting-edge materials to develop working relationships with companies to develop interconnects for fuel cells and GaN-on-diamond substrate projects with private partners, also under the auspices of NYSERDA.

According to an AU press release, the latest project involves developing huge sodium metal halide batteries for applications that include hybrid locomotives and back-up power for telecommunication sites. Doreen Edwards, dean of the Inamori School of Engineering at AU says the research will focus on improving battery reliability, cycle life and performance.

The consortium, led by GE Global Research, includes AU, Clarkson University, Columbia University, SUNY-Stony Brook and Brookhaven National Lab.

In the release, Matthew Hall, an AU engineering professor, says, ”This is a fantastic opportunity for Alfred because it directly complements our research interests and expertise. At least half of our research effort is devoted to energy applications. And a lot [of the work] would be an extension of the work done on fuel cells here for the last decade.”

Hall is also director of AU’s Center for Advanced Ceramic Technology, which exists to facilitate collaboration between industry and academia. CACT receives financial support from another New York State sci-tech initiative, NYSTAR.

According to Edwards, there will be at least three major components to AU’s work. The first will be to develop a more durable and conductive ceramic electrolyte separating the cathode from the anode and will likely focus on improving the mechanical and electrical properties of beta-alumina solid electrolyte.

The second will be to identify a more robust and corrosion-resistant glass for encasing the batteries’ electrical components. According to Edwards, AU and GEGR will develop accelerated glass stability tests to understand glass corrosion mechanisms and predict seal life.

Finally, AU will also be developing computational models to accelerate further improvements, including meso-scale computer simulations to refine beta-alumina solid electrolyte sample properties and a model for predicting the thermal properties as a function of glass composition.

“We are very excited to work with Alfred University to improve our sodium metal halide battery technology,” says Job Rijssenbeek, GEGR principal investigator. “Alfred’s expertise in ceramics and glasses is world renownd and we’ve had extremely productive collaborations in the past.”

With that type of reputation, its no wonder AU and its Inamori School of Engineering seem to be on a roll with these private sector collaborations.

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A new industry-university-government lab coalition is looking for ways to retain intrinsic glass strength. This young man demonstrates the strength of glass from 1/4 mile up in Chicago’s Willis Tower observation platform “birdcage.”

Catch the latest in news and information in the May issue of The Bulletin, now available online.

The American Ceramic Society’s membership magazine is available to all on the website. Check out the latest news from the ceramic industry and Society activities. Check out the advertisers, too, to find out who knows ceramics and how to work with them.

The May issue feature articles are:

• Usable Glass Strength Coalition: Patience, perseverance and progress, by Lou Mattos
• Transparent ceramics for lasers — A game-changer, by Martin Richardson and Romain Gaume
• Topological constraints and rigidity of network glasses from molecular dynamics simulations, by Mathieu Bauchy

Click here to become a member and get The Bulletin delivered to your mailbox nine times per year!

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