Global News:

Innovalight predicts its silicon ink will dramatically cut cost of solar power
mercurynews.com October 11th, 2007 Innovalight creates nanoparticles of silicon that it uses to make ink "and we can end up with something that looks not very different from what a solar cell looks like today, except we got there substantially faster and cheaper, and we use less material," he said. The goal is to achieve "double digit" efficiency, higher than current levels for other thin-film-based solar cells, although Burke wouldn't reveal a specific number. The industry standard is 14 or 15 percent, although some companies talk about reaching 20 percent efficiency. Efficiency measures the percentage of absorbed light converted to electricity. As far as price, Burke talks about producing solar cells that are an order of magnitude cheaper than what's available today. "Certainly, long term, we believe this technology has the potential to get well below 50 cents a watt," he said. The Web site solarbuzz.com says the retail price per watt in the United States is $4.84 this month.

Sol-gel inks produce complex shapes with nanoscale features
University of Illinois October 11th, 2007 New sol-gel inks developed by researchers at the University of Illinois can be printed into patterns to produce three-dimensional structures of metal oxides with nanoscale features.

Researchers think drug use can be detected in fingerprints
scienceline.org October 12th, 2007 Whenever someone touches a surface with their fingers, they leave behind a latent print - an impression of the ridges on their fingertips. That impression contains sweat, oils from the skin and fatty acids. Russell and his team of British scientists are using the compounds left behind in sweat to establish drug use. To do this, they attach chemical markers to gold nanoparticles, mix those with an illuminating dye, and splash the solution over the latent print. Each gold nanoparticle binds to a specific substance - if that substance is hidden in the print - causing the dye to illuminate that compound and enabling the researchers to ‘see' the information contained in the print. "We are aiming to produce a solution that can detect a range of substances and produce a different color for each, so it will be possible to look at a fingerprint and obtain a lifestyle profile from it," Russell says in a press release.

Nanoengineers mine tiny diamonds for drug delivery
Northwestern University October 12th, 2007 Northwestern University researchers have shown that nanodiamonds -- much like the carbon structure as that of a sparkling 14 karat diamond but on a much smaller scale -- are very effective at delivering chemotherapy drugs to cells without the negative effects associated with current drug delivery agents.

Automakers Envision the Melding of Robotics and Cars
Design Challenge October 12th, 2007 Today's vehicles feature artificial intelligence that allow hands-free parking and electronic stability control, but in 50 years vehicles might be able to move in any direction, drive and navigate robotically and have structures that morph and adapt to passengers' needs.

SOURCE: NANOTECHWEB.ORG NEWSWIRE (WEEK 41)

Interview: Aixtron buys Nanoinstruments

Deposition systems vendor tells nanotechweb.org why now is the right time to add a maker of CNT reactors to its books

http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/31451

Nanoparticle film turns LED chip into portable ozone sensor Mobile phones could one day feature an array of low-cost environmental sensors, suggest scientists

http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/31446

Nanodots beamed into shape for plasmonic future Spanish researchers set their sights on optical applications

http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/31435

Microscope detects biomolecules on the nanoscale Kelvin probe-force microscopy offers label-free biosensing with improved resolution, sensitivity and speed

http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/31433

Plastic laser on the horizon

Encapsulating polymer chains in nanopores forces luminescent semiconducting plastics to emit polarized light

http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/31412