Engineering the Next Nano Breakthroughs

Nanotechnology breakthroughs are happening every day. NASA Tech Briefs' Nano 2005 nano engineering conference, November 10-11 at the Marriott | Boston Newton, will help you keep pace with the engineering and technology innovations behind the latest nano breakthroughs. These technologies · have real-world applications in the aerospace and defense, electronics, bio/medical, power and energy, and manufacturing industries. You'll also have networking and funding opportunities, sessions, panel discussions, and expert insight you need to stay ahead of the small-tech curve.

This year's event also will feature the presentation of the first annual Nanotech Briefs(TM) Nano 50(TM) Awards, which recognize the top 50 inventions, products, and innovators that have significantly impacted - or are expected to impact - the state of the art in nanotechnology. The winners of the Nano 50 awards are the "best of the best" - the innovative people and technologies that will move nanotechnology to key mainstream markets. The Nano 50 will be presented at a special awards dinner held on November 10. To view a complete list of Nano 50 winners, visit http://www.nanotechbriefs.com/nano50 winners.html.

A number of Nano 50 recipients will highlight their award-winning technologies in selected panel sessions. Following are profiles of some of these Nano 50 innovators and companies that will be part of the conference program. See the sidebar on page 24 for the conference agenda, which features a who's who of industry leaders.

Visit www.techbriefs.com/nano for more information and to register.

NanoDynamics

The next time you swing your golf club, nanotechnology could be helping the ball go straighten NanoDynamics of Buffalo, NY, introduced NDMX Technology, which uses nanotechnology in the next generation of golf balls. Doug DuFaux, inventor of the NDMX golf ball and director of the company's ND Innovations(TM) business unit, is a Nano 50(TM) winner in the Innovator category.

The NDMX technology focuses on the physics of a golf ball's rotation. Rotation increases turbulence, which generates lift - a favorable quality in a golf ball. However, when the rotation of the ball is off-axis, the ball tends to hook or slice. By engineering the ball so that the energy transfer from the club head to the ball is more efficient, lift can be generated without as much spin, resulting in the ball traveling as far, but with less slice. The ball is engineered around a patented hollow metal core and distributes the weight to the outside, instead of having the weight concentrated in the center.

According to DuFaux, "During the development program, we used nanotechnology as a toolbox to modify the system in two key areas strength, which is a commonly known benefit of some nanomaterials, as well as feel and playability, which marries art to science."

NanoDynamics also has business units centered on developing portable solid oxide fuel cell systems, enhanced nano components, and high-performance materials.

Keith Blakely, NanoDynamics CEO, will present the Nano 2005 Keynote Address at 9:15 a.m. on Thursday, November 10.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

An invention by Yuntian Zhu of the Superconductivity Technology Center (STC) at Los Alamos National Lab is the cornerstone of aircraft half the weight of today's planes, cars that can survive the worst crashes, and elevators that can whisk passengers into outer space. A Nano 50(TM) winner in the Technology category, the invention is the world's longest carbon nanotube measuring 4 centimeters in length.

The single-wall carbon nanotube was created using a process called catalytic chemical vapor deposition. The synthesis of the individual nanotube on a silicon substrate indicates that it may be possible to grow continuous carbon nanotubes without any length limitation.

Zhu explained that carbon nanotubes are 100 times stronger than the Kevlar currendy used for armored vests, and cable made of the nanotubes with the width of ordinary sewing thread could lift an automobile. Besides improved body armor, applications include power transmission lines, sporting goods, suspension bridges, space exploration, robotics, artificial muscles, and electromechanical systems such as microelectric motors. The nanotube's catalytic and absorptive properties could lead to uses in biology and environmental cleanup, as well as fuel cells.

Other uses include nanoscale electronics, in which the nanotubes can be used as conducting or insulating materials. For example, joining two nanoscale carbon tubes with different electronic properties could create nanoscale diodes.

Learn more from Yuntian Zhu about the myriad of uses for these carbon nanotubes during the Disruptive Technologies plenary session at 11:15 a.m. on Thursday, November 10.

mPhase Technologies

A Nano 50(TM) winner in the Technology category, mPhase Technologies of Norwalk, CT, developed a "smart" battery based on nanotechnology and advances in microfluidics control. mPhase is commercializing a nano battery with Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies that would have a long shelf life, be easy to miniaturize, offer high power and energy density, and be inexpensive to mass-produce.