Thursday, October 02, 2008
Penn State's Center for Nanoscale Science has received a six-year, $13.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to continue research and educational activities in its Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). "The goal of the Center is to design and create new materials with unprecedented properties and functions, starting with nanometer-scale building blocks," said Thomas Mallouk, the DuPont Professor of Materials Chemistry and Physics at Penn State and director of the MRSEC. The grant will support a range of projects -- especially those in nanotechnology -- and including organic solar cells, fuel cells and novel electronic materials, such as micro-scalpels and magnetic memories for silicon chips. (more)
Monday, June 23, 2008
The ability to see is based on molecules in the eye that flip from one conformation to another when exposed to visible light. Now, a new technique for attaching light-sensitive organic molecules to metal surfaces allows the molecules to be switched between two different configurations in response to exposure to different wavelengths of light. Because the configuration changes are reversible and can be controlled without direct contact, this technique could enable applications that can be controlled at the molecular scale. (more)
Thursday, March 13, 2008
An international science team from Penn State and the University of Southampton, United Kingdom, has developed a process for growing a single-crystal semiconductor inside the tunnel of a hollow optical fiber. The device adds new electronic capabilities to optical fibers, whose performance in electronic devices such as computers typically is degraded by the interface between the fiber and the device. The research is important because optical fibers -- which are used in a wide range of technologies that employ light, including telecommunications, medicine, computing and remote-sensing devices -- are ideal media for transmitting many types of signals. (more)
