Graphene-Magnet Multilayers for
Spintronic Devices
Summary
Describes the use of magnetism to manipulate
the quantum spin of electrons to generate additional
current.
Competitive
Advantage
Circumvents the
current fundamental technological limitations of size and
efficiency of electronic devices that are based on
manipulating electronic charge.
Applications
Includes
spintronic devices such as (re-)writable microchips,
transistors and logic gates. This process can be adapted to
create active, re-writable and re-configurable spintronic
devices whose function changes depending on the
magnetization pattern written on the magnetic medium.
A nanorod containing an alloy is heated in a transmission electron microscope until the alloy melts. Then the zeptoliter-sized droplet is released by directing the electron beam onto a small spot on the nanorod to produce a pore through which the droplet is dispensed.
Competitive
Advantage
This apparatus offers a means to deposit droplets nanometers in diameter at a controlled location and with a controlled size.
Applications
The zeptoliter pipette may be used to create or seed bottom-up assembly of nanostructures.
The inventors mapped out the phase diagram of gold-germanium nanoparticles, which unexpectedly turned out to differ considerably from that for bulk alloys. Applying this knowledge they were able to change the local diameter of a nanowire in a controllable way. Transitions may be made abrupt, occurring over a few lattice spacings in the growth directions, or may be tapered, depending on the desired nanowire geometry.
Competitive
Advantage
Control over the local diameter of nanowires allows for design of nanostructures with specific location-dependent electrical and optical characteristics.
Applications
Such designed nanostructures can be used in electronic and optical devices, as well as in impedance-matching to delay lines.
Two types of DNA with different functions are attached to particles' surfaces. The first type - complementary single strands of DNA - forms a double helix. The second type is non-complementary, neutral DNA, which provides a repulsive force.
Competitive
Advantage
The addition of the repulsive force allows for regulating the size of particle clusters and the speed of their self-assembly with more precision.
Applications
Such fine-tuning of materials at the molecular level promises applications in efficient energy conversion, cell-targeted systems for drug delivery, and bio-molecular sensing for environmental monitoring and medical applications.
Novel nanoparticle systems, whose assembly and disassembly can be controlled without heat treatment, are fabricated using a phage single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) binding protein.
Competitive
Advantage
The technology permits generation of nanoparticle systems which can assemble and disassemble without thermal treatment.
Applications
Our technology will find immediate use in the development of complex DNA based nanostructures and custom microarrays for molecular diagnostics and drug development. In addition, the method can be used to fabricate a wide array of nanoparticle systems with complex architectures and unique functional peptide domains.
Semiconducting nanowires rarely
develop a protective coating in situ, leaving the
surface vulnerable to defects and contaminants. By
encapsulating them in the growth chamber with a stable
compound, not only is the surface protected from
environmental contaminants, but deleterious surface
electronic states are minimized.
Competitive
Advantage
The passivating layer reduces surface states that adversely
affect semiconductor performance.
Applications
This process can be applied to any
semiconducting nanostructure deposited in vacuum. The
resulting passivated nanostructures can be used in
electronic, optical, and mechanical devices.
Layer(s) of Graphene on Metals or
Metal-Decorated Semiconductors
Summary
Graphene has very interesting properties due to its electronic structure. For example, its thermal and electrical conductivities are extremely high and it is one of the strongest materials known. Making single layers of it, however, is challenging. This method of fabrication yields large area (square micrometer) regions of single-layer graphene produced on ruthenium surfaces
Competitive
Advantage
This method makes it practical for fabricate electronic, optical, mechanical, and magnetic devices from single-layer graphene.
Applications
Graphene is expected to play a large role in the developing spintronics field. Transistors made from graphene have been demonstrated, as have logic gates.
This electrochemical method of depositing dielectrics onto surfaces can be controlled by voltage, time of deposition, or concentration of the solution. For example, silica or halfnia (a high-k dielectric) may be deposited onto single-walled carbon nanotubes without disrupting the electrical properties of the tubes. The method may also be applied to microchips and small assembled modules.
Competitive
Advantage
The three independent methods of controlling the deposition of the dielectric allow precise control over the thickness of the dielectric. Furthermore, this method of coating SWNTs does not alter their chemical, electronic, or mechanical properties as do some alternative methods. The ability to deposit high dielectric constant materials, such as halfnium oxides, is particularly attractive for high frequency applications.
Applications
Dielectric deposition onto semiconducting surfaces is often necessary for fabrication of electronic and optical devices.
A tumor-targeted drug carrier system contains single walled carbon nanotubes which are simultaneously functionalized with tumor cell receptors and with a prodrug that is activated to its cytotoxic formulation within the tumor cell.
Competitive
Advantage
Carbon nanotube-assisted drug delivery systems offer efficient targeting and amplification of tumor-targeting due to an enhanced permeability and retention effect of the carbon nanotube which can be efficiently loaded with the drug. The use of a non-toxic prodrug which is activated to its cytotoxic form in the tumor cells helps preserve the non-targeted normal tissue of the patient, thereby potentially reducing the side effects resulting from the therapy.
Applications
The method can be used to develop functionalized carbon nanotube delivery system for diagnostics and therapeutic purposes.
This biomolecule-driven nano-assembly platform using encoded solid supports aids in the construction of modular nanosystems with complex architectures. In addition, the method allows fabrication of Janus-type constructions
Competitive
Advantage
The system is simple, modular, and allows high throughput fabrication. The assembly is economical and can be performed in aqueous solution without strenuous environmental controls and laborious purification steps.
Applications
Generation of a broad range of nanoparticle monomers with controlled anisotropy can be used in a number of applications including targeted drug delivery, microsensor systems, stabilizers of complex media, and nanocomponents in smart displays.
A tumor-targeted drug carrier system contains single walled carbon nanotubes which are simultaneously functionalized with tumor cell receptors and with a prodrug that is activated to its cytotoxic formulation within the tumor cell.
Competitive
Advantage
Carbon nanotube-assisted drug delivery systems offer efficient targeting and amplification of tumor-targeting due to an enhanced permeability and retention effect of the carbon nanotube which can be efficiently loaded with the drug. The use of a non-toxic prodrug which is activated to its cytotoxic form in the tumor cells helps preserve the non-targeted normal tissue of the patient, thereby potentially reducing the side effects resulting from the therapy.
Applications
The method can be used to develop functionalized carbon nanotube delivery system for diagnostics and therapeutic purposes.
Semiconducting
nanowires rarely develop a protective coating in situ,
leaving the surface vulnerable to defects and contaminants.
By encapsulating them in the growth chamber with a stable
compound, not only is the surface protected from
environmental contaminants, but deleterious surface
electronic states are minimized.
Competitive
Advantage
The passivating
layer reduces surface states that adversely affect
semiconductor performance.
Applications
This process can be
applied to any semiconducting nanostructure deposited in
vacuum. The resulting passivated nanostructures can be used
in electronic, optical, and mechanical devices.
Last Modified: January 13, 2011 Please forward all questions about this site to:
Christine Brakel
Last Modified: January 13, 2011 Please forward all questions about this site to:
Christine Brakel
One of ten
national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),
Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as
in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities
available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of
Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation of State
University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and
Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.
