Energy applications of nanotechnology

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Over the past few decades, the fields of science and engineering have been seeking to develop new and improved upon types of energy technologies that have the capability of improving life all over the world. In order to make the next leap forward from the current generation of technology, scientists and engineers have been developing Energy Applications of Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology, a new field in science, is any technology that contains components smaller than 100 nanometers. For scale, a single virus particle is about 100 nanometers in width.
An important subfield of nanotechnology related to energy is nanofabrication. Nanofabrication is the process of designing and creating devices on the nanoscale. Creating devices smaller than 100 nanometers opens many doors for the development of new ways to capture, store, and transfer energy. The inherent level of control that nanofabrication could give scientists and engineers would be critical in providing the capability of solving many of the problems that the world is facing today related to the current generation of energy technologies.
People in the fields of science and engineering have already begun developing ways of utilizing nanotechnology for the development of consumer products. Benefits already observed from the design of these products are an increased efficiency of lighting and heating, increased electrical storage capacity, and a decrease in the amount of pollution from the use of energy. Benefits such as these make the investment of capital in the research and development of nanotechnology a top priority.
Consumer products
Recently, previously established and entirely new companies such as BetaBatt, Inc. and Oxane Materials are focusing on nanomaterials as a way to develop and improve upon older methods for the capture, transfer, and storage of energy for the development of consumer products.
ConsERV, a product developed by the Dais Analytic Corporation, uses nanoscale polymer membranes to increase the efficiency of heating and cooling systems and has already proven to be a lucrative design. The polymer membrane was specifically configured for this application by selectively engineering the size of the pores in the membrane to prevent air from passing, while allowing moisture to pass through the membrane. Polymer membranes can be designed to selectively allow particles of one size and shape to pass through while preventing others of different dimensions. This makes for a powerful tool that can be used in consumer products from biological weapons protection to industrial chemical separations.
A New York based company called Applied NanoWorks, Inc. has been developing a consumer product that utilizes LED technology to generate light. Light-emitting diodes or LEDs, use only about 10% of the energy that a typical incandescent or fluorescent light bulb use and typically lasts much longer, which makes them a viable alternative to traditional light bulbs. While LEDs have been around for decades, this company and others like it have been developing a special variant of LED called the white LED. White LEDs consist of semi-conducting organic layers that are only about 100 nanometers in distance from each other and are placed between two electrodes, which create an anode, and a cathode. When voltage is applied to the system, light is generated when electricity passes through the two organic layers. This is called electroluminescence. The semiconductor properties of the organic layers are what allow for the minimal amount of energy necessary to generate light. In traditional light bulbs, a metal filament is used to generate light when electricity is run through the filament. Using metal generates a great deal of heat and therefore lowers efficiency.
Research for longer lasting batteries has been an ongoing process for years. Researchers have now begun to utilize nanotechnology for battery technology. mPhase Technologies in conglomeration with Rutgers University and Bell Laboratories have utilized nanomaterials to alter the wetting behavior of the surface where the liquid in the battery lies to spread the liquid droplets over a greater area on the surface and therefore have greater control over the movement of the droplets. This gives more control to the designer of the battery. This control prevents reactions in the battery by separating the electrolytic liquid from the anode and the cathode when the battery is not in use and joining them when the battery is in need of use.
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Economic benefitsThe relatively recent shift toward using nanotechnology with respect to the capture, transfer, and storage of energy has and will continue to have many positive economic impacts on society. The control of materials that nanotechnology offers to scientists and engineers of consumer products is one of the most important aspects of nanotechnology. This allows for an improved efficiency of products across the board.
A major issue with current energy generation is the loss of efficiency from the generation of heat as a by-product of the process. A common example of this is the heat generated by the internal combustion engine. The internal combustion engine loses about 36% of the energy from gasoline as heat and an improvement of this alone could have a significant economic impact. However, improving the internal combustion engine in this respect has proven to be extremely difficult without sacrificing performance. Improving the efficiency of fuel cells through the use of nanotechnology appears to be more plausible by using molecularly tailored catalysts, polymer membranes, and improved fuel storage.
In order for a fuel cell to operate, particularly of the hydrogen variant, a noble-metal catalyst (usually platinum, which is very expensive) is needed to separate the electrons from the protons of the hydrogen atoms. However, catalysts of this type are extremely sensitive to carbon monoxide reactions. In order to combat this, alcohols or hydrocarbons compounds are used to lower the carbon monoxide concentration in the system. This adds an additional cost to the device. Using nanotechnology, catalysts can be designed through nanofabrication that are much more resistant to carbon monoxide reactions, which improves the efficiency of the process and may be designed with cheaper materials to additionally lower costs.
Fuel cells that are currently designed for transportation need rapid start-up periods for the practicality of consumer use. This process puts a lot of strain on the traditional polymer electrolyte membranes, which decreases the life of the membrane requiring frequent replacement. Using nanotechnology, engineers have the ability to create a much more durable polymer membrane, which addresses this problem. Nanoscale polymer membranes are also much more efficient in ionic conductivity. This improves the efficiency of the system and decreases the time between replacements, which lowers costs.
Another problem with contemporary fuel cells is the storage of the fuel. In the case of hydrogen fuel cells, storing the hydrogen in gaseous rather than liquid form improves the efficiency by 5%. However, the materials that we currently have available to us significantly limit fuel storage due to low stress tolerance and costs. Scientists have come up with an answer to this by using a nanoporous styrene material (which is a relatively inexpensive material) that when super-cooled to around -196oC, naturally holds on to hydrogen atoms and when heated again releases the hydrogen for use.

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Capacitors: then and now
For decades, scientists and engineers have been attempting to make computers smaller and more efficient. A crucial component of computers are capacitors. A capacitor is a device that is made of a pair of electrodes separated by an insulator that each stores an opposite charge. A capacitor stores a charge when it is removed from the circuit that it is connected to; the charge is released when it is replaced back into the circuit. Capacitors have an advantage over batteries in that they release their charge much more quickly than a battery.
Traditional or foil capacitors are composed of thin metal conducting plates separated by an electrical insulator, which are then stacked or rolled and placed in a casing. The problem with a traditional capacitor such as this is that they limit how small an engineer can design a computer. Scientists and engineers have since turned to nanotechnology for a solution to the problem.
Using nanotechnology, researchers developed what they call “ultracapacitors.” An ultracapacitor is a general term that describes a capacitor that contains nanocomponents. Ultracapacitors are being researched heavily because of their high density interior, compact size, reliability, and high capacitance. This decrease in size makes it increasingly possible to develop much smaller circuits and computers. Ultracapacitors also have the capability to supplement batteries in hybrid vehicles by providing a large amount of energy during peak acceleration and allowing the battery to supply energy over longer periods of time, such as during a constant driving speed. This could decrease the size and weight of the large batteries needed in hybrid vehicles as well as take additional stress off the battery. However, as of now, the combination of ultracapacitors and a battery is not cost effective due to the need of additional DC/DC electronics to coordinate the two.
Nanoporous carbon aerogel is one type of material that is being utilized for the design of ultracapacitors. These aerogels have a very large interior surface area and can have its properties altered by changing the pore diameter and distribution along with adding nanosized alkali metals to alter its conductivity.
Carbon nanotubes are another possible material for use in an ultracapacitor. Carbon nanotubes are created by vaporizing carbon and allowing it to condense on a surface. When the carbon condenses, it forms a nanosized tube composed of carbon atoms. This tube has a high surface area, which increases the amount of charge that can be stored. The low reliability and high cost of using carbon nanotubes for ultracapacitors is currently an issue of research.
In a study concerning ultracapacitors or supercapacitors, researchers at the Sungkyunkwan University in the Republic of Korea explored the possibility of increasing the capacitance of electrodes through the addition of fluorine atoms to the walls of carbon nanotubes. As briefly mentioned before, carbon nanotubes are an increasing form of capacitors due to their superb chemical stability, high conductivity, light mass, and their large surface area. These researchers fluorinated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) at high temperatures to bind fluorine atoms to the walls. The attached fluorine atoms changed the non-polar nanotubes to become polar molecules. This can be attributed to the charge transfer from the fluorine. This created dipole-dipole layers along the carbon nanotube walls. Testing of these fluorinated SWCNTs against normal state SWCNTs showed a difference in capacitance. It was determined that the fluorinated SWCNTs are advantageous in fabricating electrodes for capacitors and improve the wettability with aqueous electrolytes, which promotes the overall performance of supercapacitors. While this study brought to knowledge a more efficient example of capacitors, little is known about this new supercapacitor, large scale synthesis is lacking and is necessary for any massive production, and preparation conditions are quite tedious in achieving the final product.[1]
Theory of capacitance
Understanding the concept of capacitance can be helpful in understanding why nanotechnology is such a powerful tool for the design of higher energy storing capacitors. A capacitor’s capacitance (C) or amount of energy stored is equal to the amount of charge (Q) stored on each plate divided by the voltage (V) between the plates. Another representation of capacitance is that capacitance (C) is approximately equal to the permittivity (ε) of the dielectric times the area (A) of the plates divided by the distance (d) between them. Therefore, capacitance is proportional to the surface area of the conducting plate and inversely proportional to the distance between the plates.
Using carbon nanotubes as an example, a property of carbon nanotubes is that they have a very high surface area to store a charge. Using the above proportionality that capacitance (C) is proportional to the surface area (A) of the conducting plate; it becomes obvious that using nanoscaled materials with high surface area would be great for increasing capacitance. The other proportionality described above is that capacitance (C) is inversely proportional to the distance (d) between the plates. Using nanoscaled plates such as carbon nanotubes with nanofabrication techniques, gives the capability of decreasing the space between plates which again increases capacitance.

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I am dazzled :lol

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by yourself:lol

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　　在过去的几十年中,科学和工程公司一直在寻求发展新的和改进类型的能源技术,有能力改善世界各地的生活。为了使下一次飞跃从目前一代的技术,科学家和工程师们已经开发能源应用纳米技术。纳米技术,提出了一种新的领域,在科学技术,包括组件小于100奈米。为标准,一个单一的病毒粒子是大约100奈米宽。
　　一个重要的分支学科的纳米技术相关的能量是奈米制造的。奈米制造的过程中设计和制造设备的奈米。小于100奈米制造设备的许多门打开,为开发新方法来捕捉、存储、传输能量。内在的控制水平,奈米制造的能给科学家和工程师将在提供解决很多问题,世界正面临着今天的电流产生的相关的能源技术。
　　人们在科学和工程已经开始发展的方式利用奈米科技发展的消费品。从好处的设计已观察到这些产品都是我们的效率增加了发光发热,增加了电容量和减少污染物的总量从使用的能源。诸如此类的利益使资本的投入在纳米技术的研究与开发作为头等大事。
　　消费品,
　　最近,以前建立和全新的公司,如BetaBatt有限公司和Oxane集中在纳米材料作为一种方法来开发和改进老方法捕捉、转让、储存能量的消费产品的开发。
　　ConsERV、产品开发、利用递解析公司纳米聚合物膜上,提高工作效率的供暖和冷却系统,已经被证明是一个有利可图的设计。配置的聚合物膜是专门为这个应用程序通过选择性的工程大小的孔膜,防止空气通过,同时让水分穿过细胞膜。聚合物膜可以被设计为选择性地让粒子的大小和形状,防止其他人可以通过不同的维度。这使得一个功能强大的工具,可以用于消费产品,从生物武器保护工业化学物质分离。
　　纽约的一家公司,叫做应用NanoWorks已经发展了一个消费产品,采用LED产生光。led发光二极管或使用只有10%的能量,一个典型的白炽灯泡的使用,或荧光通常持续更长时间,使他们能够取代传统灯泡。虽然LED已存在数十年来,本公司和其他类似的东西已经开发了特殊变体叫做白光LED灯。白光led组成,半有机层只有大约100奈米的距离,在两个电极,创造一种阳极和阴极。当电压到系统、光时产生的电流通过这两个有机层。这被称为electroluminescence。半导体特性是什么让有机层的少量必要的能量产生光。在传统的灯泡,金属丝是用来产生光在电费的灯丝。用金属产生大量的热,因此会降低效率。
　　对于长效电池的研究一直持续多年的过程。研究人员已经开始利用纳米技术对电池technology. mPhase集聚和贝尔实验室用罗格斯大学一直用纳米材料的行为改变的表面润湿性液体电池中的谎言来传播液滴在更大范围内表面上,因此有较大的控制权的运动的液滴。这给更多的控制权交给设计师的电池。这种控制防止反应在电池电解液分离了从阳极和阴极当电池使用和加入他们当电池需要使用。
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　　最近的经济benefitsThe走上使用纳米技术的捕捉、转让、储存能量已经并将继续有许多正面的影响。纳米材料的管理,提供对科学家和工程师的消费产品中是最重要的一个方面的纳米技术。这允许一个提高效率的产品。
　　一个主要的问题与现行的能量产生损失的效率产生的热能作为副产品的过程。这是一个常见的例子所产生的热量内燃机。内燃机失去了大约36%的能量从汽油,改善这可能就有一个显著的经济影响。然而,提高内燃机在这方面已被证明是非常困难的不牺牲性能。提高燃料电池的效率,通过使用纳米技术似乎更可信的利用分子剪裁催化剂、聚合物膜、提高燃料贮存。
　　为了使燃料电池的操作,特别是noble-metal催化剂的氢变种,(通常是非常昂贵,白金)是需要单独的电子从质子的氢原子。然而,这种类型的催化剂是极其敏感的一氧化碳的反应。为了解决这个问题,醇类或碳氢化合物用于降低化合物的一氧化碳浓度的系统。这增加了一个额外的费用。采用纳米技术,催化剂可通过奈米制造的,更能抵抗一氧化碳中毒反应,以提高效率的过程中,可以设计出更便宜的材料与另外节省成本。
　　燃料电池,目前用于运输需要快速启动阶段的实用性。这个过程中设置了很多的传统聚合物电解质膜,减少了生命的膜频繁更换。采用纳米技术,工程师们有能力创造一个更耐用的聚合物膜、处理这个问题。纳米聚合物膜也更高效离子电导率。这提高了效率,减少了系统之间的时间,从而降低成本的替代品。
　　另一个问题是当代燃料电池的存储的燃料。在这个案例中,存储氢燃料电池在气态氢液体状态,而不是提高效率的5%。然而,材料,现在我们已经为我们提供显著限制燃料贮存由于低应力宽容和成本。科学家们已经想出一个问题的答案用纳米多孔聚苯乙烯材料(这是相对便宜的材料),当超冷却到-196oC,自然地坚持氢原子和加热后再释放氢气使用。