News Release Archive | Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 8, 2002

Nanotechnology builds materials up from atoms and molecules rather than whittling down blocks of material from the macro level. Among its potential advantages are smaller components, more precise functionality, lower energy requirements, and reduced waste and exploitation of natural resources. Innovations from this field are expected to bring about improvements in society that include new drug discoveries, innovations in health care, as well as advances in computing, transportation and manufacturing. Among the Center’s distinctive features:

• Half the researchers will come from industry and universities, chosen on the basis of scientific review of proposed projects.
• There will be no charges for visitors to use this facility.
• Core facility will be located outside the classified boundary to promote open access and scientific collaboration.
• Research scientists in chemistry, physics, biology and computers will work together under one roof.
• A vast array of scientific equipment, some not available anywhere else in the world, will be made available to researchers. Examples include an atom tracker that records the movement of atoms in real-time and provides videos of atoms distributing themselves on a surface. Also made available will be a Magnetic Resonance Force Microscope that performs the equivalent of a medical Magnetic Resonance Imager on the scale of individual molecules.

Nanostructured materials can increase the efficiency of energy conversion with enhanced magnetic, light emission or wear resistant properties. Energy generation using nanostructured photovoltaics or nanocluster-driven photocatalysis could fundamentally change the economic viability of renewable energy sources. In addition, the ability to imitate molecular processes found in living organisms may be key to developing highly sensitive and discriminating chemical and biological sensors. Such sensors could greatly expand the range of medical home testing as well as provide new technologies to counter the spread of chemical and biological weapons. Even the production of chemicals and materials could be revolutionized though the development of molecular reactors that can promote low energy chemical pathways for materials synthesis.

Media contacts:
Neal Singer, Sandia National Laboratories, nsinger@sandia.gov, (505) 845-7078

Shelley Thompson, Los Alamos National Laboratory, shelley@lanl.gov, 505-665-7778