How does nanotechnology make a difference in your life?
Imagine the Possibilities
Could objects ten-thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair change life as we know it? What if windows could also function as solar panels, converting light from the sun into clean and renewable electrical power? And what if cancer detection and diagnosis could be easy as breathing?
It’s not science fiction, it’s our future. And the University at Buffalo is building the foundations for developments like these with groundbreaking research in the field of integrated nanostructured systems.
The UB2020 Strategic Strength in integrated nanostructured systems is one of eight such initiatives that are redefining our role as a major public research university for the twenty-first century. Reshaping the way we think about who we are and what we do, the University at Buffalo has created a multi-year plan for strategic growth to recruit and cultivate world-class researchers through strategic, coordinated hiring, a free-flowing information exchange, access to state-of-the-art facilities and a supportive administrative infrastructure.
Focusing on devices and systems ranging in size from countable numbers of atoms and molecules to 1/100th the diameter of a human blood cell (1 to 50 billionths of a meter), integrated nanostructured systems serves to stimulate collaborations between research areas covered by nanoscience and nanotechnology, and touches every technological discipline, in addition to some social sciences, at the University at Buffalo.
Spintronics
UB researchers in spintronics are shaping the future through groundbreaking research into the physics of materials and structures that will enable dramatically different, faster, and more efficient computer hardware of the future. Based on precise means of controlling the “spin” of electrons in solids, these new technologies will allow for memory and computing hardware with reduced energy usage, faster processing, and data storage with more capabilities than ever imagined. A near-term example is high-speed non-volatile computer memory that would allow your laptop to boot up instantly, like flicking a light switch. In the longer-term, quantum computing could make currently intractable computational problems trivial and could provide unbreakable encryption techniques.
Nanoelectronics
Conventional microelectronics technology is approaching fundamental limits, beyond which current designs and materials can no longer be scaled to produce smaller, faster devices. New design paradigms and new materials for devices and the wiring that connects them are needed to cope with the high current densities and heat dissipation that result from continued miniaturization of microelectronics. UB researchers are at the forefront of these developments in nanoelectronics, as well as in the development of entirely new devices whose functions are enabled by unique electronic behaviors that are only observed at the nanometer length scale.
Nanomedicine
What if treatment for a serious illness could take place without painful medical procedures or suffering? Nanomedicine researchers are making strides in developing less invasive treatments for illnesses through targeted delivery of nanoparticles that allow imaging, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. Making nanosized particles that the body won’t recognize as foreign, scientists are discovering ways to target and treat specific cells with negative traits, such as cancer cells, without harming healthy cells and adversely affecting the entire body.
Sensors and Biomedical Applications of Nanotechnology
What if the presence of minute quantities of dangerous substances, from toxins, to explosives, to viruses could be detected instantly and monitored continuously? What would it mean to our health and to our environment? Nanotechnology researchers are creating technology that can monitor and recognize abnormalities in environments—from nature to our own bodies. This quicker detection through sensors for environmental, homeland security, and biomedical applications could mean solving problems before they have a chance to make a negative impact on our lives.
Solar Energy
As finite supplies of fossil fuels are consumed, and as the environmental impacts of fossil fuel use become increasingly obvious, developing new sources of energy is becoming one of the most pressing problems facing society. With an eye on the future, nanotech researchers are developing lower-cost, more efficient means of tapping the potential of clean and renewable solar energy. By creating new systems that convert solar energy into electricity or clean fuels like hydrogen, researchers are using nanotechnology to solve the world’s energy crisis.
Energy Storage and Conversion
In the transition to renewable sources of energy that must occur over the next decades, new means of storing energy and converting it between different forms, such as electricity or chemical fuels will be required. For example, energy storage is essential to the utilization of solar energy and other intermittent sources. New nanomaterials developed for use in batteries are enabling higher density energy storage that is key to technologies from plug-in hybrid vehicles to life-saving implantable medical devices.
