A
science kit to help students learn about nanotechnology has been selected as
the top winner in the Consumer Products Category for the NASA Tech Briefs -
2014 Create the Future design competition. It is the second international
competition the kit won this year.
NanoFab
Lab…in a Box!™ was developed by Mike Zach, associate professor of chemistry at
UW-Stevens Point, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne
National Laboratory in Illinois.
It is
the only entry from Wisconsin to win among more than 800 entries globally (http://contest.techbriefs.com/2014/winners).
The
Create the Future design competition was launched in 2002 by the publishers of
NASA Tech Briefs magazine to help stimulate and reward engineering innovation.
Since then, the event has attracted more than 8,000 product design ideas from
engineers, entrepreneurs and students worldwide.
Jonathan
Moritz, a biochemistry major at UW-Stevens Point who works with Zach’s
nonprofit foundation, submitted the entry. From Wausau, Moritz will travel to
New York City in November to accept the award.
In
July, the NanoFab Lab was listed among the top 100 technology products added to
the market place for 2013 by Research and Design Magazine. Its R&D 100
awards (www.rdmag.com/award-winners/2014/07/2014-r-d-100-award-winners)
are seen as the “Oscars of Innovation.”
The
NanoFab Lab simplifies nanotechnology concepts for high school and college
students. It is a shoebox-sized educational kit for easy, rapid duplication of
patterned nanowires without the need for a multimillion-dollar clean room.
This
is a new way to make tiny electronics and other materials used in high-tech
advanced manufacturing. Scientists believe this technology can be used in
fabricating transistors, in sensors, solar cells and as electronic components
to solve challenges and predict problems. A recent report by the U.S.
Government Accountability Office described nanomanufacturing as a “future
megatrend that will potentially match or surpass the digital revolution’s
effect on society and the economy.”
Zach’s
nonprofit EChem Nanowires Educational Foundation, Inc. developed the technology
in partnership with nanoscientist Ani Sumant of Argonne’s
Center for Nanoscale Materials. The UW System’s WiSys
Technology Foundation owns the patent.
Scientists needed to develop entirely separate techniques to
grow nanowires made from different materials in the past, Zach said. A
universal method for growing different materials controls the location where
material is deposited with a reusable template or “printing press.” This speeds
the process from hours or days to minutes or even seconds, Zach said. The technology uses an
electroplate bath and reusable Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Template (UDT)
electrodes.
The kit offers nanotechnology
resources for science education and outreach that are not readily available,
especially in rural schools, Zach said. It teaches research and discovery
concepts and generates interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and
mathematics) fields.
This
75-second video gives a simple overview of the technique: http://youtu.be/SSJa4NlzqKs
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