Friday, September 26, 2008
2008 R&D 100 Winner
Complex applications, such as remote chemical sensing, often face challenges as a result of the difficulty in obtaining a set of materials with identical chemical makeup from different manufacturers. Previously, separate processes were required to fabricate such a range of materials because traditional materials fabrication/processing technologies can only produce one material with a single geometry at a limited size range. Often, this requires long wait times and/or the use of separate material manufacturers. All of that has changed with Multi-Scale Materials: Integrated Processing Method from researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash., and two other partners. It is an integrated method for generating nanoscale- to macroscale-sized structures of different geometrical distributions in a single process, ensuring a resulting set of materials with identical chemical makeup. Specifically, Multi-Scale processing simultaneously fabricates droplets 100 nm to 5 µm in diameter, nanowires 40nm to 140 nm in diameter and several millimeters in length, and continuous films 2 µm thick and over 1 cm in length. The technology can easily be applied to substances with chemistries of similar vapor pressure-temperature characteristics, making possible new types of optical and electronic materials and sensors.
Technology
Integrated method for generating nanoscale- to macroscale-sized structures of different geometrical distributions in a single process
Developers
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Battelle
Uiv. of California, Santa Barbara
