A coating on windows or solar panels that repels grime and dirt?
Expanded battery storage capacities for the next electric car? New
Tel
Aviv University research, just published in Nature
Nanotechnology, details a breakthrough in assembling peptides at
the nano-scale level that could make these futuristic visions come
true in just a few years.
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| Tel Aviv University's nanosized "forest of
peptides" can be used as the basis for self-cleaning windows and
more efficient batteries. Credit: AFTAU |
Operating in the range of 100 nanometers (roughly one-billionth
of a meter) and even smaller, graduate student Lihi
Adler-Abramovich and a team working under Prof. Ehud Gazit in TAU's
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology have found a
novel way to control the atoms and molecules of peptides so that
they "grow" to resemble small forests of grass. These "peptide
forests" repel dust and water -- a perfect self-cleaning coating
for windows or solar panels which, when dirty, become far less
efficient.
"This is beautiful and protean research," says Adler-Abramovich,
a Ph.D. candidate. "It began as an attempt to find a new cure for
Alzheimer's disease. To our surprise, it also had implications for
electric cars, solar energy and construction."
As cheap as the sweetener in your soda
A world leader in nanotechnology research, Prof. Gazit has been
developing arrays of self-assembling peptides made from proteins
for the past six years. His lab, in collaboration with a group led
by Prof. Gil Rosenman of TAU's Faculty of Engineering, has been
working on new applications for this basic science for the last two
years.
Using a variety of peptides, which are as simple and inexpensive
to produce as the artificial sweetener aspartame, the researchers
create their "self-assembled nano-tubules" in a vacuum under high
temperatures. These nano-tubules can withstand extreme heat and are
resistant to water.
"We are not manufacturing the actual material but developing a
basic-science technology that could lead to self-cleaning windows
and more efficient energy storage devices in just a few years,"
says Adler-Abramovich. "As scientists, we focus on pure research.
Thanks to Prof. Gazit's work on beta amyloid proteins, we were able
to develop a technique that enables short peptides to
'self-assemble,' forming an entirely new kind of coating which is
also a super-capacitor."
As a capacitor with unusually high energy density, the nano-tech
material could give existing electric batteries a boost --
necessary to start an electric car, go up a hill, or pass other
cars and trucks on the highway. One of the limitations of the
electric car is thrust, and the team thinks their research could
lead to a solution to this difficult problem.
"Our technology may lead to a storage material with a high
density," says Adler-Abramovich. "This is important when you need
to generate a lot of energy in a short period of time. It could
also be incorporated into today's lithium batteries," she adds.
Windex a thing of the past?
Coated with the new material, the sealed outer windows of
skyscrapers may never need to be washed again ? the TAU lab's
material can repel rainwater, as well as the dust and dirt it
carries. The efficiency of solar energy panels could be improved as
well, as a rain shower would pull away any dust that might have
accumulated on the panels. It means saving money on maintenance and
cleaning, which is especially a problem in dusty deserts, where
most solar farms are installed today.
The lab has already been approached to develop its coating
technology commercially. And Prof. Gazit has a contract with drug
mega-developer Merck to continue his work on short peptides for the
treatment of Alzheimer's disease ? as he had originally
foreseen.
American Friends of Tel Aviv University (www.aftau.org) supports
Israel's leading and most comprehensive center of higher learning.
In independent rankings, TAU's innovations and discoveries are
cited more often by the global scientific community than all but 20
other universities worldwide.
Internationally recognized for the scope and groundbreaking
nature of its research programs, Tel Aviv University consistently
produces work with profound implications for the future.
SOURCE