A potential geoengineering project would involve using five tethered balloons to put 1.5 million tons of titanium dioxide particles into the stratosphere each year. The sub-micro particles could turn away the rays of the sun. Peter Davidson, a former senior innovation advisor to the United Kingdom government, chartered chemical engineer, and Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and Royal Academy of Engineering, said, "While it's essential that we work to reduce carbon dioxide emissions now, it would be wise to have a well-researched emergency system in reserve as a Plan B." The idea of using particles to decrease temperature levels on Earth stems from the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, which launched 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, decreasing temperatures around the world by 0.5 degrees Celsius. Recreating these conditions using sulfuric acid would deplete the ozone layer and produce regional changes in rainfall patterns, but using a harmless particle of a similar size, such as titanium dioxide, could be the answer, said Davidson. Davidson said an independent trust should be formed to spearhead the project and draw together governments, environmental bodies, legal representatives, and others.

A new coating, developed at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, can destroy 99 percent of the bacteria and fungi it encounters. The coating, made from Dimethyldecylammonium Chitosan methacrylate, is a sponge-like polymer that holds a positive charge, and acts like a magnet-type force to draw in bacteria, which have a negative charge on their cell walls. Bacterium that come into contact with the coating are “sucked” into the nanopores, causing the cell to rupture, killing the bacterium. The coating is able to attract and kill bacteria without the need for antibiotics. According to Mary Chan, the acting chair of NTU’s School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, "The coating can also be applied on biomedical objects, such as catheters and implants to prevent bacterial infections, which is a serious cause of concern as many bacteria are now developing resistance to antibiotics - currently our main source of treatment for infections. By developing novel materials which uses physical interaction to kill bacteria cells, we envisage this can be an alternative form of treatment for bacterial infections in the near future." The product is already in use by two companies: a contact lens manufacturer; and, a company specializing in animal care products. The team hopes to extend its use to a wide range of biomedical and consumer products. The team has also developed a broad-spectrum antimicrobial solution that is able to kill off only bacteria and fungi, without harming human cells, in vitro.

New research in the journal Scientific Reports reveals the presence of carbon nanoparticles in foods, including bread, corn flakes, biscuits and caramels. The research indicates that it could be safe to eat such nanoparticles. According to one of the researchers, Arun Chattopadhyay, from the Indian Institute of Technology in Assam, India, “It is known that nanomaterials were used in dyeing hair, providing colorful glasses and in weapons. Now, our discovery of the presence of carbon nanoparticles in food caramels adds to the repertoire of traditional use of nanomaterials.” The researchers tested for carbon nanoparticles in foods that are prepared by heating in the absence of water, finding spherical carbon nanoparticles ranging from 4 to 30 nanometers in size. “If we and our ancestors have been eating these nanoparticles for centuries (if not for millennia) and if these particles can offer some benefits of nanomaterials – then why not use them?” Chattopadhyay said. The researchers tested the extracted carbon nanoparticles and found that even at high concentrations, they had little or no toxicity. The researchers suggest that these food-derived nanoparticles could be competition to the current expensive synthetics, as they would not need to go through as many safety studies. “They have the potential to improve public perception on the safety of nanoparticles. This does not still mean that all nanoparticles are safe. Some are and some are not,” said Chattopadhyay.

The California Nanosafety Consortium of Higher Education has published a new document, “Nanotoolkit: Working Safely with Engineered Nanomaterials in Academic Research Settings,” which contains a compendium of best practices, standards, and guidelines to using engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). The document was developed in an effort to provide practical guidance on how ENMs should be handled safely in the laboratory in the face of uncertainty over possible toxic effects. While there have been many guidance documents and exposure studies to date, most have focused on industrial settings. Academic laboratories, however, present their own challenges in that much of the initial research and development of nanotechnology occurs in these settings, resulting in hazards that are more diverse, and exposure monitoring that is more challenging. The tool kit is designed to provide academic researchers the ability to quickly identify safe handling practices based on whether the work they propose is in a low, moderate, or high potential exposure category. The document is available for download from the Consortium’s website.

Hydrogen gas offers one of the most promising sustainable energy alternatives to fossil fuels, but its full potential is stymied by challenges - such as the releasing of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to requiring rare and expensive chemical elements such as platinum - in producing pure hydrogen. Now scientists at the United States Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new electrocatalyst of nickel-molybdenum-nitride in a high-performing nanosheet structure that generates hydrogen gas from water cleanly, and with much more affordable materials. Kotaro Sasaki, a chemist at Brookhaven, said, “We wanted to design an optimal catalyst with high activity and low costs that could generate hydrogen as a high-density, clean energy source. We discovered this exciting compound that actually outperformed our expectations.” The new catalyst performs nearly as well as platinum, and, while it does not represent a complete solution to the challenge of creating affordable hydrogen gas, it does reduce the cost of essential equipment. According to James Muckerman, a senior chemist, “Brookhaven Lab has a very active fuel cell and electrocatalysis group. We needed to figure out fundamental approaches that could potentially be game-changing, and that’s the spirit in which we’re doing this work. It’s about coming up with a new paradigm that will guide future research.”

The first practical artificial leaf is described in the American Chemical Society’s journal Accounts of Chemical Research. The new device, unlike previous ones that used costly ingredients such as platinum, is made from inexpensive materials and uses low-cost engineering and manufacturing processes. An artificial leaf has a sunlight collector sandwiched between two films that generate oxygen and hydrogen gas, and, when dropped in water in the sunlight, it bubbles away, releasing hydrogen that can be used in fuel cells to make electricity. Daniel G. Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States, replaced the platinum catalyst that produces the hydrogen gas with a nickel-molybdenum-zinc compound, and, on the other side, used a cobalt film to generate oxygen gas. All these materials are abundant on Earth, unlike platinum, noble metal oxides and semiconducting materials that have been used in previous versions. “Considering that it is the 6 billion nonlegacy users that are driving the enormous increase in energy demand by midcentury, a research target of delivering solar energy to the poor with discoveries such as the artificial leaf provides global society its most direct path to a sustainable energy future,” Nocera said.

Researchers at Seoul National University, South Korea, have developed a chemical sensor based on polymer nanostructures that can detect nerve gas at concentrations as low as 10 parts per trillion, which is two to three orders of magnitude more sensitive than previously reported sensors. The researchers say the new sensors would be less expensive and more sensitive than the spectroscopy-based devices currently used by soldiers and police to detect organophospates, which is the group of compounds that includes the nerve gas sarin. The sensors, with further development, could eventually be made into a wearable device built on plastic or even fabric. Paul Rhodes, a team manager at chemical-sensor company Nanosense, said an advantage of these new sensors is that they can be used continuously, as the gas molecules do not stay bound to the polymer for long. He added, however, that he would like to see more evidence that the sensors are specific for organophosphate gases. “You can’t freak out that you’ve got nerve gas if someone has mopped the floor with ammonia,” Rhodes said. The team is currently working on developing a wearable device that contains the sensor, its power source, and all other necessary parts.

A scientist from Cornell University, United States, and an African designer have created a fashionable hooded bodysuit that wards off mosquitoes infected with malaria. Malaria is estimated to kill 655,000 people a year in Africa. Unlike insecticide-treated nets, this garment can be worn throughout the day, providing extra protection against the insects. The repellant and fabric are bonded at the nanolevel using metal organic framework molecules, allowing the fabric to be loaded with up to three times more insecticide than normal nets, which usually wear off after six months. Frederick Ochanda, a postdoctoral associate in Cornell's Department of Fiber Science & Apparel Design, and a native of Kenya, said, "The bond on our fabric is very difficult to break. The nets in use now are dipped in a solution and not bonded in this way, so their effectiveness doesn't last very long." Ultimately, say Ochanda, and designer Matilda Ceesay, a Cornell undergraduate from Gambia, they hope the outfit will serve as a prototype to drive new technologies for fighting malaria. "Although there are already mosquito nets being used, the solution isn't foolproof," Ceesay said. "People are still getting sick and dying. We can't get complacent. I hope my design can show what is possible when you bring together fashion and science and will inspire others to keep improving the technology.”

Quantum dots are one of the few alternative technologies to the incandescent light bulb. White-light quantum dots are fluorescent beads of cadmium selenide that are able to convert the blue light produced by an LED into a warm white light reminiscent of incandescents. Seven years ago, when these dots were discovered, their efficiency was too low for commercial applications. Now researchers at Vanderbilt University, United States, are reporting that they have boosted the efficiency from an original level of three percent to as high as 45 percent. According to Sandra Rosenthal, a professor of chemistry, “Forty-five percent is as high as the efficiency of some commercial phosphors which suggests that white-light quantum dots can now be used in some special lighting applications. The fact that we have successfully boosted their efficiency by more than 10 times also means that it should be possible to improve their efficiency even further.” The team found that by treating the quantum dots with metal salts, they could increase the fluorescent efficiency of the dots. The team next plans to test different methods for encapsulating the enhanced quantum dots.

The international symposium “Nanofair 2012” will be held from June 12-13, 2012, in Dresden, Germany. The conference, which serves as a European platform for the field of nanotechnological research, will include experts from 23 countries. The experts will come together to network their know-how with Dresden’s cutting-edge research. The focus of the conference is on nanotechnological issues, such as nanomaterials for lightweight construction, nanoelectronics, optics, energy, life sciences, and nanoanalytics. The full program and registration information are available on the conference website.