The GAO Materials Chemistry Research Group

André Arsenault and Opalux were featured in the July 12th issue of C&E News in an article about colourizing e-readers. Currently, electronic books are black and white, relying on electrical charges to form the text. It is believed that Arsenault’s work on multichromatic polymers could be the next step for e-readers.

“The Toronto-Based start-up Opalux has been developing a technology based on polymers that mimic the diffraction properties of gemstone opals,” the article said, adding that the technology is currently used to combat counterfeiting.

Read the full story here.

“The book Concepts can serve as a superb guide into nanochemistry for university teachers, students, and the interested general public. It can be emphatically recommended. Read it, or you will be missing something extraordinary.”

–Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

Read the review.

Nanolocomotion – Catalytic Nanomotors and Nanorotors

Do the nanolocomotion with me: while it is well known that solution-phase chemistry provides a powerful means to synthesize nanostructures with controlled size and shape it is only very recently that chemistry has been used as a power source to make these nanostructures move in solution well beyond the Brownian limit. The cover illustration depicts two types of motion observed for bimetallic Au-Pt nanorod motors, chemically powered by the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide fuel to water and oxygen at the platinum segment. The motility modes include straight motion with stochastically occurring turns, rotation with one end tethered to the substrate, orbiting, spinning around its center of mass, and cooperative rotational mobility of two nanorods. For more information please read the Concept Nanolocomotion-Catalytic Nanomotors and Nanorotors

Read the article here.

Prof. Ozin writes about his nanomachine dream on CIFAR website.

Dear Friend of CIFAR,

My dream of building useful nanomachines might sound futuristic, maybe even far-fetched. But Nature has created and relied on nanomachines for millions of years. Take a bacterium like E. coli, for example, which moves around through a whip-like motion of its flagella – its nanobiological motor. There’s also the ribosome – a nano-sized machine that all cells depend on – which assembles the workhorses of cell function, proteins.

Inspired by Nature, I am making a Nanomachine Dream come to life in the lab. Using synthetic building blocks, I am creating a whole new class of nano-sized motors that might someday transport medicine in the human body, move cargo around computer chips, and search and destroy toxins in polluted water streams.

My research team has developed a nanomotor out of a tiny rod composed of two metal segments, nickel and gold. The nickel segment functions as a catalyst for decomposing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in an aqueous environment. During the decomposition, oxygen is produced at the surface of the nickel segment, according to the simple chemical reaction:

2H2O2 (liquid) -> O2 (gas) + 2H2O (liquid)

The oxygen forms as nanoscale bubbles that evolve off the nickel. These bubbles act as a driving force to propel the nanorod forward. We chose gold for the other segment, but any material that is stable in a liquid solution and does not react with hydrogen peroxide works.

Our nanorods do more than move – they actually rotate in two different ways. One rotation resembles the arm of a clock, while the other can be described as a circular orbit. These movements, and their associated speed, depend on the concentration of hydrogen peroxide around the nanorod, as well as the dimensions of its nickel segment.

I first started studying nanorods with applications like information storage and processing in mind. The finding that these rods exhibit locomotion was exciting and completely serendipitous. My hope is that by studying different synthetic nanomachine systems, we will gain a better understanding of how Nature’s nanomachines, such as the E. coli’s flagellum and the cell’s ribosome, manage to move.

It’s a cycle of discovery – the more we learn about how Nature’s nanomachines work, the greater knowledge we gain for creating powerful artificial analogues that could solve some of the great challenges facing medicine, computing and the environment.

Best wishes from the frontiers of human knowledge.

Geoff Ozin

Fellow, Nanoelectronics program

Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

Read the excellent reviews from Wiley.

Nanochemistry: A Chemical Approach to Nanomaterials

“Thus, the book provides, in my opinion, a comprehensive overview about the revolutionary developments and most of the important current topics in nanochemistry, -science, and -technology. It may serve as a helpful guide for teachers and students through a teaching program in nanochemistry and it is so far unique in its style, its didactic concept, and its completeness.”

Concepts of Nanochemistry

“…from the view of a new student or someone unfamiliar with the field, who is interested in nanochemistry, this book is a great aid to learning its fundamental concepts and emerging with a generalist knowledge and confidence in their understanding. We highly recommend this book to anyone interested in nanochemistry, nanoscience, or nanotechnology.”