拉尼.亚卡斯（Rani Jarkas）：绿色纳米技术在太阳能电池中的应用

绿色纳米技术是清洁技术的发展，“使用更环保的纳米产品代替现有产品，通过生产和使用纳米技术产品以减少对环境的破坏并降低对人类健康所造成的威胁。”许多科学家正在寻找方法来开发清洁、廉价和可再生能源，以较少对环境的破坏并尽可能地减少污染。

目前正进行的一个主要研究是如何把纳米技术应用到开发更高效的太阳能电池。太阳能电池的效率更高，而且是可再生能源。许多研究人员正在着手研究能减少能源浪费的高效太阳能发电。

[caption id="attachment_203" align="aligncenter" width="260"] Solar Panels [ranijarkas.wordpress.com][/caption]
斯坦福大学的研究人员发现了一种在有机太阳能电池中捕获光的方法。这个想法的原理很简单，光在太阳能电池中停留的时间越长，其所产生的电子将越多。研究人员发现，把比光的波长更薄的有机层夹在太阳能电池的反射镜和粗糙层之间，能使光在太阳能电池中停留更长时间，从而激发更多的电流。

密歇根理工大学的研究人员发明了一种独特的3D蜂窝结构石墨烯。这种新型且并不昂贵材料可替代太阳能电池的铂金材料，而且转换效率并不降低。这种3D蜂窝状石墨烯具有优良的导电性与高催化活性，因此它们能够用于储能及能量转换。配有3D石墨烯对电极的可将7.8%的太阳光线转化为电力。

美国洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室的研究展示了使用薄膜铜铟镓硒太阳能电池模组。它比传统玻璃做的硅片电池模组更加轻薄，且完全无含毒镉的成分。

美国麻省理工学院的研究人员研制出一种在柔性石墨烯片上涂覆纳米线的新方法。这种方法可以生产出低成本、透明以及柔韧性佳的太阳能电池，能够在窗户、屋顶以及其他物体的表面使用。

Green Nanotechnology in Solar cells by Rani Jarkas

Green nanotechnology is the development of clean technologies, "to minimize potential environmental and human health risks associated with the manufacture and use of nanotechnology products, and to encourage replacement of existing products with new nano-products that are more environmentally friendly throughout their lifecycle” As the growing needs to protect our environment are increasing, many scientists are looking into ways to develop clean, affordable, and renewable energy sources, with a smaller environmental footprint and minimise pollution.

[caption id="attachment_203" align="aligncenter" width="260"] Solar Panels[/caption]

One major project that is being worked on is the development of nanotechnology in solar cells. Solar cells are more efficient as they get tinier and solar energy is a renewable resource. A group of researchers are making solar power significantly more efficient by scooping up more of that wasted energy.

Researchers at Stanford University have found a way to trap light in organic solar cells. The idea is that the longer light is in the solar cell the more electrons will be generated. The researchers found that by making the organic layer much thinner than the wavelength of light and sandwiching the organic layer between a mirror layer and a rough layer the light stayed in the solar cell longer and excited more electrons.

Researchers at Michigan Technological University have developed a honeycomb like structure of graphene in which the graphene sheets are held apart by lithium carbonate. They have used this "3D graphene" to replace the platinum in a dye sensitized solar cell and achieved 7.8 percent conversion of sunlight to electricity.

Researchers at Los Alamos National Lab have demonstrated a solar cell that uses a copper indium selenide sulfide quantum dots. Unlike quantum dots containing lead or cadmium the copper based quantum dot is non-toxic as well as low cost.

[caption id="attachment_202" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) image of 3D honeycomb-structured graphene. [ranijarkas.wordpress.com][/caption]
MIT researchers have made major strides toward developing solar cells that are inexpensive, efficient, flexible, and transparent using a design that combines two special components: nanowires and graphene. Tests with assembled solar cells showed that incorporating the nanowires pushed up device efficiency and that there was no performance penalty for replacing a conventional high-cost, brittle electrode with their version made of abundant, inexpensive carbon.

拉尼.亚卡斯（Rani Jarkas）：纳米技术在医学中的应用

在我之前写的博客中（http://ranijarkas.wordpress.com），我谈到了一些我在多年来从事与纳米技术相关工作中所获得的一些经验和见解。我相信你一定经常听到“纳米技术”一词，但不管我们对它多么耳熟能详，纳米技术仍然是一个谜。我们看不到它，我们也感觉不到它。而事实上，纳米技术已应用在消费产品、医疗、食品等更多的领域。今天让我们专注于探讨纳米技术在医学上的应用。

纳米技术被称为“ 二十一世纪的技术”，其在医药领域的应用可以彻底改变我们未来检测和治疗疾病的方式。有些技术是想象出来的，有些正在测试的不同阶段，而另一些我们今天已在应用。

纳米技术在医学上正在研发的一门技术是利用纳米颗粒向癌细胞等特定类型的细胞输送药物、热、光或其他物质。纳米颗粒可作为药物载体来吸引病变细胞，从而可以直接处理这些细胞。这种技术可减少对体内健康细胞的伤害，并可以在早期发现疾病。美国国家癌症研究所创造了癌症纳米技术联盟，希望可以吸引更多对纳米医学的投资以突破对各种癌症的检测、诊断和治疗。

纳米技术专家拉尔夫•梅克尔博士（Dr. Ralph Merkle）曾经说过，“如果我们能降低成本并利用纳米技术的进步提高医疗技术质量，我们就可以更广泛地解决医疗问题以减少人类的苦难。”

有一点是可以肯定的，未来纳米技术医学的发展将会有更广泛的用途，并可以挽救许多的生命。就像伯纳德.马库斯（Bernard Marcus）所说，“纳米技术在医学上的应用无疑会对人类的生存产生重大的影响。”

Nanotechnology in Medicine by Rani Jarkas

In my previous blogs (http://ranijarkas.wordpress.com/), I shared some of my thoughts and insights obtained from my work and experience in the nanotechnology industry. I am sure you must hear about “nanotechnology” a lot, but no matter how much we hear about it, nanotech remains something of a mystery. We can’t see it, and we certainly can't feel it. And the truth is nanotechnology has found a place in consumer products, medical treatment, the food industry and so much more. Let’s focus on the discussion on its application in medicine today. I will continue to write more about nanotech in the near future.

The use of nanotechnology, "the technology of the 21st century," in the field of medicine could revolutionize the way we detect and treat disease in the future. Some techniques are only imagined, some are at various stages of testing, while some are actually being used today.

One application of nanotechnology in medicine currently being developed involves employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs, heat, light or other substances to specific types of cells, such as cancer cells. Particles are engineered so that they are attracted to diseased cells, which allows direct treatment of those cells. This technique reduces damage to healthy cells in the body and allows for earlier detection of disease. The National Cancer Institute has created the Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer in the hope that investments in nanomedicine could lead to breakthroughs in terms of detecting, diagnosing, and treating various forms of cancer.

The nanotechnology expert Dr. Ralph Merkle once said, “If we can reduce the cost and improve the quality of medical technology through advances in nanotechnology, we can more widely address the medical conditions that are prevalent and reduce the level of human suffering.”

One thing is sure that nanotechnology medical developments over the coming years will have a wider variety of uses and could potentially save many lives. Just like what Bernard Marcus said, “Nanotechnology in medicine is going to have a major impact on the survival of the human race.”