China’s Ambition to Become a Global Leader in Nanotechnology by Rani Jarkas

China’s rapid economic transformation over the last 3 decades has been remarkable both in terms of its speed and scale. However, China is not known for its highly advanced technology manufacturing. “A lot of the entrepreneurial activities around the Asia-Pacific have been great market-needs kinds of things, where people haven’t had to develop a lot of advanced technologies to be successful,” says Dr. Richard Dasher of the US-Asia Technology Management Center at Stanford University.



However, this model is slowly shifting. Thanks to heavy investments in nanotech research, public-private partnerships and developments in nanotechnology, I will say within five to ten years China will compete in every part of the industry. China’s investment has already surpassed that of any other country after the US. Since 1999, China’s spending on research and development (R&D) has gone up by more than 20% each year.



Hardly surprisingly, there is a race to become the global leader in nanoscience and nanotechnology. China is rapidly moving to reposition itself away from low value adding economic activity, announcing its ambition to become a global leader in nanoscience and technology.

Cleantechnology Insights

A while back in February last year, I (Rani Jarkas) posted an article on my blog relating to Cleantech (http://www.briefingwire.com/pr/rani-jarkas-Cleantech-wisdom). In the days that follow, I have received many questions about Cleantech. These questions inspired me to write this blog on what Cleantech is and why Cleantech is the key and how we can get involved?

What is Cleantech?
Cleantech is any product or services that improve operational performance and productivity while reducing costs, inputs, energy consumption, waste, or environmental pollution. The idea behind clean energy is simple. It empowers us to use natural resources more productively and to do more with less: less energy, less water, less waste, less land.

Why Cleantech is the key?
Climate change and the depletion of the planet’s natural resources are the two main problems that the world is facing today. Fresh water has become scarce or poisonous in many places; Food prices are soaring at double-digit rates; Sea levels are rising while deserts are spreading; International tensions are growing over the remaining cheap oil, and civil wars are being fought over water.
It certainly is the idea that we can easily locate alternative sources of power for the globe that do not have the negative effects on the planet that classic fuels do. We now recognize that the planet we reside in just is not immune to deterioration. Oil and coal not only cause harm to the planet but to your health as well. The data behind the dangers of non-renewable fuels really are unbelievable. So massive that it is to a point where we can no longer overlook the ramifications of inaction.
Brilliant minds have looked at the challenge of classic fuels and have put together other ways to fight this matter. The outcomes happen to be nothing less than encouraging. The vision of a cleaner ecosystem and a significantly more healthy human population is now a reality as a result of clean technological advances and power that has become available for use.

How can we get involved?
While everyone ought to want to help with the process of safe guarding our environment, only the few that have the funds can make an identifiable mark in this field by investing in companies that are “earth-friendly” aware. In every stock exchange across the world, there are pockets of businesses, which are concentrated on green energy. These companies are listed under the label “green conscious companies”, and those that want to help can put money into these companies to assist them to fund projects that will benefit not only the company but the environment in general.
Power resource efficiency as well as recycling is something anyone can do no matter if you are monetarily free or not. The recycling approach is not just great for the earth but it can make you feel much better by being a part of the remedy.

Indonesia has become a favorite emerging country for international investors, as ongoing reforms in areas such as macroeconomic framework, banking supervision, accounting standards, transparency and governance issues by the government have enhanced the local investment climate. Moreover, the country possesses positive fundamental elements, including a huge population, growing middle class and young workforce, enormous domestic market, endowment of a wide variety and abundant natural resources like natural gas, coal, geothermal, palm oil, cocoa, tin, nickel and bauxite as well as a pool of diversified import export markets.

Map of Indonesia (http://ranijarkas.wordpress.com)

Indonesia has regained the confidence of international investors after the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997‐1998. To get its economy back to a strong footing and increase its credibility, Indonesia has undertaken the following reforms: Making changes to the macroeconomic framework; Strengthening supervision of the banking industry and scrutiny of accounting standards, and Improving transparency, enhancing governance issues, and reducing corruption. Through a more flexible exchange rate regime and an inflation‐targeting framework, Indonesia has created a more stable macro economy. The better banking system helps stabilize and lower non‐performing loans together with increasing the profitability and efficiency of banks in general. Furthermore, more transparency on information and data reduces investors’ concerns over governance and other issues, leading to increased confidence and investments. The results of those reforms are evidenced from the positive growth in Indonesia during the global economic crisis in 2008‐2009. In 2009, Indonesia managed to grow its GDP by 4.6% when the advanced economies registered a negative growth roughly in the 3%‐5% range. Indonesia grew by 6.2% in 2012 and in 2014, stronger economic growth is expected around the lower end of the 5.8-6.2% range. Indonesia’s economy grew by 5.7% in 2013, making “The World’s Most Stable Economy in the Last Five Years” according to The Economist Magazine. Future economic expansion is expected to include more inclusive growth as nominal per-capita GDP is expected to quadruple by 2020, according to a Standard Chartered report.

Indonesia’s Investment Climate by Rani Jarkas

Indonesia has become a favorite emerging country for international investors, as ongoing reforms in areas such as macroeconomic framework, banking supervision, accounting standards, transparency and governance issues by the government have enhanced the local investment climate. Moreover, the country possesses positive fundamental elements, including a huge population, growing middle class and young workforce, enormous domestic market, endowment of a wide variety and abundant natural resources like natural gas, coal, geothermal, palm oil, cocoa, tin, nickel and bauxite as well as a pool of diversified import export markets.

[caption id="attachment_26" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Map of Indonesia (ranijarkas.wordpress.com)[/caption]

Indonesia has regained the confidence of international investors after the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997‐1998. To get its economy back to a strong footing and increase its credibility, Indonesia has undertaken the following reforms: Making changes to the macroeconomic framework; Strengthening supervision of the banking industry and scrutiny of accounting standards, and Improving transparency, enhancing governance issues, and reducing corruption.

Through a more flexible exchange rate regime and an inflation‐targeting framework, Indonesia has created a more stable macro economy. The better banking system helps stabilize and lower non‐performing loans together with increasing the profitability and efficiency of banks in general. Furthermore, more transparency on information and data reduces investors’ concerns over governance and other issues, leading to increased confidence and investments.

The results of those reforms are evidenced from the positive growth in Indonesia during the global economic crisis in 2008‐2009. In 2009, Indonesia managed to grow its GDP by 4.6% when the advanced economies registered a negative growth roughly in the 3%‐5% range. Indonesia grew by 6.2% in 2012 and in 2014, stronger economic growth is expected around the lower end of the 5.8-6.2% range. Indonesia’s economy grew by 5.7% in 2013, making “The World’s Most Stable Economy in the Last Five Years” according to The Economist Magazine. Future economic expansion is expected to include more inclusive growth as nominal per-capita GDP is expected to quadruple by 2020, according to a Standard Chartered report.

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。”