Journal of Nanomedicine & Nanotechnology

Future of nanomaterials and nanostructures

4^th International Conference on Nanotek & Expo

December 01-03, 2014 DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel San Francisco Airport, USA

Claudio Nicolini

Keynote: J Nanomed Nanotechnol

Abstract:

Present challenges and future solutions via nanobiotechnology and nanobiosciences exist for electronics, environment and energy.World-wide situation appears extremely difficult and only at the nanoscale we can hope to embark on such undertaking with some degree of success, while keeping the environment and the earth viable and growing in the process. Energy is strongly interlinked with power generation, automation and environment, while similarly is happening (at the nanoscale) for really intelligent hardware, being strongly interlinked to communication, defence and environment. Indeed the risk of upcoming ecological disasters, including global warming, can be reduced or avoided with the development of new energy sources nanotechnology-based from sun, wind and hydrogen. The far reaching effects will be beneficial for the entire humanity and for the survival and growth of earth. It seems that when the peak of world oil production will be reached by 2030 there will be furthermore an irreversibly declining resource facing an increasing demand for energy which could not be met. Other routes must then identified for Energy, Electronics and Environment. Five new developments in nanomaterials and nanostructures have gained interest by an industrial point of view and our applications to energy, environment and electronics are here exemplified: (A) Nanotechnology for energy devices. Energy-oriented components, as intended in this paper, are elements designed in a power supply context, designed for the generation or the storage of energy in electrical form. Nanotechnology can help in the synthesis of materials with particular characteristics to make them suitable for the use in the energy field, particularly for the photovoltaic power generation and for the construction of parts of batteries, both object of this review. The constant development of highly integrated electronic devices is leading circuits to very small dimensions. The power supply must provide enough energy for the proper functionality of these structures, so it should be based on materials with high energy efficiency to limit the weight and the volume of the device. For energy storage purposes, lithium-ion electrolytic cells for batteries are nowadays considered the best dealing with these characteristics. For what concerns energy conversion from renewable sources, solar systems based on non-standard construction techniques, like CISG (Cadmium Indium Gallium (di) Selenide) cells or dye sensitized solar cells (also known as Gratzel Cells); (B) Mass Spectrometry and Protein Array for Biodiesel production, where mass spectrometry results evidenced the enzyme action of separating plastic oligomers of Poly (ε-Caprolactone) and of hydrolysing further the oligomers previously detached. The degradation of PCL occurred by three fungal lipases from Mucormiehei, Candida rugosa and Rhizhopusarrizhus in a solvent- free systemutilizing olive oil as substrate. Mucormiehei lipase proved to be the best biocatalystmatching catalytic activity for biodiesl productionbeing strongly enhanced when the enzyme is immobilized on a glass surface in up to five monolayers. (C) QCM_D Biosensor for Environment, based on an innovative conductimetric biosensor has been implemented coupling Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation Monitoring nanogravimetry and an innovative protein cell-free expression system named Nucleic Acid Programmable Protein Arrays (NAPPA) that allow us to immobilize on the QC surface, as sensing molecule, any kind of proteins. The NAPPA spots have been imprinted utilizing both traditional technology and a new technology, called NanoProbeArrays, based on piezoelectric liquid dispensing for non-contact printing and probing, that allows the realization of protein arrays for protein analysis with as little as a few nanoliters of sample. Here we present the results so far obtained employing our biosensor to monitor proteinprotein and enzyme drug interactions and its future application to environmental analysis. Our conductimetric biosensor - as exploiting its capability to monitor reaction in real-time - proposes as an answer to the demands of fast-and cost-effective analytical techniques to monitor the increasing number of potentially harmful pollutants in the environment. (D) Conductive Polymers forCO2 Sensors, based on Poly(o-methylaniline) (POTO) and nanocomposite based on both multi-walled MWNTs) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) embedded in this conducting polymer, which were synthesized by oxidative polymerization. Langmuir-Schaefer (LS) films were fabricated at the air-water interface. Experimental data showed that the synthesized materials were able to detect carbon dioxide (CO2) via nanogravimetric method. Aim of this work is to investigate the behavior of POTO and related nanocomposites in presence of CO2. For this reason, nanogravimetric measurements were performed in a dedicated chamber filled with dioxide flux. Single acquisitions were performed and tests carried out demonstrate that these materials are suitable for applications as sensors for dioxide. (E) The Role of π-π Interactions in the Charged Species Stabilizations of Conjugated Polymers for Nanoelectronics, where the interchain interactions of π-conjugated polymers, poly(2,6-pyridinylenevinylene)-co-[(2,5-dioctyloxy-p-phenylene)vinylene] or PPyPV, are investigated by UVVis absorption spectroscopy. The PPyPV is a Lewis base and can be doped by strong and weak Lewis acids. The interchain interactions seem to play a fundamental role only in charged states. The basicity strength of the PPyPV depends on the polymer interchain interactions, as the polymer concentration is increased, a Kb increment is observed, reversal a decrease of polymer concentration lowers the Kb of the PPyPV. The organization of the polymer chains plays a fundamental role in the doping process.With the aim of developing enhanced chemical sensors, the influence of different multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) on the physical and chemical properties of poly-o-ethoxyaniline (POEA) nanostructured films was investigated. It was found that the presence of MWNTs in POEA enhances the interaction between the aromatic structure of the poly(oethoxyaniline) and the basal plane of the MWNT graphitic surface via π-stacking, affecting the vibrational modes of the polymer, along with an improvement in the thermal stability and surface morphology.

Biography :

Claudio Nicolini received the doctoral degree in physics from the University of Padua, in 1967. After serving as Adjunct Professor at the University of Bari, he moved for 17 years to the United States, of which he became citizen since 1974, and was originally at Brown University, MIT, and BNL. He then moved to Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, where after a period of intensive training and research in pathology he became Associate Professor of Pathology and then Professor and Chairman of the Biophysics in 1976. In 1985, he was called as ?eminent scientist? to the Chair of Biophysics of the University of Genoa, in Italy until 2012, where he was successively Director of Biophysics Institute, DISTBIMO and CIRSDNNOB. From 1993 until now is Life President of the Fondazione ELBA Nicolini and of the Nanoworld Institute. On 2008 has been elected as a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and on 2010 Honoris Causa Professor of Biophysics and Nanobiotechnology at Moscow State University. He was Chief Editor of Cell Biophysics (USA), Science and Technology Advisor to Italian Prime Minister Craxi, Member of the National Science and Technology Council upon Parliament election, Scientific Director Industrial Consortium CIREF, Founder Technobiochip; President Polo National Bioelectronics , President Scientific Technological Park of Elba Island. He received several awards and prizes and has authored more than 480 publications in international scientific journals (SCI), 35 patents (WPI), 28 books and Series Editor in Bioelectronics (Plenum) and Nanobiotechnology (Pan Stanford). His main scientific activities concerned cancer research, biophysics and nanotechnology, pioneering world-wide chromatin structure-function, bioelectronics and nanobiotechnology.