Archinect - News

Researchers utilize shrimp shells to create stronger and more sustainable cement

2022-08-11T14:55:00-04:00

A team of Washington State University (WSU) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers has discovered a method to create stronger cement by putting nanoparticles from shrimp shells into cement paste. The innovation could lead to reduced seafood waste and lower carbon emissions from concrete production.

The findings were reported in the journal Cement and Concrete Composites. The research team created nanocrystals and nanofibers of chitin, a biopolymer widely present in nature, especially in marine invertebrates, insects, and fungi, from waste shrimp shells. When the chitin was added to cement paste, the resulting material was up to 40% stronger. The set time was also extended by more than an hour, which is a desired quality for long-distance transport and hot-weather concrete work.

“The concrete industry is under pressure to reduce its carbon emissions from the production of cement,” said Somayeh Nassiri, an associate professor at the University of California, Davis, who...

Scientists build world's tiniest house using nanorobotic assembly

2018-05-22T13:39:00-04:00

In order to demonstrate the capabilities of a new nanorobotic system, French scientists have built a "microhouse" that sits on the cleaved end of an optical fiber. The diminutive home was built by a team from the Femto-ST Institute in Besançon, France, using the new μRobotex nanofactory system. That setup utilizes a robotically-controlled ion gun and a gas injection system, operating within a large vacuum chamber, to assemble microstructures on the tips of optical fibers with extreme accuracy.

The 'Tiny Houses' trend is so passé—Micro Houses are all the rage now. This charming nanobungalow built by the French Femto-ST Institute sits on a plot measuring only 300 by 300 micrometers.

Credit: FEMTO-ST Institute

All you need to get started on your own fun projects is a large vacuum chamber, some ion guns, thin membranes of silica, with a little robotic piloting for the nanoassembly sprinkled on top.

To learn how it really works, visit the full paper in the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A.

Darkest building on Earth: Asif Khan's Vantablack-coated pavilion opens for Winter Olympics

2018-02-08T14:01:00-05:00

Sprayed with Vantablack Vbx2, a pavilion at the Winter Olympics in South Korea absorbs 99% of light. [...] Lurking between the competition venues like an angular black hole, it looks like a portal to a parallel universe, waiting to suck unsuspecting ski fans into its vortex.

Photo: Luke Hayes/Hyundai

Sports fans around the world can't wait for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics to officially open tomorrow, but there's more to the spectacle than just athletic competitions on snow and ice: London-based architect & designer Asif Khan has created the "darkest building on earth" by coating the temporary pavilion he designed for South Korean car maker Hyundai in Vantablack Vbx2, a super-black nanomaterial which absorbs more than 99% of the light that reaches its surface — the result is the visual illusion of a massive black void.

Photo: Luke Hayes/Hyundai

"It’s like a nano-scale coral reef," The Guardian quotes Ben Jensen, chief technical officer of Surrey Nanosystems, the British company which has developed the mysterious material. "Photons get into it and they bounce around within its structure until they’re all absorbed. The optical cavities in the ‘reef’ are around 1,000th the width of a human hair."

Photo: Luke Hayes/Hyundai

Photo...

Prepare to soon spot the blackest of black materials in architecture

2016-03-08T13:56:00-05:00

The British company developing the uses of a super black, light absorbent material called Vantablack S-VIS is working with leading architects as well as the British artist Anish Kapoor. The founder and chief technology officer of Surrey NanoSystems, Ben Jensen, says that the company is working with “some large and well respected global architects,” and that the coating is already available for “suitable applications”. He declined to name the architects involved “due to prior agreements”.

UCL researchers present a new kind of self-cleaning nano-engineered window

2016-01-21T17:46:00-05:00

Researchers at University College London (UCL) claim that a “revolutionary” new type of window could cut cleaning costs in tall buildings and reduce heating bills by up to 40% thanks to a new combination of nano-scale engineering inspired by the eyes of moths, and thermochromic coating. The prototype, revealed today, has conical nanostructures engraved on its surface that trap air and prevent all but a tiny amount of water coming into actual contact with the glass.

"The lead UCL researcher said this would be a big draw for high-rise building owners, since the cost of cleaning the windows surpasses the cost of installing them after the first five years."

This Nano Membrane Toilet could solve the world's sanitation crisis – and charge our phones

2016-01-05T14:44:00-05:00

Researchers at Cranfield University in the UK have created a prototype of a toilet that works without being connected to water or sewage systems, and that can generate electricity and clean water as it composts waste. [...] The Nano Membrane Toilet, which has been developed with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, would be a kind of ‘super-toilet’, helping to improve sanitation for people without access to utilities – at present some 2.5 billion people around the world.

This is how the Nano Membrane Toilet works: "The toilet flush uses a unique rotating mechanism to transport the mixture into the toilet without demanding water whilst simultaneously blocking odour and the user’s view of the waste. Solids separation (faeces) is principally accomplished through sedimentation. Loosely bound water (mostly from urine) is separated using low glass transition temperature hollow-fibre membranes. The unique nanostructured membrane wall facilitates water transport in the vapour state rather than as a liquid state which yields high rejection of pathogens and some odorous volatile compounds. A novel nano-coated bead enables water vapour recovery through encouraging the formation of water droplets at the nanobead surface. Once the droplets form a critical size, the water drains into a collection vessel for reuse at the household level in washing or irrigation applications. Following release of unbound water, the residual solids (around 20-25% solids) are transpo...

Printed Paper Photovoltaic Cells

2011-10-04T12:04:00-04:00

Researchers from Chemnitz University of Technology and Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg, in Germany, have presented solar panels that are printed on standard paper. The technology, known as 3PV (3PV stands for printed paper photovoltaics) uses conventional printing methods and standard substrates, like those used for magazines, posters or packaging.