04.01.2012 /
Low-cost and single-use: a membrane to analyse nanomaterials
A new system based on an ultrathin graphene
membrane for the examination of materials. Developed by an international team of
researchers from the University of Illinois,
Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A. and the Technical University of Monaco, coordinated
by Andrei Kolmakov, it was featured in the pages of the scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology
and promised to cut down the cost of many analyses for the chemical characterisation under
environmental conditions.
As a matter of fact,
this work intends to solve a key problem that is currently hindering the study and
development of new nanomaterials, like those used in the synthesis of catalysts or
biocompatible ones for medical applications.
"Their characteristics and performance - explains Matteo Amati, a physician from Sincrotrone
Trieste - are strongly linked to the processes that take place on the outer layer exposed to the
environment, whether it be a gas, liquid or cellular tissue. To understand and control these
processes it is necessary to obtain specific surface information recorded under environmental
conditions. However, this may represent a major obstacle as some of the most effective techniques,
based on detecting the electrons emitted by the material, operate only under very controlled
conditions".
The system designed by the authors of the article basically solves this issue, in a simple and
economic way. The membrane used is atomically thin and yet strong enough to effectively separate
and isolate the two different environments: the one in which the sample under observation is
submerged and the "shielded" one needed by the analytical techniques. However, the membrane is
transparent enough to allow the passage of the electrons that transport chemical
information.
Using this simple system, that can be mass produced at very low costs and also applied to
various categories of instruments such as electronic microscopes, many experimental queries will be
solved much more simply and economically, without having to resort to costly experimental equipment
that, to date, has been the only possible solution.
"Having this alternative available - concludes Amati - will, in most cases, make a dramatic
difference, especially at a time when subsidies are at a premium. The difference between doing a
certain research or not, also in fields that have enormous application usefulness, since
nanomaterials are more and more used in fields such as medicine, environment and
electronics.
The experimental work carried out by the Sincrotrone Trieste was partly supported by subsidies
granted by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region as part of the AMBIOSEN project dedicated to the
development of chemical sensors for environmental and biological diagnosis, based on
nanotechnologies.
Laura Bibi Palatini
Press Office - Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A.
(+39) 0403758493
(+39) 335473809
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