{"83201":{"#nid":"83201","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Nanosprings: Helical Nanostructures Could be Actuators \u0026 Transducers in Future Nanosystems","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDubbed \u0022nanosprings,\u0022 the new structures have piezoelectric and electrostatic polarization properties that could make them useful in small-scale sensing and micro-system applications. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJust 10 to 60 nanometers wide and 5-20 nanometers thick - but up to several millimeters long - the new structures are similar to but smaller than the \u0022nanobelts\u0022 first reported by Georgia Tech scientists two years ago in the journal \u003Cem\u003EScience\u003C\/em\u003E.  The new helical structures and their potential applications were described in the journal \u003Cem\u003ENano Letters\u003C\/em\u003E.  The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and NASA.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022These structures are very different from our original nanobelts and are a major step toward a new system of nanostructures,\u0022 said Zhong L. Wang, director of Georgia Tech\u0027s Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and a professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering.  \u0022Piezoelectric and polar-surface dominated smart materials based on zinc oxide are important because they could be the transducers and actuators for future generations of nanoscale devices.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe piezoelectric properties of the new structures could make them useful in detecting and measuring very small fluid flows, tiny strain\/stress forces, high-frequency acoustical waves and even air flows that would otherwise be imperceptible.  When deflected by the flow of air or fluids, the nanosprings would produce small but measurable electrical voltages.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022They could be used to measure pressure in a bio-fluid or in other biomedical sensing applications,\u0022 said Wang.  \u0022You could use them to measure nano- or pico-newton forces.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe piezoelectric properties could also make the structures useful as actuators in micro-systems and nanosystems, where applying voltage would induce strains.  \u0022In micromechanical systems, these structures could provide the coupling between an electrical signal and a mechanical motion,\u0022 Wang noted.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESemiconductor-based nanostructures that rely on electrostatic forces have gained widespread research interest, but Wang said development of nanomaterials for piezoelectric actuators have lagged.  The new nanosprings could therefore give designers of future nanoscale systems more options.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBeyond their piezoelectric properties, the new structures also display unusual electrostatic polarization, with positively and negatively charged surfaces across the thickness of the nanoribbon.  This electrical charge could be used to attract specific molecules, potentially allowing the nanosprings to be used as biosensors to detect single molecules or cells.\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new class of nanometer-scale structures that spontaneously form helical shapes from long ribbon-like single crystals of zinc oxide (ZnO).","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27304","created_gmt":"2003-10-19 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:41","author":"Matthew Nagel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2003-10-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2003-10-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/gtresearchnews.gatech.edu\/newsrelease\/nanosprings.htm","title":"New nanostructures"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003E \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=\u0022\u003EContact  \u003C\/a\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}