Scientists can now experiment at the atomic scale with unprecedented accuracy in new ‘silent’ laboratories in Switzerland. These labs are shielded against all possible forms of background disturbances – external vibrations, acoustic noise, electromagnetic fields and temperature fluctuations. It is hoped that the labs, devised by Emanuel Lörtscher and his team at IBM Zurich, will accommodate the demands of nanotechnology for the next 20–30 years.
When probing or building structures at the nanoscale, experimental readings are so tiny that they are easily drowned out by any background noise – without a well-proofed lab, someone using the lift next door could ruin your results.
Interested to know more? Read the full news article by Rowan Frame in Chemistry World here…
The labs were designed to screen all sources of background noise relevant to nanotechnology
Read the article by E Lörtscher, D Widmer and B Gotsmann in Nanoscale:
Next-Generation Nanotechnology Laboratories with Simultaneous Reduction of all Relevant Disturbances
Emanuel Lörtscher, Daniel Widmer and Bernd Gotsmann
DOI: 10.1039/C3NR03373B
To evaluate the toxicity, the researchers induce the breakdown of the nanomaterials by exposing them to simulated solar UV light. This releases Cd2+ and Zn2+ ions for the QDs and NPs, respectively, which were then detected by measuring the quenching of the fluorescence signal in the presence of tetrakis (4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (TCPP) or by measuring the enhancement of the fluorescence signal in the presence of the commercial Measure iT Pd/Cd sensor.