NANO @ IOWA
News from the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute at UI
October 21, 2015
Items in red are new this issue.
(Others are carried forward from previous issues.)
1. Upcoming conferences and seminars including nanoscience and nanotechnology:

“Graphene: ribbons for biosensing”
Chengxuan Guo, Department of Chemistry, University of Iowa
E232 Adler Journalism Building, University of Iowa
Thursday October 22, 12.30-1.20pm

“Oxygen Electrocatalysis with Metal (Oxy)hydroxides”
Prof. Shannon Boettcher, Department of Chemistry, University of Oregon
3315 Seamans Center, University of Iowa
Thursday October 22, 3.30pm

International Symposium on Clusters and Nanomaterials (ISCAN)
Richmond, Virgina
October 26-29, 2015
http://www.iscan.vcu.edu

SETAC North America 36th Annual Meeting
Salt Lake City, Utah
November 1-5, 2015
http://www.setac.org/events/event_details.asp?id=489394&group=

2015 SNO Conference
Portland, OR
November 8-10, 2015
http://susnano.org/SNO2015/conferenceOverview2015.html

5th International Conference on Nanotek and Expo
San Antonio, Texas
November 16-18, 2015
http://nanotechnologyexpo.conferenceseries.com/

International Electron Devices Meeting
Washington, D.C.
December 7-9, 2015
http://www.his.com/~iedm/

Nanotech 2016
Tokyo, Japan
January 27-29, 2016
http://www.nanotechexpo.jp/

Pacific Conference on Spectroscopy and Dynamics
Pacific Grove, CA
January 28-31, 2016
http://www.cvent.com/events/63rd-pacific-conference-on-spectroscopy-and-dynamics/eventsummary-984c0d26160043038577d0ae64cf1a51.aspx

Society of Toxicology 55th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo
New Orleans, LA
March 13-17, 2016
https://www.toxicology.org/events/am/AM2016/

International Nanotechnology Conference and Expo
Baltimore, MD
April 4-6, 2016
http://nanotech.madridge.com/
2. Upcoming grant opportunities and funding requests in nanoscience and nanotechnology:

Polymers
National Science Foundation
PD 03-1773
Deadline Dates: September 1 – November 2, 2015
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5357

Electronics, Photonics and Magnetic Devices
National Science Foundation
PD 13-1517
Deadline Dates: October 1 – November 2, 2015
http://nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=13379

Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems
National Science Foundation
PD 13-7564
Deadline dates: October 1 – November 2, 2015
http://nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=13381

NSF Major Research Instrumentation Program MRI Instrument Acquisition or Development
National Science Foundation
15-504
Deadline Dates: October 30, 2015 (Internal deadline); January 13, 2016 (Sponsor deadline)
https://research.uiowa.edu/grantTrack/preselection.php?get=uiwins&GrantID=18031&Type=2

Fiscal Year 2016 National Environmental Information Exchange Network
Environmental Protection Agency
EPA-OEI-16-01
Deadline Date: November 13, 2015
http://www2.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/fiscal-year-2016-national-environmental-informationexchange-network-grant-program

Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM)
National Science Foundation
15-528
Deadline Dates: December 8, 2015 (Internal deadline); February 16, 2016 (Sponsor deadline)
https://research.uiowa.edu/grantTrack/preselection.php?get=uiwins&GrantID=18060&Type=2

OVPRED Internal Funding Initiatives (IFI)
University of Iowa
Deadline dates: December 15, 2015 and March 22, 2016
http://research.uiowa.edu/researchers/find-funding/internal-funding-initiatives-ifi

Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF)
National Science Foundation
15-608
Deadline dates: January 4 – 19, 2016
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15608/nsf15608.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=clic
k

2015 Broad Agency Announcement Engineer Research and Development Center
Department of Defense
FOA Number: W912HZ-15-BAA-01
Deadline Date: January 31, 2016
http://nano.gov/node/1373

Materials Engineering and Processing
National Science Foundation
PD 13-8092
Deadline Dates: February 1 – 16, 2016
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504950

NIST Measurement Science Research: Material Measurement; Physical Measurement;
Engineering; Fire Research; Information Technology; Communications Technology;
Neutron Research; Nanoscale Science
National Institute of Standards and Technology
2015-NIST-MSE-01
Deadline Date: June 1, 2016
http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=277027

FY2016 Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, Water Systems (INFEWS)
National Science Foundation
15-108
Deadline Date: September 30, 2016
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15108/nsf15108.jsp#ref1

Army Research Laboratory BAA for Basic and Applied Scientific Research
Department of Defense
FOA Number: W911NF-12-R-0011
Deadline Date: March 31, 2017
http://www.arl.army.mil/www/default.cfm?page=8

Image-guided Drug Delivery in Cancer
National Institutes for Health (NIH)
FOA Number: PA-09-253
Deadline Dates: January 25, May 25, and September 25, annually
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-253.html

Exploratory/Developmental Bioengineering Research Grants
National Institutes for Health (NIH)
FOA Number: PA-12-284
Deadline Dates: January 25, May 25, and September 25, annually
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-12-284.html

Development of Multifunctional Drug and Gene Delivery Systems
National Institutes for Health (NIH)
FOA Number: PA-10-048
Deadline Dates: February 5, June 5, and October 5, annually
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-10-048.html

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Biology and Medicine
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
FOA Number: PA-11-148
Deadline Dates: February 5, June 5, October 5, annually
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-11-148.html

Bioengineering Nanotechnology Initiative
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
FOA Number: PA-10-149
Deadline Dates: April 5, August 5, December 5, annually
http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=53500

Cancer Diagnostic and Therapeautic Agents Enabled by Nanotechnology
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
FOA Number: PAR-10-286
Deadline Dates: April 5, August 5, December 5, annually
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-10-286.html
3. Recent news and updates from NNI:

“NanoEHS – defining fundamental science needs: no easy feat when the simple itself is
complex” published in Environment Science: Nano
University of Iowa and other nationally recognized researchers call for fundamental research in
environmental health and safety studies of nanomaterials (NanoEHS). An article entitled
“NanoEHS – defining fundamental science needs: no easy feat when the simple itself is complex”
was just published in Environmental Science: Nano. The article is the outcome of a National
Science Foundation sponsored workshop co-chaired by Vicki Grassian and Amanda Haes held
last November in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Sustainable Nanotechnology
Organization. The article calls for new systematic, integrated research approaches in NanoEHS,
bridging current knowledge gaps, and suggestions of fundamental research areas to further
explore the scientific foundation to address NanoEHS needs. For the full article see
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2015/en/c5en00112a#!divAbstract

“Zeolite and mesoporous silica nanomaterials: greener syntheses, environmental
applications and biological toxicity” article makes top 10
An article by Sarah C. Larsen and Sean E. Lehman entitled “Zeolite and mesoporous silica
nanomaterials: greener syntheses, environmental applications and biological toxicity” is in the
top 10 most accessed Environmental Science: Nano articles in June 2015. The article discusses
zeolite and mesoporous silica nanomaterials with emphasis on connections to the environment.
Specifically, the topics of greener syntheses, environmental applications and biological toxicity
are addressed. For the full article see:
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2014/EN/C4EN00031E#!divAbstract
4. Highlights of some new interesting nanoscience and nanotechnology research and articles:

Gold nanomembranes resist bending in new experiment
The first direct measurement of resistance to bending in a nanoscale membrane has been made
by scientists from the University of Chicago, Peking University, the Weizmann Institute of
Science and the Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. Their research
provides researchers with a new, simpler method to measure nanomaterials' resistance to
bending and stretching, and opens new possibilities for creating nano-sized objects and
machines by controlling and tailoring that resistance. (A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter,
about as long as your fingernails grow in one second.) The research team worked with a gold
nanomembrane. "It's like a sheet of paper, only ten thousand times thinner," said Heinrich
Jaeger of the University of Chicago. "If you slide a piece of paper over the edge of a table, it
bends down. The gold nanomembrane behaves the same way, but it's a hundred times stiffer
than the paper if scaled to the same thickness—a hundred times more resistant to bending.
"Researchers around the world are seeking ways to manipulate ultrathin nanomaterials into
stable three-dimensional objects," Jaeger said. "The challenge is how to make a two-dimensional
film into a three-dimensional shape when the film is so thin and flexible. It's like nano-origami:
how do you get it to hold a stable shape? You need something stiffer than you would expect. It
turns out that many nanomembranes may already possess that property."
http://phys.org/news/2015-10-gold-nanomembranes-resist.html

Nanocarbons clean water without the use of chemicals and transform waste heat into
electricity
When purifying waste water, chemical reactions are used or it is subjected to elaborate filtering
methods to remove salts and heavy metals. Now scientists in Saarbrücken are working on a
desalination method which does not require the addition of chemicals and which is highly
energy-efficient: in the process known as capacitive de-ionization (CDI), electrodes are used to
extract the ions from the water and collect them on the electrodes. The result is clean water
and ions which have been enriched on the electrodes. This environmentally friendly process can
even be used to generate electricity: emissions such as carbon dioxide are also suited to
generating electrical energy when they are dissolved in water as ions. At an international
conference in Saarbrücken, more than 110 experts from 20 countries will be exchanging their
knowledge from 26th to 28th October in order to further understand and improve the materials
and processes which form the basis of CDI. The conference is being organized on the
Saarbrücken Campus by the INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials. The principle of CDI not
only serves the purpose of removing unwanted ions from the water. Volker Presser, head of the
Energy Materials Group at INM explains, "The generation of electricity can also be the main
desired effect, to use emissions from power plants to produce electricity, for example". For this
purpose, the emissions merely has to be present in the water as ions. "Carbon dioxide, for
example, is very well suited to this purpose" Professor Presser said and added: "It is particularly
exciting for us that, thanks to the electrosorption process, we can even convert waste heat into
electricity". He said this worked because the electrodes are charged at low temperatures and
discharged at higher temperatures. As a result of the temperature increase, the electrical
voltage increases so that electrical energy can be recovered directly during discharging.
http://phys.org/news/2015-10-nanocarbons-chemicals-electricity.html

Scientific breakthrough can lead to cheaper and environmentally friendly solar cells
The technique the researchers in Lund are working on is solar cells consisting of a thin film of
nanostructured titanium dioxide and a dye that captures solar energy. Today, the best solar
cells of this type use dyes containing ruthenium metal - a very rare and expensive element.
"Many researchers have tried to replace ruthenium with iron, but without success. All previous
attempts have resulted in molecules that convert light energy into heat instead of electrons,
which is required for solar cells to generate electricity", says Villy Sundström, Professor of
Chemical Physics at Lund University. Researchers at the Chemistry Department in Lund, in
collaboration with Uppsala University, have now successfully produced an iron-based dye that is
capable of converting light into electrons with nearly 100 per cent efficiency. "The advantage of
using iron is that it is a common element in nature. It can provide inexpensive and
environmentally friendly applications of solar energy in the future", says Kenneth Wärnmark,
Professor of Organic Chemistry at Lund University.
http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=52391

Anti-clumping strategy for nanoparticles
Nanoparticles are ubiquitous in industrial applications ranging from drug delivery and
biomedical diagnostics to developing hydrophobic surfaces, lubricant additives and enhanced
oil recovery solutions in petroleum fields. For such nanoparticles to be effective, they need to
remain well dispersed into the fluid surrounding them. In a study published in EPJ B ("The
stability and interfacial properties of functionalized silica nanoparticles dispersed in brine
studied by molecular dynamics"), Brazilian physicists identified the conditions that lead to
instability of nanoparticles and producing aggregates. This happens when the electric force on
their surface no longer balances by the sum of the attractive or repulsive forces between
nanoparticles. These findings were recently published by Lucas de Lara from the Centre for
Natural and Human Sciences, at the University Federal of ABC (UFABC) in Santo André, SP, Brazil
and colleagues.
http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=41621.php
About NANO @ IOWA
NANO @ IOWA is a biweekly electronic newsletter to inform faculty, staff and students about important
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