from the mushrooming-regional-NT-programs dept.
According to a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on 12 July 2001, funding has been approved for two major nanoscience research initiatives at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York.
One set of studies will focus on understanding the nanoscale properties of catalysts, substances that initiate or speed up the rates of chemical reactions, with the goal of exploiting these properties to optimize chemical reactivity and selectivity. The second initiative will explore how electric charges move at the nanoscale. These studies could lead to advances in energy-conversion devices such as those that convert sunlight into electricity, and new "molecular electronics" for tinier, faster computer circuits.
Both programs will also develop and refine methods of nanofabrication to build improved materials atom by atom or molecule by molecule.
