NanoForce creates composite using multi-walled nanotube

The material, which can be made into fibres or sheets, could find a use within strain monitoring.

DTC Trainning Event - Training @ Nanoforce

14 Dec 2011

Talk to be given at Ecobuild exhibition 2012

On 21st March 2012, Sanam Ghaffari and Emiliano Bilotti will give a talk at the Ecobuild exhibition at Excel, London. Ecobuild is the world's biggest event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment.

Talk to be given at Nanofibres to Nanocomposites

Dr Asa Barber and Dr Urszula Stachewicz talked about nanofibres and nanocomposites at Nanotechnology KTN, Tue 08 Nov 2011 - Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot.

Physical Properties and Applications of Electrospun Polymer Fibres by Dr Asa Barber, and From Nanofibres to Nanocomposites at Nanoforce Technology by Dr Urszula Stachewicz

Details

Talk to be given at BPF seminar - An Introduction to Conductive Polymers 2011

Dr Emiliano Bilotti will give a talk, 'Polymer Nanocomposites and Electrical Properties: Processing and Applications', at the upcoming BPF semiar, Wed 02 Nov 2011 - The BPF Offices, London, EC2A 3JE.

Detailed programme

Monofilament spinning @ Nanoforce Channel

Stretching can be achieved with various ratios subjected to specific polymer, see stretching video.

DTC Trainning Event - Training @ Nanoforce

03 Mar 2011

Co-extrusion to create layer structure @ Nanoforce Channel

EU funds new research in High-Performance Biobased Plastics

Many of the biobased plastics currently available lack the performance of traditional petroleum based polymers and their use is therefore often limited to disposable items such as packaging trays, containers, shopping bags, etc. The objective of the HIGHBIOPOL project is to develop a range of multifunctional engineering biopolymer systems for more advanced applications such as automotive, general engineering or consumer products markets with improved performances (mechanical and electrical) and functionalities (sensing and durability). The main advantage of the use of biopolymers is to create these performance products from sustainable resources, competing with fossil hydrocarbon sourced polymers, at the same time leaving open the possibility of biodegradability and composting as an alternative end-of-life option in addition to mechanical recycling. The project which will start January 2011 has a total value of around £1.1M and is funded through the FP7 Matera+ program and involves besides Nanoforce Technology Ltd., Nanocyl S.A. and the University of Mons, both from Belgium.

HIGHBIOPOL will use a bioplastic which is made by fermenting the starches found in corn. The sugars in the corn's starch ferments into a plastic called Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) which can then be used to create plastic pellets that are moulded into products.

Seminar on thermoelectric materials at Nanoforce, 13th Aug 2010

Prof Jing-feng Li from Tsinghua University, China, will making a presentation on nanostructured thermoelectric materials. The presentation will be held on 13/08/2010 at 14:30pm in the Nanoforce Seminar Room.

Dr. Jing-Feng Li is a full professor and deputy head of Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, China. He is a Subject Editor for Journal of Materials Processing Technology and on the advisory board of Asia Materials. Dr. Li has received master and doctor degrees both from Tohoku University (Japan) in 1988 and 1991, and a Bachelor of Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, in 1984. After working in Tohoku University as an assistant professor from 1992 to 1997, and an associate professor from 1997 to 2002, Dr. Li joined Tsinghua as a full professor in 2002. His current research interests include lead-free piezoelectric ceramics, piezoelectric films for MEMS applications, thermoelectric materials and devices, microfabrication technology of materials. Dr. Li has published >220 papers and 20 patents and co-authored three books. He has received Young Researcher Award from the Japan Institute of Metals in 1995 and Harada award from Harada foundation in 1998 in Japan. After returning to China, Dr. Li has been awarded Outstanding Young Scientist from NSF of China in 2003 and Changjiang Scholar Professorship in 2009.

Abstract

Thermoelectric materials are becoming increasingly important for energy harvesting and conversion technology, particularly for recovering an enormous amount of unused waste heat produced by industrial processes and automotive exhaust. Good thermoelectric materials must have high Seebeck coefficient, good electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity. However, it is very difficult to control the above three parameters independently, which often counter each other. Nanostructures such as nano-dispersion and nano-scaled heterogeneity are found to be effective in reducing thermal conductivity more than the electrical conductivity, resulting in the enhancement of figure of merit (ZT) of thermoelectric materials. This talk will mainly focus on two representative examples showing that enhanced thermoelectric properties can be achieved in the nanocomposite materials with extrinsic and intrinsic nanoscale dispersions.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) visited Nanoforce Lab on 29th July, 2010

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is building a dynamic and competitive UK economy by: creating the conditions for business success; promoting innovation, enterprise and science; and giving everyone the skills and opportunities to succeed. To achieve this it will foster world-class universities and promote an open global economy. BIS - Investing in our future.

2010 FEI Image Contest Monthly Winners - July

Trapped tennis ball by Urszula Stachewicz

FEI source page

SEMINAR: Joint Materials/Chemistry Seminar - Paul S. Pregosin, 19/05/2010, 2pm in the Nanoforce Seminar Room

The Next Joint Materials/Chemistry seminar will be held on 19th May at 2:00 pm in the Nanoforce Seminar Room (second floor Joseph Priestley Building).

Ion pairing via NMR spectroscopy: general trends Paul S. Pregosin
Laboratory of Inorganic chemistry, ETHZ, Z黵ich Switzerland, CH-8093

Abstract: PGSE diffusion and 1H, 19F HOESY NMR characteristics for a wide variety of a) cationic transition metal complexes b) inorganic salts, c) organic salts (e.g., brucinium derivatives), and d) the aryl carbocations (p-R-C6H4)2CH+, or (p-CH3O-C6H4)xCPh3-x +, will be presented. Applications involving relative molecular volumes, hydrogen bonding, and ion pairing will be discussed. Specifically, the ability to qualitatively estimate the amount of ion pairing has resulted in the recognition of some general trends. The 1H, 19F HOESY NMR spectra for a variety of salts containing a fluorine atom in the anion reveal a specific (rather than a random) approach of the anion with respect to the cation. These ion pairing and structural studies, together with solid-state and DFT calculations, support the solution NMR results and represent the first example of a more general approach to understanding the factors which affect ion pairing. With this background it is possible to rationalize a number of observed anion effects in homogenous catalysis.

Nanoforce has been featured twice in the current issue of Materials World

Sparking advanced ceramics Page 26, Spark plasma sintering can be used to develop ceramics with valuable properties. IOM3 link

Processing of functional polymers makes a great start, Page 53, DTC trainning day was held at Nanoforce Technology on the Processing of Advanced Functional Polymers on 3rd March. IOM3 link

Electrospinning with Nanospider @ Nanoforce lab

Nanoforce Youtube channel is open now

Click here to visit our channel

Prof. Mike Reece awarded the Verulam Medal & Prize by IOM3

April, 2010

Professor Mike Reece, a Nanoforce Technology director, has been awarded the Verulam Medal & Prize by the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining. This is in recognition of his distinguished contributions in the field of ceramic materials, specifically for his work on the processing and properties of structural and functional ceramics.

For more information on the Verulam medal please visit: www.iom3.org/content/iom3-medals-prizes. For more information of Prof. Reece抯 ceramic activities please visit: www.nanoforce.co.uk/ceramproc.htm


Prof. Mike Reece awarded the Verulam Medal & Prize by IOM3

Prof. Ton Peijs awarded the Swinburne Medal by IOM3

April, 2010

Ton Peijs, a director of Nanoforce has been awarded the Swinburne Medal, one of the Premier Awards for 2010 of the Institute of Materials Mineral and Mining. The award is to recognise the achievement of a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and knowledge of any field related to the science, engineering or technology of plastics. Among its past winners are world leading polymer scientists such as KW Ziegler, HF Mark, LRG Treloar, A Keller and IM Ward. It is a requirement of acceptance that the recipient shall prepare and deliver the Swinburne Lecture on an occasion selected by the Institute. For information on the award please visit http://www.iom3.org/content/iom3-medals-prizes


Prof. Ton Peijs (far left) awarded Swinburne medal by IOM3

Multi-filament spinning by Dr Collin @ Nanoforce lab

Functional Polymers - Training @ Nanoforce

03 Mar 2010

Nanoforce Publishes on Innovation UK Vol5-2

Innovation UK, Issue 5 vol 2, page 108 or Innovation UK, web link of the article

Nanoforce joins the Piezo Institute

2nd December, 2009

Nanoforce as the newest Associated member joins the Piezo Institute. The Piezo Institute is the centre of European expertise and resources in piezoelectric materials and devices, launched in 2008 by the multidisciplinary EC-funded MIND consortium of academic researchers and leading European companies.

Polymer research features on the cover of Macromolecular Materials & Engineering

November, 2009

The latest issue of Macromolecular Materials & Engineering (Wiley) features a paper by Hua Deng, Rui Zhang, Christopher Reynolds, Emiliano Bilotti and Ton Peijs describing new (patented) technology for the creation of multifunctional polymer nanocomposite fibres. The concept is based on a bicomponent fibre construction consisting of a highly oriented polymer core and a conductive polymer composite (CPC) skin based on carbon nanotubes and a polymer with a lower melting temperature than the core, enabling thermal annealing of these skins to improve conductivity through a dynamic percolation process. The process was developed in collaboration with Nanoforce Technology.


Front Cover

Ferroelectricity probed in nanograined bismuth structures

October, 2009

Led by Prof. Michael J Reece
Lead-free, bismuth layer structured ferroelectrics (BLSFs) are excellent candidates for applications from computer memories to high-temperature sensors. The urgent demand for the miniaturization of ferroelectric components highlights the need to study intrinsic size effects at the nanoscale. However, the fabrication of nanograined BLSFs ceramics remains a challenging task for conventional sintering technologies.


Fracture surface of BNdT ceramic

Congratulations to Prof. Michael Reece

October, 2009

Congratulations to Nanoforce Director Michael Reece, who from October 1st 2009 is Professor of Functional Ceramics.

Nanoforce would also like to congratulate academics Dr Busfield, Dr Barber and Dr Yang on their recent promotions:
Michael Reece - Professor of Functional Ceramics
James Busfield - Reader in Materials
Asa Barber - Senior Lecturer
Shoufeng Yang - Senior Lecturer

Prof. Kees Bastiaansen's research published in Nature Materials

September, 2009

Kees's paper entitled 'Printed artificial cilia from liquid-crystal network actuators modularly driven by light' was published in Nature Materials, 8, 677 - 682 (2009). The work is co-authored by researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology and Philips Research Laboratories in the Netherlands and presents the development of polymeric microactuators.

Polymeric micro-actuators are potentially useful in micro mechanical systems and lab-on-a-chip systems. However, manufacturing of miniature polymeric actuators has been complicated due to the necessity of including electrodes for actuation or using lithographic techniques for patterning. Here we demonstrate that all-polymer microdevices can be fabricated using inkjet printing technology in combination with self-organizing liquid crystal network actuators. We exploit the self-assembling properties of the liquid crystal to create large strain gradients, and light-driven actuation is chosen to allow simple and remote addressing. By using multiple inks, microactuators with different sub-units are created that can be selectively addressed by changing the wavelength of the light. The actuators mimic the motion of natural cilia. These artificial cilia have the potential to create flow and mixing in wet environments such as lab-on-a-chip applications. The process is easily adapted for roll-to-roll fabrication, allowing for large-scale and low-cost production of miniaturized active polymer systems.

Notice of the address change

August, 2009

Please note that our address has changed to

   Nanoforce Technology Limited
   Joseph Priestley Building,
   Queen Mary, University of London,
   Mile End Road
   London, E1 4NS

This is due to the name of the building has been changed, and physically we did not move.

Business support - As part of Nanoforce and London Development Agency initiative we are providing a number of London based businesses with an opportunity to improve their performance. More Detail.

Nanospider News updates

The Nanospider is in place for operation. Details about the Nanospider.

SPS News updates

The Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) furnace is new and unique to the UK. It is used to densify ceramic, metal and composite powders. This includes ultrahigh temperature and hardness ceramics, recfractory metal alloys and textured ferroelectric ceramics. The work on SPS at Nanoforce is attracting considerable attention from industry and academic research groups. The SPS has recently been upgraded to allow six point temperature measurement (2 pyrometers and 4 thermocouples) and mechanical displacement measurement up to a resolution of 3 micrometer. These upgrades make the furnace unique in the world and will allow up to make improved and new materials.

Fawad Inam received MATERIALS WORLD AWARD 2008. More details [here].

Nanoforce exhibiting in Nanoforum 2008

Interplas 08

Innovate 08

Wearable Technologies Road-Mapping Event: 28 November 2007

Nanoforce hosted a Wearable Technologies Road-Mapping Event in its seminar room on Wednesday, 28th November from 10:00 to 16:00.

Nanotech 2007 Exhibition: 21-23 February 2007

Tokyo. Held in association with the Nanotechnology Business Creation Initiative (NBCI), BIZMATCH @ nano tech 2007 aims to connect Japanese and foreign firms in nanotechnology and related high-tech fields. [Website]

DEFRA Meeting: 14 June 2006

Nanoforce hosted a DEFRA meeting on June 14th organized by ENTA for a consultation event on a proposed voluntary reporting scheme for engineered nano scale materials.