Platinum Nanomuscles Developed

An anonymous reader writes "The Institut für Nanotechnologie in Duisburg 'reports in the latest issue of the Journal Science that they have been able to use a tiny electric charge to flex a piece of 'nanoporous' platinum - an artificial sandwich of platinum atoms riddled with tiny holes. Nanomuscles weigh just one gram but can lift 140 grams, and are preferred to electric motors as they are far cheaper to produce: 50 cents each compared to US$300. They also make less noise and operate more smoothly. They could one day replace most small electric motors in toys, cameras and other devices.'"

Comments

Missing information

[Paddyish]

This could do wonders for many technologies. A 1:140 ratio in lifting is quite amazing. However, I see a couple of issues with large scale applications. I recently attended a seminar in which the speaker talked about how nano technology adheres to a completely different set of physical laws, since atomic attractions and various other forces start to play a huge role as size decreases. That makes development and improvement of the technology clunky and slow, and sometimes forces developers to drop it alltogether due to unforseen hurdles.

What I want to know, is exactly how big and how powerful can these be? The article says it takes 100 volts to make one flex! That puts a damper on building any type of large networks...And what kind of cycle life do they have? If they work for 100 flexes and then break...that's not terribly useful. They have a ways to go, methinks.

good for some

[Joe the Lesser]

are far cheaper to produce: 50 cents each compared to US$300

Of course, whoever patents this will sell them for 50 bucks at least.

Misleading article text

[Spamalamadingdong]

I couldn't help but notice this:

Nanomuscles weigh just one gram but can lift 140 grams...

I could make a one-gram device lift 140 kilograms, if I only had to lift it a tiny distance (like a millimeter). This is why ants can lift such "large" weights compared to their own; they are lifting by millimeters rather than meters, and the mechanical advantage overcomes their other disadvantages.

It sure would be nice to have science reporters who actually understand the science, and quit leaving holes like this in their reporting.

Re:Cheap materials

[pseudonymouse]

The article is very brief, and I don't think it's very clear on the science.

an artificial sandwich of platinum atoms riddled with tiny holes.

At first glance it looked like the atoms were supposed to have tiny holes :), but they never give any indication of how big the 'nanoparticles' are or what else besides platinum is in the 'sandwich'. Perhaps they're saying that it's so porous that it's mostly 'gap'?

The German team were able to achieve the same degree of movement as previous nanomuscles but without generating large volumes of heat. This is because their platinum nanoparticles have a much larger surface area that is electro-chemically accessible; this enables the alloy to store a large electric charge and yet only require a few volts to flex.

Maybe I'm just tired, but I don't really follow this. That is, I get the large surface area, but I don't get what exactly is reacting with the surface or what makes the material 'flex'.

Nanomuscles weigh just one gram but can lift 140 grams, and are preferred to electric motors as they are far cheaper to produce: 50 cents each compared to US$300.

For a pricetag of $300, I assume this would be a 'nanotech' electric motor, but are they saying such a motor would also be one gram and lift 140g?

The article refers to the (presumably more thorough :) article in Science magazine: Muscles Made from Metal by Ray H. Baughman, Science 2003 April 11; 300: 268-269, but I couldn't access it.

Re:How about remedial physics for reporters

[Spamalamadingdong]

These news agencies should not let their reporters cover a science/tech related story if they cant grasp the basic concepts. They are just spreading their ignorence to the readers.

I like that idea. Wait, no; I really like that idea. And maybe make the articles hyperlink to a glossary entry for each term the first time it is used.

Bad writing leading to additional confusion on the part of the public has been one of my perennial complaints since the 1980's. Apparently, it's gotten to the point where people have to list energy (not power) consumption in "kilowatts" (not KWH) because the public is confused by the correct usage.