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

OMG!!

[Timesprout]

one medical company is investigating nanomuscles in penile implants.

I dont believe this, now Slashdot is providing spammers with material. What is the world coming to !!

Hmmm...

[BigNumber]

So basically, the 6 million dollar man was overpriced?

Where do we sign up to become super-strength wielding platinum cyborgs?

I've had nanomuscle tech for ages...

[NickFusion]

that's why I joined the gym.

Only a few more steps...

[Randolpho]

Ok, so they've got nanomuscles... just a few mores steps until they have macromuscles, and we can all start stoping around in Mechs. :D

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.

Re:Missing information

[Scaebor]

at a mass of one gram i very much doubt that we're anywhere near the kind of small scale necessary for quantum effects (which i presume are the "completely different set of physical laws" you speak of") to take effect in this technology. For such laws to take over would mean a decrease in the size of these muscles by many many orders of magnitude, something that, with their forseen purpose of replacing small electrical motors, i don't see being on the "roadmap" of nanomuscles, at least of this variety

Re:Missing information

[ee_moss]

To flex, they require a large electrical current - up to 100 volts - which is then converted to heat energy.

"The article says it takes 100 volts to make one flex!"

What's amazing is that they say it takes 100 volts of current to get it going, and those aren't even in the same units!

Electronically illiterate points aside, if they meant 100 Amps of current, then ya, that's probably a lot of energy. Enough to kill. 30,000 Volts, though, can be easily produced by a simple 9V batter and a couple of voltage doublers, like in the case of a stun gun.

The fact that the article says that a lot of the energy is going to heat tells me that they probably really are pulling a lot of amps at a relatively large voltage. These things could double as a moving stove-top. Alright that was stupid..

As my gift to you, I'm gonna shut my mouth.

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.

Is it just the small caption print on my browser?

[OwnerOfWhinyCat]

Or did it look to anyone else that Dr. Jörg Weissmüller from the Institut für Nanotechnologie in Duisburg bore a remarkable resemblence to Tarzan?

These ones don't need the 100 volts...

[OwnerOfWhinyCat]

That was the previous Nitinol technology.

The real drawback to the old Nickel-Titanium "muscle springs" was their lousy cyclic rate. Even with a fan on it, you couldn't get a spring with a 7 o.z., 1 inch throw to retract the distance it traveled in under 15 seconds. For most apps. this was just too slow. Now with less heat to bleed off and lower voltages, the cyclic rate could become useful. Motors with no brushes or bearings would be awefully useful in scads of gagets.

The application that springs to mind is in solar heating/cooling systems, where valves and pumps under computer control have piles of moving, rubbing parts could be replaced by parts that would work silently, and almost never wear out. Submersible pumps with no seals to erode would be nice too.

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:Help?!

[Only in the dark]

This is posted in the Science section. It won't show up on your main page, unless you set it to do so. You need to choose the option to collapse the sections (this will post all sections on the main page)

Just my 1/8th a penny.

Cheap materials

[Drummer_Dan]

Nanomuscles weigh just one gram... are far cheaper to produce: 50 cents.

Last time I checked, platinum costs about $20/gram

Re:Cheap materials

[esampson]

The article didn't say they were solid platinum. The muscles are composed of platinum atoms sandwiched between two layers of some other kind of substance.

That said, I'm still sceptical about .50 a gram.

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.

How about remedial physics for reporters

[Catskul]

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.

To flex, they require a large electrical current - up to 100 volts - which is then converted to heat energy.

Volts is not current! I can produce 100 volts easily from a small battery and an apprpriate circut, but not at sufficient current.

Efficient nanomuscles are in great demand because they can generate an enormous amount of energy for their weight and size.

They do not generate energy. They generate force.

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.