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Titania Nanotubes for Hydrogen Sensors?
Roland Piquepaille writes "Everybody is talking about carbon nanotubes these days. But what about titania nanotubes? Penn State researchers think they have a great potential for sensing hydrogen . According to this news release, "titania nanotubes are 1500 times better than the next best material for sensing hydrogen and may be one of the first examples of materials properties changing dramatically when crossing the border between real world sizes and nanoscopic dimensions, according to a Penn State materials scientist." And now, the very good news: titania nanotubes are cheap. So they'll be used in industrial quality control in food plants and as weapons against terrorism. My summary contains some more details."
Now we will be able to detect the terrorists at they attempt to crash Zeplins into our buildings!
Her legs are like nanotubes.
Weapons Against Terrorism! Oh goody! We're saved!
Where to I invest?
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Screw titania. When are they gonna get the kryptonite nanotubes?
I was wondering too. Presumably it's something to do with titanium, rather than anything to do with the queen of the fairies or a satellite of Uranus.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
No, it's a who I'm afraid.
Titania is Queen of the fairies. Rather sureal 'News for Nerds' this one.
Use against terrorism: Set up enough of the tubes and you can detect when a hydrogen bomb goes off there (assuming they survive).
A lit match works for hydrogen detection as well as many gas hydrocarbons. It is very versatile.
How cheap could these be? I mean titanium itself is not a cheap metal (about $4 a pound apparently), but I imagine making nanotubes out of titanium oxide probably does not consume much titanium. The process has to be a bitch though.
I don't see anything about cost in the paper either.
Overexuberance on the author's part?
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
I think titania here is titanium dioxide, TiO2, which is most commonly used as a pigment- most opaque white pigments contain titanium dioxide, also known as rutile. I had no idea you could make it into nanotubes though.
"FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
Why everything has to be about terrorism?
1. Throw around a buzzword, like nanotubes.
2. Mention fighting the terrorism.
3. Well, we all know what comes at step 3, don't we?
This is why everything has to be about terrorism.
Allah Akbar = Profit?
---------
(I used Allah Akbar not because I think it is in itself pro-terrorist, but because it is the most recognized token for the situation, so please.)
You can't handle the truth.
Titania is used in the construction of bad movies, with terrible leading men, sucked down into a awful love story, that sinks faster than its namesake.
Titania, it turns out, is Titanium Dioxide, used commonly as a white pigment. Read more about it at the Wikipedia.
Seriously though, this press-release sets off my B.S. sensor. A typical scientific press-release would include some basic stuff, like what Titania Nanotubes are. Additionally, from my understanding of how carbon nanotubes are made, and how they exist, I'm not sure that Titanium could be used to make nanotubes. Neither could Silicon, which is the chemically more similar. Carbon nanotubes can exist because Carbon gets to form 4 and only 4 bonds. The extra electron orbitals (d-orbitals in spectroscophy language) would screw this up.
Additionally, I don't think that combustion (say in cars, mentioned in the article), results in any free hydrogen, it should be water, carbon dioxide, and unburnt fuel.
Galium Arsenide is the material of the future, and always will be.
titania nanotubes are 1500 times better than the next best material for sensing hydrogen
Oxygen?
My daughter's name is Titania, sounds like she's been getting up to some serious mischief.
Everybody is talking about carbon nanotubes these days.
Yeah, can't walk down the street or ride a subway without hearing that incessant chatter about carbon nanotubes.
I think Oberon would be pissed if you screwed Titania.
You mean that weird demented chick in "midsummer nights dream", right?
I'm still at a loss as to how detecting hydrogen helps combat terrorism. Would someone care to enlighten me?
Video Game cheats, hints a
"Inflammable means flammable? What a country !"
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
titania here is titanium dioxide, TiO2, which is most commonly used as a pigment
Hell, why not just use Zinc Oxide. We could fight terrorism AND skin cancer!
Well, sir, there's nothing on earth Like a genuine,Bona fide,Electrified, Titaniafied, Nanotube! What'd I say? Ned Flanders: Nanotube! Lyle Lanley: What's it called? Patty+Selma: Nanotube! Lyle Lanley: That's right! Nanotube! Miss Hoover: I hear those things are awfully loud... Lyle Lanley: But tt detects hydrogen clouds. Apu: Is there a chance the tube could bend? Lyle Lanley: Not on your life, my Hindu friend. Barney: What about us brain-dead slobs? Lyle Lanley: You'll be given cushy jobs. Abe: Were you sent here by the devil? Lyle Lanley: No, good sir, I'm on the level. Wiggum: The ring came off my pudding can. Lyle Lanley: Take my pen knife, my good man. I swear it's Springfield's only choice... Throw up your hands and raise your voice! All: Nanotube! Lyle Lanley: What's it called? All: Nanotube! Lyle Lanley: Once again... All: Nanotube! Marge: But Main Street's still all cracked and broken... Bart: Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken! All: Nanotube! Nanotube! Nanotube! [big finish] Nanotube! Homer: Nano... D'oh!
And if there had already been a strike or an explosion, I don't think you'd need nanosensors to detect it...
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
You need to get your BS sensor checked; the research is real and legitimate.
Here's a reference to the original article, which is available online:
2003 Craig A. Grimes, Keat G. Ong, Oomman K. Varghese, Xiping Yang, G. Mor, Maggie Paulose, Chuanmin Ruan, Elizabeth C. Dickey, Michael V. Pishko, James W. Kendig and Andrew J. Mason, "A Sentinel Sensor Network for Hydrogen Sensing," Sensors, vol. 3, pp. 69-82. PDF format
Why is Slashdot posting these news release stories that are summarized and submitted by Roland Piquepaille? And for that matter, where are these details on his web site that he purports to have? All I see are direct quotes and linked pictures. This is the second one I see now. Is this a trend? Is this how one can get stories posted here? I'll go and read news release sites like Eureka Alert and quote generously from it, add a couple of picture links, and submit it here.
Doesn't radiation knock protons (hydrogen nuclei) out of paraffin? Just a wild guess.
hey, what do you know, Lex posts to Slashdot.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
A lit match works for hydrogen detection as well as many gas hydrocarbons.
Actually, Hydrogen requires a higher fuel to air ratio than gasoline. It also disperses nearly instantly(well, except in confined/sealed areas of course)- whereas gasoline etc sink and pool(which is why your natural gas/propane water heater has that nice little picture of a gasoline can etc).
Oh, and since it's still not known enough- the Hindenburg burned because it was painted with the chemical equivalent of rocket fuel(the chemical composition of the paint etc is very close to solid rocket fuel)- not because it was full of Hydrogen, which, by itself, doesn't burn.
When it DOES burn, it burns a)instantly b)practically invisibly, c)with no smoke. Watch those films of the hindenburg, and note the a)slow b)bright yellow c)sooty fire.
It's interesting to note that hydrogen's qualities make it much safer should there be, say, an accident with a truck carrying it. It dissipates as it leaks, versus the major fire hazard/toxic waste problem created by a gasoline spill.
Please help metamoderate.
There are two things that are of help here. Firstly is the size of the tubes, when you are in the nano- or pico- regimes, there are a lot more surface features (corners, edges) per atom than there are in the bulk metal. As most reactions (catalytic or non catalytic) occur on surface features, having as many small particles as possible makes sense.
The other factor that is a help here is that the oxide is used. Introducing impurities into metal (consider the oxygen an impurity) does two things, changes the electron affinity of the metal so it can bind ligands better (or worse - also useful) and introduces point 'defects' - places where the crystal lattice is interrupted. These 'defect' sites actually provide reaction points for in this case, hydrogen.
Nice piece of chemistry!
Did anyone else read the book based on Douglas Adams' computer game, Titania? More importantly, did anyone else immediately think of that?
Webmaster Wanted - Entropic Reactions
Hydrogen entering an array of titania nanotubes flows around all the surfaces, but it also splits into individually charged atoms and permeates the surface of the nanotubes. These hydrogen ions provide electrons for conductivity. The change in conductance signals that hydrogen, above the background level, is present.
Sounds very similiar to how a fuel-cell works, but instead of pumping through lots of hydrogen to produce as much electricity as possible they're just using a little bit of hydrogen to generate a tiny current (or does it just change the conductivity?).
I want to know what this material does when feed pure hydrogen.
Titanium is in Group 4. Oxygen in Group 16. Presuming that they can in fact make nanotubes, my electron addition (from CHEM 101) tells me that there's no place for any of oxygen's valence electrons.
P.S. I'm a pre-law student. Should I stick to law based on my chemistry?
Webmaster Wanted - Entropic Reactions
they are fair.. but I prefer to wait for Oberon nanotubes.
meh
"nanotube", "microsoft", how many more euphemisms will people design to describe a limp dick?
"Everybody is talking about carbon nanotubes these days."
I have such boring conversations with people. We never get on to good topics like this. Maybe I need to get out more?
. Quit playing Monopoly with Bill. Switch to one of many non-Microsoft products today.
I didn't see any links to the sources yet on the blog or the article so here is the homepage for Dr. Craig A. Grimes. There are two recent pdfs about the titania nanotubes on his publications page.
"Finally, one day some one said to me, 'You want to go kill some orcs?' Well.... Yeah! If only people asked me questions like that in real life!"
Clear, Dark Skies
my pathetic post was just ripping off the Simpson's.
When Homer get's to Dr. Nick's surgery to have his thumb sewn back on Dr. Nick says it to a gas canister while he looks on as the surgery burns down.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
I am too lazy to figure out valences but a
quick google shows that theoretical calculations
predict them to exist and be semiconducting,
and someone has done TEM of those tubes so they
do exist and have been characterized. That said,
you'll have to look deeper for more info cause
I don't really care.
BTW, most oxides and dichaclogenides which exist
in layered crystal structures can be "rolled" up
and form nanotubes.
Wasn't she in a movie with Trixie Microslot and Dirk Harddrive?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
She's wearing tube tops one billion times smaller than normal, it sounds like.
I'd start with more serious problems first, though: check her room for drugs. Rumor has it she's been getting some pretty powerful juice from a guy calling himself "Oberon".
(1) The press release isn't particularly well done; most aren't.
(2) The articles mentioned in the press release (which were the important part of the release) are rather better. Of course, these also assume that the reader has at least some understanding of what "titania nanotubes" are, and that the specific rules for covalent bonds applicable to carbon don't mean all that much for transition metal oxides.
(3) Combustion "doesn't result in any hydrogen"? Perhaps, but how will we know without sensors that can detect trace (sub-ppm) levels of hydrogen in the exhaust?
These sensors aren't all that novel (as the S&A-B article at least points out, several other gas sensors based on a resistance change in a metal/metal oxide semiconductor have been developed), but they're relatively easy to prepare and don't poison easily - so it's at least moderately impressive. So, yes, they do exist, and the press release is where most or all of the BS is to be found.
On a heavier note (on the scale of gases) there have been times when I have eaten Mexican food and have caused the evacuation of public places unintentionally. If a system to detect explosive methane was as sensitive as these devices might be and was wrongly calibrated, I might have been arrested. Some commented I should have been. Some said I should not have beans.
But like all things that have been it passed.
OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
For those of you who don't know what that's from, I suggest you look for the mp3 of the second D&D spoof that was made.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Particle collider cheap, or hamburger and chips cheap?
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Thank you
It's simply amazing and can detect hydrogen from 1 ppm to 4%. Luckily there is just enough floating around to guarantee success every time. Amaze your friends, take it outside, show-off as you brilliantly hold the detector in hand and proclaim, "Yes, we are not in a vacuum."
Did I mention that your friends would be amazed?
Metals *would* want to be metallic, if it weren't for that g.d. oxygen trying to react with everything in sight. Gold doesn't have much of an affinity to compound with anything, hence it's usually found in pure form... if you can find it.
Luke, help me take this mask off
Hydrogen entering an array of titania nanotubes flows around all the surfaces, but it also splits into individually charged atoms and permeates the surface of the nanotubes. These hydrogen ions provide electrons for conductivity. The change in conductance signals that hydrogen, above the background level, is present.
Sounds very similiar to how a fuel-cell works, but instead of pumping through lots of hydrogen to produce as much electricity as possible they're just using a little bit of hydrogen to generate a tiny current (or does it just change the conductivity?).
Unless I'm mistaken they just SAID that it was the conductivity change that was measured.
But this material ought to make a GREAT electrode for the reducing-agent end of a fuel cell.
In particular, it might be handy for selectively extracting the hydrogen from the impure output of a reformer - or even extract it from hydrocarbons directly, eleiminating the need for a reformer and directly burning the hydrogen from hydrocarbons.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
They are prosecuting people for downloading "Hotel California."
...cheaper than most types of cheese.
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
As a muslim I must correct you. A more correct transliteration would sound like this. Allah-huu-akhbar. (key part you missed being the huu which sounds like who).
If anyone wants to know what that means... it's simply god is great or allah is great. Technically allah isn't a god as there is no sex associated with allah (god implies a masculine deity).
Hmmm... Pie...
if they say they can make this stuff by the mile
then if the tensile strength is high enough I could forsee potential space elevator applications
Drink deep, or drink not the Peierian spring."
I think that sums it up.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
and as weapons against terrorism.
s -here) weapons against Communism!
are you sure you didnt really mean (insert-suspensfull-"Duh-Dunnnn"-sound-from-movie
I wonder if the Maltese Falcon was made of Titania microtubles... and would Viagra improve the function of said microtubles?
Actually there're a couple cool things here;
This stuff would be light, terribly strong, and would have some very interesting optical properties. This could have all kinds of use as a photonic array.
In the specific use as a hydrogen sensor, it would be worth it's weight in something gold-like. Turns out that one of the byproducts of the hydrogen economy will be further erosion of the ozone layer. The only answer is to prevent leakage as much as possible, and hydrogen sensors are goin to have to be ubiquitous to accomplish the job. This is going to be a huge market once we all move to hydrogen!
Genda Bendte
- Hydrogen accounts for 70% of the barionic matter in the universe... George W. Bush accounts for 99.6% of the stupid in the universe. The rest is evenly divided between his cabinet and the country of North Korea.
If the rate of production of Hydrogen atoms is sufficient then you could create a very powerful rocket. Or at least supplement current chemical rockets. Combining hydrogen releases a hell of a lot more energy than combining H2 + O2. The reason they're not doing now is because of storage problems. Anybody know if this could work?
brrrrrrrrrppp 'Ey Homer...Why don't girls like me?
"Scientists create titanium nose. Now can smell it when Dominar Rygel XVI farts"
You can't spell "nanosensor" without "nose".
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
The reason this is actually usefull as a detection device is actually a function of it's minimal molecular weight/size. It is basically very difficult to completely contain the Hydrogen to avoid detection.
Also, leakage has been a traditional problem for H2 storage and distribution and cheap reliable detectors will help detect problems before they become catastrophic.
Now days, leakage is much less of a problem than "embrittlment" - which is when Hydrogen penetrates a metal alloy (either intentionally for transport or unintentionally like a gas pipeline wall) and substantially reduces the strength of the material. This is were I see the greatest use for these new Titania tubes... but that just doesn't sound as cool to Joe Public.
Q.
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does terrorist food cause gas? :o)