The Nanotech BC Blog: Safety, Nano-Particles and Fuel Cells

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to participate in a day of meetings and discussion about nanotechnology and safety at the National Research Council, Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation. Nanowerk has a great article on the major challenges to realizing the potential of hydrogen fuel cells and how nanotech fits in to making that happen.

The researchers at the CFCI need to deal with nano-particles as part of their work. Tuesday was an attempt to get a handle on how to evaluate and respond to health risks caused by nano-particles.

The problem is a lack of knowledge. With conventional materials we know how much a person can be exposed to safely. When we use those same materials at the nano-scale however, our information starts to fall apart. Most of these nano-materials are new even if their macro-scale counterparts are not, and are being developed much faster than toxicologists can test them.

Nobody can guarantee safety, especially at this point. The key, and I heard this reiterated many times, is to be proactive. Traditionally, health and safety have been reactive and investigatory, i.e. it's only after someone gets sick or dies that we try to find out why and stop it from happening again. The specter of asbestos looms large.

That kind of approach isn't good enough. Researchers and health and safety experts are working hard to intelligently calculate risks and develop ways to protect people well before the damage is done. The price for this kind of forethought is dealing with a lot of unknowns, but step by step we're getting it figured out, and in the process making nanotechnology safer.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Cool(er) Runnings

Hydrogen fuel cells seem to be one of those technologies that's perpetually just about to change the world. It's such a simple idea -- hydrogen + oxygen = energy, with no waste product more harmful than water. Of course fuel cells aren't primary power sources, but with every car on the street running off of them, it would sure be a lot easer to breath deeply in the middle of rush-hour.

Unfortunately there are a few serious stumbling blocks to producing viable hydrogen fuel cells. One problem is the necessity of platinum as a catalyst. Another is the heat of the reaction -- up to 1,800 degrees Celsius and enough to burn out the cell's materials in short order.

Now it looks like there might be a solution at hand to the heat problem and it comes, not surprisingly, from nanotechnology. Researchers at UC Davis have been able to create nano-scale cubic zirconia. As with so many materials, the properties of cubic zirconia are different at the nano-level than they are at the macro -- being much more conductive to electricity. This translates into cooler temperatures for fuel cells; perhaps as low as 50 degrees Celsius.

BC has a lot going on with regards to fuel cells -- Ballard and the NRC-IFCI in particular. It'll be interesting to see how this development impacts their work.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Everyday I Write the Book

I keep stumbling upon great nanotech blogs:

Nanotechnology Development Blog -- articulate and wide ranging. I've only read the first four or five posts, but they seem to have a nice balance between research and business. It's definitely on my daily reading list from now on.

Blog-Nano: Nanoscale Materials and Nanotechnology -- I hadn't even gotten through the Weekly Round-up post before I linked to it. In particular I'm grateful for the link to SFU's grand achievement in fine-print: the Worlds Smallest Book. Here's a picture, but make sure you have your glasses (or a scanning electron microscope) handy.

Finally, I can't finish the week without linking to something a bit more mind expanding. Nanowerk has a great article about nanotechnology and neural interfaces. Nanotech is starting to blur the line between human and machine, raising questions that we need to start considering.