Polyoxometalate {Mo132} (two representations)
“Towards Polyoxometalate-Integrated Nanosystems” D-L Long and L Cronin, Chem. Eur. J., 12: 3698–3706 (2006). [pdf]
My technical talks often include a slide that shows several kinds of atomically precise components that may prove useful in composite nanosystems. One image is labeled “polyoxometalates”, a name that isn’t widely known. I think it should be.
Polyoxometalates [...]
Effective Concentration 2
In my post on effective concentration, I noted that the concentration of water in water (about as high as a real concentration can be) is 55 M, while observed effective concentrations are often 55,000 M. This is puzzling until you realize that, for a molecular collision to result in a reaction, it must typically hit [...]I recently posted on a surprising atomically precise fabrication process, and in a comment, Tom Craver remarked that
If a method like this could be combined with Single Layer Deposition , it seems like it’d be getting awfully close to allowing building 3D structures — embedded in a solid, so the next step would be [...]
Effective Concentration
I find that the concept of “effective concentration” helps to clarify my thinking about molecular processes that include catalysis, self assembly, and mechanosynthesis. The concept applies most directly to reaction rates, and it uses ordinary, solution-phase processes as a reference point.
Reactant concentration and reaction rate
In a relevant and typical case, molecules of type A [...]
Polymer-based molecular object (one of 10500 alternatives)
Molecular objects made of a nylon-like, high-performance polymer are among the most impressive nanostructures in existence today, and there’s good reason to expect them to contribute greatly to progress toward more powerful nanotechnologies in the coming years. This high-performance polymer is really more of a construction kit: it can [...]
A sleek and exquisite instrument
GOCE is now in orbit.
There had been some doubt: the previous ESA spacecraft to ride a Rockot went into the Arctic Ocean. But what is it? — see Mission of Gravity (part 1).
Replacing tin atoms with silicon using an AFM
“Complex Patterning by Vertical Interchange Atom Manipulation Using Atomic Force Microscopy”Y Sugimoto, et al., Science, 322: 413–417 (2008).
Shortly before I launched Metamodern, Science published a remarkable paper by Sugimoto et al. describing atom-by-atom manipulation of a monatomic layer of tin (Sn) on silicon (Si). The animation to [...]
Pyrite (natural mineral crystal)
A new paper in the journal Environmental Science & Technology assesses the requirements for scaling solar photovoltaic systems to the terawatt levels needed to supply electric power on a global scale. The authors identify iron pyrite, FeS2, as an attractive but unconventional alternative: The raw materials for pyrite aren’t scarce, and both [...]