Nanoparticle research could enhance camera phones

Permalink: Nanoparticle research could enhance camera phones

New research at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, has demonstrated the possibility of using liquids embedded with nanoparticles to develop new types of miniature camera lenses and cell phone displays.

Scientists have shown that liquids embedded with nanoparticles show enhanced performance and stability when exposed to electric fields.

According to Professor Theodorian Borca-Tasciuc, who led the research project, this points the way towards using nanofluids in microscale and nanoscale actuator device applications.

The manipulation of small volumes of liquid is vital for fluidic digital display devices, optical devices, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) such as lab-on-chip analysis systems.

Compared with regular liquids, liquids embedded with different nanoparticles can provide enhanced heat transfer and capillary properties.

The researchers placed droplets of water-based solutions containing bismuth telluride nanoparticles onto a Teflon-coated silicon wafer. They discovered that when an electric field was applied to the droplet, the angle at which the droplet contacted the wafer changed markedly.

The change was much greater than that observed in liquids without the nanoparticles, when tested with the same electrical field.

The ability to easily change the contact angle of droplets of nanofluids could potentially be used to efficiently move liquids in Microsystems. This could allow the development of new methods of focusing lenses in miniature cameras, or cooling computer chips.

The research could also enable fully integrated micro- and nanoscale heat transfer systems which would not require a pump.

The research article has been published in a recent issue of the journal Nanotechnology under the title “Electrowetting on dielectric-actuation of microdroplets of aqueous bismuth telluride nanoparticle suspensions”.