Each month, NTB highlights tech briefs related to a particular area of technology in a special section called Technology Focus. Here are some of the technologies featured in the September issue focus on Nano Materials & Manufacturing.
-Nano-Engineered Catalysts for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
Nano-engineered catalysts, and a method of fabricating them, have been developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a continuing effort to improve the performances of direct methanol fuel cells as candidate power sources to supplant primary and secondary batteries in a variety
of portable electronic products. Small particle sizes and large surface areas can be produced economically and consistently. Click here .
-Nanotip Carpets as Antireflection Surfaces
Carpetlike random arrays of metal-coated silicon nanotips have been shown to be effective as antireflection surfaces. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is now developing the nanotip carpets or incorporation into Sun sensors that would provide guidance for robotic exploratory vehicles on Mars. They could also have uses on Earth as antireflection surfaces in instruments that handle or detect ultraviolet, visible, or infrared light.
