'Frozen Smoke' May Improve Energy Storage & Toxin Detection (VIDEO)

A new form of "frozen smoke" holds the potential to detect pollutants, efficiently store energy, and improve robotic surgeries.

A team of scientists including Professor Lei Zhai and Jianhua Zou engineered their creation by using aerogel. As part the family of the lightest solid, it is commonly referred to as "frozen smoke." Zhai's work, detailed in the journal ACS Nano, used nanotubes to increase the practical use of aerogel.

According to a University of Central Florida (UCF) press release, the new material can detect minute pressure changes, allowing robotic fingers to become super sensitive. With increased sensitivity, the robot hands can distinguish between different surgical tools.

Regarding energy efficiency, nanotubes have a big surface area, and thus this new science can increase the capacity of lithium batteries and supercapacitors to store renewable energy.

Lastly, this new development can improve sensors for detecting explosives and toxins in food and water supplies. It seems the possibilities are endless, as Zhai remarks, "This has many potential applications and could really open up new areas to explore that we haven't even imagined yet."

New advancements in nanotechnology continue, including the release of a new Nano Hummingbird drone. Not everyone is convinced that nanotechnology is safe, but many environmentalists praise its newest innovations.

WATCH the UCF report on this new substance in action:

Comments

[ItsGettingWeird]

08:10 AM on 04/05/2011

My frozen smoke is a Marlboro in December.

[Chipher]

01:28 AM on 03/10/2011

Can you eat it? No.

Can you create energy from it? No.

Just because it stores more energy will just mean longer trips between charges, or more likely, more lead-footed Prius jockeys doing 0-60 in 2.3 seconds to prove their lil' manhood, burning amps instead of burning fossil BTUs, ...but all that energy still has to come from somewhere.

Burning food? China will nuke US if we don't stop burning human food.

[Edward Standley]

05:05 PM on 04/20/2011

Energy can't be "created" from anything. There are many different ways to convert energy from one form to another, and many different ways to store it. Some methods are less harmful to people and the environment than others.

[codycap]

02:02 PM on 03/07/2011

If it wasn't for electricity we'd all be watching television by candlelight.
-- George Gobel

[pitlover50]

04:32 PM on 03/07/2011

is he the winner of the gobel peace prize?

[Happy Clb]

04:30 PM on 03/06/2011

whether or not science improves life for all on earth is contingent upon assumptives made and their understanding of how they might affect societies long term.

scientists should continue to experiment on whatever they want to... that's what leads to new breakthroughs. tinkering and accidents.

[metaluna]

12:27 PM on 03/06/2011

Clearly America has a problem with science. The right thinks it's either an affront to God or should only be carried out by corporations unfettered by public scrutiny or public funds. The left tends to think sciencey progress is bad for us and maybe we should just go live in a hut in the woods. We stereotype scientists as hopeless nerds and go out of our way to discourage our kids from entering the scientific professions - far better that they become investment bankers or basketball stars. Science gives us the tools to make our world and ourselves better. Science is based on a method of critical thinking that endeavors to show the world around us as it really is, not as we might fantasize it. That some misuse those tools is not the fault of science.
Still as a country we steadfastly remain ignorant on scientific topics. Some of the posts here are excellent illustrations of that.

[avg american]

09:55 AM on 03/07/2011

f&f'ed great post...
The irony is science is good for religion.

A understanding of science can better determine what is god and what is not god.

[OHwhatcouldabeenin2000]

03:14 PM on 03/07/2011

lol, c'mon, there is no god

[Oomingmak]

03:50 PM on 03/07/2011

Excellent post. F&F.

[banker67]

10:06 AM on 03/06/2011

Such breakthroughs don't necessarily lead to a better life for all. Even if it works to save pollution and energy -- especially if it is successful -- how long before the polluters and the energy multi-nationals spend four minutes worth of their pocket change to buy up or squash the patent?
The business of business is maximum profit at any cost to everyone else. If the next 'water engine' succeeds, the inventor better sell out fast or skip town while he or she can.
That is, by the way, precisely why so-called 'free enterprise' is no way to run a nation. I mean, if you care about the citizens. If you don't care at all about working people, the elderly, the poor and the sick, exploiting taxpayers from cradle to grave under the gilded banner of 'free-market economics' is tip-top. Definitely worth another honorary degree from Wharton, Chicago or HBS.

[missouriwatcher]

09:41 PM on 03/05/2011

I hope that all the promise this holds doesn't get misspent on military junk (hummingbird drone).

[asiclilpup]

02:56 PM on 03/06/2011

Sadly it seems that the MIC and our politicians think of military uses with these scientific breakthroughs and the good of humanity comes in last place.

[missouriwatcher]

04:52 PM on 03/09/2011

You are right, unfortunately for humanity.

[jayemjay]

08:11 PM on 03/05/2011

Every time I read a story about the wonders of nanotubes or nano particles, I get a little nervous. We all jumped onboard with asbestos to prevent the spread of fires, but we spread lung disease and cancers instead. The EPA is currently doing research on the safety of nano particles, but some have already been in use in food products for a number of years. (Of course, Republicans want to get rid of the EPA.) Read about research on nano particle safety here:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-nanoparticles-in-food-pose-health-risk

[missouriwatcher]

09:44 PM on 03/05/2011

The GOP wants to get rid of anything that benefits the health and wellbeing of the majority of people; they only want those things which financially reward them and their bedpartners.  And life?The GOP don't need no stinkin' life, just more $$$.

[Chipher]

01:31 AM on 03/10/2011

Yeah, what ever happened to those nanotube slacks you never needed to wash, ha,ha,ha,ha.
Maybe they can make a nano-mattress out of it for really light sleepers. Get it? ha,ha,ha,ha.

[spilkus]

04:20 PM on 03/05/2011

I was in a grunge band in the 90's called Frozen Smoke. I can't believe they can just rip off our name.

[Sharkcellar]

04:17 PM on 03/05/2011

Ummm...aerogel has been around for years. They used it in space to micrometeorites.

[Oomingmak]

03:52 PM on 03/07/2011

I had the same first reaction. Apparently what is new with this research is they infused aerogel with carbon nanotube structures, which allows storage capacity within the substance itself and thus has unique properties.

[thaneb]

03:11 PM on 03/05/2011

Some confusion in this piece: The "breakthrough" here is using carbon to make aerogel ("frozen smoke"). Silicon-based aerogel has been around for decades. The vast surface area is not a property of C nanotubes themselves, it is an intrinsic property of aerogels. Carbon is more conductive than silicon, thus this new aerogel has the properties spoken of in the article.
Aside: IMO Huffpost should not provide links to sites (e.g. ACS Nano) that require subscription to view contents. Alternatively, the reader should be warned.

[Sharkcellar]

04:18 PM on 03/05/2011

Oops. I didn't read your post. I just pointed out myself that aerogel is nowhere near a "recent" discovery.

[Oomingmak]

03:53 PM on 03/07/2011

Thanks for this clarification, very helpful.

[stonesoup]

01:36 PM on 03/05/2011

Maybe if this material can do the things they say it can it could be used to design a hand held device that would be able to detect the different types of poisonous gases released from the production of natural gas. Right now citizens can not prove that they are being poisoned because they have no way to prove what they are breathing. This is happening across the country. Children with bloody noses, whole families that have eye, throat, nose irritation and extreme headaches who live next to a Fracked Natural Gas Well or Pumping station where toxic emissions are constant. This would be something if they used this science to actually do something for the people, but instead they will just build robots to make more money for the extremely rich and put citizens out of jobs because it was probably industry money that paid the university for the research.

[Chipher]

01:38 AM on 03/10/2011

Aerogel Electric Enclosed Bicycles at 100mpah, and force trucks to drive in the left lane only so we can get safely on and off the freeways which will then seem eerily empty with four bikes in the same space an SUV used to hog. Reactive bumpers, sonic pacing and spacing, we got it made! Oh, wait, we don't have anywhere near the electrical capacity to drive anything with 'electric' on it. PriAEEBs will be the playthings of the rich, and we'll be forced to use candles, or pay $400 a month just to light up our refrigerators, where our rancid milk and cat food is kept. Numm, numm, numm. $400 for medical, $400 for electric, $800 for rent, and $1200 SS check. Oh, wait, what about food? ha,ha,ha,ha. We can always eat nano-toast, it's what's for dinner!

[Nerdiac]

12:24 PM on 03/05/2011

All these awesome potential uses, but I bet they're just gonna make a mattress out of it.

[Renee Kools]

11:44 AM on 03/05/2011

This is a great invention (and looks pretty sweet, too) that might just solve many of the problems we are, or will soon be dealing with.

And all you guys can talk about is how we will soon be China's bltch

[Schmice]

10:56 AM on 03/05/2011

Well, maybe the Western world isn't quite beaten yet. But then, isn't it ironic that Dr. Zhao is Chinese.

[Oomingmak]

03:56 PM on 03/07/2011

Well, we should hope that our Chinese will beat their Chinese (and the same with our Indians, etc. etc.). The way to do that is to continue to support (or increase!) research funding for basic and applied science and engineering (and also to have a more pleasant research environment than those other countries - i.e. encourage and nourish innovation and creativity). We have always done so, and it has been one of the roots of American progress and prosperity.