British nanotechnology company Peratech has received £1.1 million in funding from YFM Group.

"The funds... will be invested into ultra thin, quantum effect touch sensors, designed to replace traditional switched in mobile phones, robotics and a range of other devices," writes New Electronics' Chris Shaw. "Peratech says its Quantum Tunnelling Composite (QTC) technology prevents contacts from wearing out and no air gap to be contaminated with water or dust."

"Peratech recently signed licensing agreements with Nissha and Samsung Electro-mechanics for 3D input technology for mobile phones," notes EE Times' Colin Holland.

"In these financially challenging times, it is a real testament to both the QTC technology and the team behind it to have received funding of this level," says Peratech CEO Philip Taysom. "The company has invested significant R&D efforts to understand this new class of material science that it has invented. We are now at the stage where its ability to add value and completely new innovative features, which provide significant commercial advantages, are clearly demonstrable as can be seen from the licensing deals that we are closing with Tier 1 international companies."

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Congressman David Wu has introduced the Nanotechnology Education Act, HR 4502, which is aimed at helping U.S. educational institutions provide instruction in nanotechnology.

"The purpose of this bill is to strengthen the capacity of United States secondary schools and institutions of higher education to prepare students for careers in nanotechnology by providing grants to those schools and institutions to provide the tools necessary for such preparation," according to Nanowerk News.

"Finally, something positive to publish about the Federal Government," writes Taste the Cloud's Dave Tribbett.

More here from the Nanotechnology Law Report ... and more here from Nano Magazine.

Lab creates flexible solar cells Nanotechbuzz

Researchers at Wake Forest University's Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials are working to create flexible, or " conformal, " organic solar cells that can be wrapped around surfaces, rolled up or even painted onto structures. " Imagine a group of hikers with a tent that, when you unrolled the tent and put it up, could generate its own power," said David Carroll, the center' s director. "Imagine if the [...] Read More


Flexible solar cells for living off the grid Nanotechbuzz

David Carroll, director of the Center for Nanotechnology at Wake forest University in North Carolina, talks to Earth & Sky about living off the grid with flexible solar cells. "You can go to places in the Midwest where people are so far from central power cables that they do have to generate their power. And to a person like that, generating using solar cells like we've developed is a perfectly legitimate [...] Read More


Team to build solar cells from DNA Nanotechbuzz

In every solar cell, light energy is converted to electricity. But even the most advanced solar cells can harness only a small percentage of the available sunlight energy. The majority of the energy is lost and simply escapes as heat. Now, a team of researchers from Arizona State University has received a $1.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to use DNA as scaffolding for solar cells in order to [...] Read More


Konarka Develops Flexible Solar Cells for Windows The Gadgets Weblog

There are probably few people that would install and utilize solar panels if they could. The problem is that they are large, expensive, and complicated. Konarka, a alternative energy company from Massachusetts has developed solar cells that are both flexible and transparent. These cells can be placed in between the panels of windows or vehicles, and then they can passively generate energy from the sun all day long. The idea [...] Read More


Spray on Solar Cells IfEnergy

Spray on sunscreen was the rage when it first came out several decades ago. Today, another spray-on device is set to capture the world and turn the heat from sun into productive use. Scientists have invented a plastic solar cell that is capable of using solar energy which can be sprayed on to any surface. While the concept of plastic solar cells is not new, the method of application (spraying) [...] Read More

NanoBio Corp., based in Ann Arbor, Mich., has been awarded a patent for the technology behind its anti-infection and dermatology drugs.

"We are very pleased with this patent award in that the new claims circumscribe all of NanoBio's anti-infective and dermatological products, as well as our intranasal and intramuscular vaccine adjuvants," says company CEO and founder James R. Baker, Jr., MD.

"The patent, NanoBio's sixth, comes after the firm struck a multimillion-dollar licensing deal with United Kingdom-based pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline to license NanoBio's cold sore treatment still in clinical development," writes AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey.

"The company has several drugs under development, all based on its Nanostat technology platform, which delivers drugs through the skin or nasal passages rather than using needles," writes MedCity News' Brandon Glenn.

The press release is here.

Nanosys has announced an agreement with LG Innotek (LGIT) to use Nanosys' quantum dot phosphors in displays.

"Nanosys' Quantum Rail technology is a solution ready for integration into backlight sub-assemblies without major tooling changes, making it our first choice for our next generation high color gamut displays," says LG Innotek vice president Charlie (Cheol-Kee) Hong.

"[This] indicates we might actually see the release of nanotech-infused displays within the first half of this year as promised," writes Engadget's Vladislav Savov. "The early focus appears to be on mobile phones."

More here from Tech Gadgets ... and the press release is here.