Hot off the press: Nanoscale Gutenberg-style printing
Friday, April 15, 2011 - 12:01
in Physics & Chemistry
(PhysOrg.com) -- When Gutenberg developed the principles of modern book printing, books became available to the masses. Hoping to bring technology capable of mass production to the nanometer scale, Udo Bach and this team of scientists at Monash University and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a nanoprinting process modeled on Gutenbergs printing method. Their goal is the simple, inexpensive production of nanotechnological components for solar cells, biosensors, and other electronic systems. As the researchers report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, their "ink" consists of gold nanoparticles, and the specific bonding between DNA molecules ensures its transfer to the substrate.