Ireland Invests in Industry-Backed Research Centers

ORIGINAL: ScienceMag

by Anthony King

26 February 2013

Sean Sherlock. Credit: The Labour Party

The Irish government announced yesterday an investment of €300 million in seven new research centers. The centers will support key sectors of the Irish economy and be funded over 6 years with €200 million from the government and €100 million from industry partners.

Despite the country's dire economic situation, the program marks Ireland's largest ever government-industry co-funding arrangement. The Irish minister for research and innovation, Sean Sherlock, says that research will deliver jobs and major economic and societal benefits: "Today we are sending out a major positive signal that, despite our status as an E.U./IMF program country, we are still investing smartly and significantly in research talent."

Not everyone is happy about the emphasis on industry-relevant research, however. "The negative side to my mind is how all the money is now allocated in such a tightly focused way by interests outside science. Basic research as I understand the concept is now excluded," says theoretical physicist Mike Peardon of Trinity College Dublin.

The seven centers are in the areas of 

• big data, 
• marine renewable energy, 
• nanotechnology, 
• functional foods, 
• photonics, 
• drug processes, and 
• perinatal translational research. 

They were selected from 35 proposals following an international review process. Mark Ferguson, director general of the funding agency Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), says the projects were first reviewed for scientific excellence by a panel of leading international researchers. The winners were then ranked for potential impact in Ireland by an international panel of leaders from the investment community, R&D experts in industry, and technology transfer people from universities. "This was highly competitive," Ferguson says.

The biggest center will focus on big data. It consolidates five existing SFI research centers but brings onboard more than 40 different industry partners, including Abbott pharmaceuticals, the consulting firm Accenture, sportswear company Adidas, large multinational companies such as Intel and Microsoft, and media companies such as The Irish Times and Storyful. "There is no one big anchor tenant. It's a constellation of different partners," explained Alan Smeaton, a computing professor at Dublin City University who led the big data project submission.

The announcement today follows on from the recommendations of the Report of the Research Prioritisation Steering Group 2012. It recommended that government investment focus on 14 priority areas, such as data analytics, medical devices, food and marine resources, with an emphasis on growing the economy and jobs.

Some are concerned about this focus. "Scientific discovery without potential economic return or job creation potential is therefore not being considered by SFI or the Irish government at the moment," notes physicist Peter Gallagher of Trinity College Dublin, who adds that Ireland remains one of the few European countries not in CERN, the European laboratory for particle physics. "The government sees research exclusively as a fix to improve our economic well-being in the short-term. This might pay off attracting investment in the near future but longer term, Ireland's reputation will suffer," Peardon says.

SFI says the seven centers are not the last word and that this is just the beginning. "Some important areas are not represented, so another call for applications will open toward the end of this year," Ferguson says. "As a small country, we cannot do everything well. We are not a scaled down version of the U.S. or the U.K. We have to be subjective and support a few areas of excellence, while maintaining broader support at much lower levels for other areas because they need to support teaching and so on," Ferguson tells Science.

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Light power for nanobiodevices

ORIGINAL:  Energy Harvesting Journal

Scientists in China have created a laser-driven photovoltaic cell that can produce electrical power for nanobiodevices implanted beneath the skin.

Wireless nanobiodevices, such as nanorobots and cardiac pacemakers, are currently limited in their applications by their requirement for power. Nanogenerators that convert mechanical energy into electrical power have been investigated, but the output power is too low for many medical nanobiodevices, and biofuel cells that use chemical energy to provide power are severely limited by the in vivo environment of the devices.

Photovoltaic cells as a power source have previously been limited by low light conversion efficiencies and their lack of biocompatibility. However, Zhigang Chen of Donghua University, Shanghai, and colleagues have improved the conversion efficiency of their dye-sensitised solar cells such that, even through layers of skin, the laser light produces enough power for such devices.

The team improved the cells' efficiency and biocompatibility by changing two of the cells' components - the rare earth nanophosphor (NaYF4:Yb,Er - the part responsible for converting low energy light to high energy light, known as up-conversion) and the electrolyte. "We improved the nanophosphors' up-converting luminescence properties in a one-step synthesis," says Zhigang. They did this by increasing the amount of ligands on the nanophosphor's surface, which decreased surface defects, and by increasing the reaction time, which led to the formation of nanorods. Both actions improved the luminescence efficiency. They found that the cell was almost twice as efficient as previous nanophosphors formed in two steps.

Many components in photovoltaic cells are not biocompatible. One in particular is the organic liquid electrolyte because it can leak and evaporate. The liquid electrolyte can be replaced by a solid electrolyte, but at a cost of reduction in efficiency. Instead, Zhigang replaced the liquid electrolyte with a succinonitrile-based gel electrolyte. The gel is stable up to 80°C and for long periods of time and enhances the device's biocompatibility.

To test the cell under skin, the team covered the cell in a layer of chicken skin and used a laser intensity that is safe for human exposure (720 mW cm-2). They found that the new cell outputs a maximum power of 22.2µW, "which is efficient enough to power many kinds of in vivo devices", says Zhigang.

Richard Brutchey, an expert in inorganic nanomaterials for photovoltaic applications at the University of Southern California, US, says that the work is "a good step forward toward developing implantable bioelectronics, however, an external power source is still required (ie light)". He says that the next step would be to increase the power output to compete with the peak power of implantable fuel cells and to make the device fully biocompatible.

Source: RSC

Top image: Cosmos Magasine

Development of Inkjet-Printable LC Lasers

ORIGINAL: Sci Tech Daily

by Range

September 24, 2012 

Active laser arrays, of arbitrary pattern, were created by inkjet deposition of self-assembled photonic structures in the form of dye-doped chiral nematic liquid crystals.

Most lasers are made up of silicon wafers using expensive processes, similar to the ones used to make microprocessors. Scientists have designed a new way to print a type of organic laser onto any surface, using technology similar to the one found in many homes.

The scientists published their findings in the journal Soft Matter. The process involved developing lasers based on chiral nematic liquid crystals (LCs), similar to the ones used in flat-panel HDTVs. They are part of a unique class of photonic materials that can be stimulated to produce laser emissions under the right conditions.

If the helix-shaped structure of the LC molecules is properly aligned, it can act as an optically resonant cavity, which is an essential component of any laser. After adding fluorescent dye, the cavity can be optically excited to produce laser light.

Creating LC lasers is a complicated process that needs a cleanroom and involves multiple, intricate production steps. The range of substrates available is limited as well, typically restricted to silicon or glass.

The new process involves printing the LC molecules using a custom inkjet printing system. By printing hundreds of small dots of LC material on a substrate covered with a wet polymer layer, the chemical interaction and mechanical stress causes the LC molecules to align and turns the printed dots into individual lasers as the polymer solution dries.

It’s believed that this process can be adapted for use with existing printing equipment. The process can also be used to print fluorescence tag-based laser arrays, used extensively in biology and medicine.

[via University of Cambridge]