Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and - Center for ...

Richard E. Smalley Institute 

for Nanoscale Science and 

Technology at Rice University

“Nanotechnology 

R&D constitutes 

a core building 

block of innovation 

that will ultimately 

accelerate job 

creation and 

transform many 

sectors of our 

economy through 

commercialization.” 

— John Holdren 

Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, 

Director of the White House Office of Science and 

Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council 

of Advisors on Science and Technology

Rice’s distinctive treerich, 

285-acre campus 

is only a few miles from 

downtown Houston’s many 

cultural and entertainment 

amenities and right across 

the street from the Texas 

Medical Center (TMC), 

home to MD Anderson, 

the nation’s No. 1 cancer 

center, and St. Luke’s, 

one of the top 10 heart 

institutes.

From its inception, Rice University has been dedicated to 

creating unconventional wisdom: preparing outstanding 

students for diverse careers and lives, contributing to the 

advancement of learning across a wide range of research 

and scholarship, and sharing that knowledge and discovery 

with the world. 

Rice’s advantages are its relatively small size, urban location, 

diversity, and environment of interdisciplinary 

and interinstitutional collaboration. The second-smallest 

member of the Association of American Universities, 

Rice is home to a carefully selected body of students, 

staff and faculty: 

• 3,279 undergraduates 

• 2,277 graduate students 

• 1,900 staff 

• 647 full-time faculty 

• 5-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio 

The university’s more than 46,000 alumni offer loyal 

and energetic support that enriches the school in many 

ways, and its board of up to 25 trustees brings an exceptional 

breadth of experience and perspective to their 

responsibilities. 

Rice recruits talented and enterprising students from 

the United States and more than 80 other countries and 

offers them a rigorous and rewarding academic experience 

— complete with opportunities to work side by 

side with some of the country’s top professors and researchers. 

The university has national and international 

reach and seeks to attract the most talented people by 

promoting, celebrating and reaping the benefits of diversity. 

Students are selected on a “need-blind” basis 

and enroll in the schools of architecture, engineering, 

humanities, business, natural sciences, music and social 

sciences, which rank among the highest in their 

disciplines. Additionally, undergraduate and graduate 

students benefit from a variety of institutes and centers, 

including the James A. Baker III Institute for Public 

Policy, a nonpartisan institute that has brought a distinctive 

voice to national policy dialogue. Speakers at the 

institute have included Nelson Mandela, Colin Powell, 

Vladimir Putin, Madeleine Albright and Bill Clinton. 

The student culture at Rice is thick with tradition, largely 

due to its unique residential college system, often cited 

as one of the most rewarding aspects of the university. 

Every student lives in or is associated with one of 11 

colleges, which offer a rich, secure environment where 

they develop as individuals and forge friendships that last 

a lifetime. Each college has developed its own traditions, 

cultural activities, friendly rivalries and character over the 

last 50-plus years. 

In addition to its prestigious degree programs, the 

Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at 

Rice, established in 1967, offers the largest selection of 

noncredit arts and sciences courses in Texas. It is also 

well known for its professional development courses and 

customized courses for businesses. The school has more 

than 11,000 enrollments a year, offering 250 courses in 

arts, humanities, sciences, foreign languages and communications 

skills, and students from 97 countries have 

completed the English as a Second Language program. 

Rice’s distinctive tree-rich, 285-acre campus is only a 

few miles from downtown Houston’s many cultural and 

entertainment amenities and right across the street 

from the Texas Medical Center (TMC), home to MD 

Anderson, the nation’s No. 1 cancer center, and St. 

Luke’s, one of the top 10 heart institutes. In addition 

to having easy access to the country’s best doctors 

and specialists, the medical and business community 

is ripe with possibilities for collaborative projects and 

research for Rice students and faculty members. The 

BioScience Research Collaborative, a 10-story structure 

with custom-designed research labs and state-of-theart 

classrooms, provides scientists and educators from 

Rice and the TMC with an innovative space — adjacent 

to campus and in the heart of the medical center — to 

discover breakthroughs that benefit human health. The 

city’s extensive assets, energy, ideas and technologies 

augment Rice’s own programs, and students benefit 

from Houston’s full array of economic opportunities. 

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment 

to undergraduate education, Rice aspires to 

unconventional wisdom in the form of pathbreaking research, 

unsurpassed teaching and contributions to the 

betterment of our world. 

3

Wade Adams, Ph.D. 

Director 

Vicki Colvin, Ph.D. 

Co-Director 

4 

We lead the world 

in solving humanity’s 

most pressing problems 

through the application 

of nanotechnology. 

The Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology 

is one of the world’s foremost leaders in nanotechnology 

research and application. 

The Smalley Institute actively supports and promotes researchers 

using nanotechnology to tackle civilization’s grand challenges — energy, 

water, environment, disease, education — by providing experienced 

and knowledgeable leadership, a solid administrative framework, worldclass 

scientific infrastructure, and productive community, industry 

and government relations. We lead the world in solving humanity’s 

most pressing problems through the application of nanotechnology 

in our wide base of expertise, including nanotechnology for energy, 

bionanotechnology, aerospace, photonics, nanomaterials, carbon 

nanotubes, fullerenes, graphene, computational nanotechnology, 

nanocomputing, nanotechnology entrepreneurism and nanoeducation. 

Our founder, the late Professor Richard E. Smalley, said it best: 

“The successes of the past decade have prepared us for the next 

leap of human understanding and accomplishment, one even more 

significant in importance to the future of humanity. That is the coupling 

of fundamental understanding of the nanocosm to solving our 

greatest problems today — human health; the availability of widespread, 

affordable and green energy; a clean and stable environment; 

ubiquitous and enabling information; and public policy that focuses 

our limited resources on solutions. Nanotechnology is the underlying 

knowledge base that enables these solutions, and Rice University is 

positioned to lead.” 

For more information, please visit nano.rice.edu.

Smalley Institute Facts 

• First academic nanotechnology center in 

the United States. 

• Largest collection of nano expertise 

in the world with 150 faculty in 16 

departments. 

• Nationally recognized for the innovative 

management of shared equipment essential 

for academic research and corporate 

development. 

• Buckyball discovery in 1985 led to the 

1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and 

spurred a new field of science — fullerene 

chemistry. 

• Faculty serve on several international 

science councils and testify before 

Congress on nano issues. 

• Rice ranked No.1 in the world in materials 

science research by Times Higher 

Education, largely due to the strength of 

nanomaterial research. 

• In 2005, Small Times magazine ranked 

Rice No. 1 in nano commercialization 

and No. 1 in patent portfolio in 

nanotechnology. 

• 209 nano patents granted as of July 

2010 — many others pending. 

• Invention disclosure rate of 0.98 per 

$1 million in research as of 2008. 

• Patent portfolio rated No. 1 in “Industry 

Impact” by The Patent Board in 2008. 

• 20 new companies from Rice nano IP 

since 2001. 

Smalley Institute Centers 

• Center for Biological and Environmental 

Nanotechnology (CBEN) 

cben.rice.edu 

• International Council on Nanotechnology 

(ICON) 

icon.rice.edu 

• Shared Equipment Authority (SEA) 

sea.rice.edu 

• Lockheed Martin Advanced 

Nanotechnology Center of Excellence at 

Rice University (LANCER) 

lancer.rice.edu 

• nanoAlberta Collaborative 

• nano Carbon Center (nC 2 ) 

• National Corrosion Center (NCC) 

nationalcorrosioncenter.org 

Other Rice Nanotechnologyrelated 

Centers and Institutes 

• Laboratory for NanoPhotonics (LANP) 

lanp.rice.edu 

• James A. Baker III Institute for 

Public Policy 

bakerinstitute.org 

• Rice 360 o Institute for Global Health 

Technologies 

rice360.rice.edu 

• Institute of Biosciences and 

Bioengineering 

ibb.rice.edu 

• Rice Alliance for Technology and 

Entrepreneurship 

alliance.rice.edu 

• Value of Information-based Sustainable 

Embedded Nanocomputing (VISEN) 

visen.rice.edu 

• Summer Nanotechnology Study Program 

in Japan (NanoJapan) 

nanojapan.rice.edu 

• Shell Center for Sustainability 

shellcenter.rice.edu 

External Centers With Smalley 

Institute Membership 

• Consortium for Nanomaterials for 

Aerospace Commerce and Technology 

(CONTACT) 

contact.rice.edu 

• Nanotechnology Advancement Center 

(NAC) 

nanoadvancement.org 

• Advanced Energy Consortium (AEC) 

beg.utexas.edu/aec 

• Alliance for NanoHealth (ANH) 

nanohealthalliance.org 

• Texas Nanotechnology Initiative (TNI) 

• Infrastructure Center for Advanced 

Materials (ICAM) 

• Air Force Minority Leaders Program 

5

6 

Faculty and Staff 

Wade Adams 

Director of the Richard E. Smalley Institute for 

Nanoscale Science and Technology 

Director of the nano Carbon Center 

Jack Agee 

Executive Director of the Consortium for Nanomaterials 

for Aerospace Commerce and Technology 

Pulickel Ajayan 

The Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson 

Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials 

Science 

Professor of Chemistry 

Pedro Alvarez 

The George R. Brown Professor 

Department Chair of Civil and Environmental 

Engineering 

Enrique Barrera 

Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials 

Science 

Director of the Infrastructure Center for Advanced 

Materials 

Andrew Barron 

The Charles W. Duncan Jr.-Welch Professor of 

Chemistry 

Professor of Materials Science 

George Bennett 

The E. Dell Butcher Professor of Biochemistry and Cell 

Biology 

Sibani Lisa Biswal 

Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular 

Engineering 

Walter Chapman 

The William W. Akers Professor in Chemical and 

Biomolecular Engineering 

Vicki Colvin 

The Kenneth S. Pitzer-Schlumberger Professor of 

Chemistry 

Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 

Co-Director of the Richard E. Smalley Institute for 

Nanoscale Science and Technology 

Director of the Center for Biological and Environmental 

Nanotechnology 

Robert Curl 

University Professor Emeritus 

The Kenneth S. Pitzer-Schlumberger Professor Emeritus 

of Natural Sciences 

Rebekah Drezek 

Professor of Bioengineering and of Electrical and 

Computer Engineering 

Mauro Ferrari 

Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering 

President of the Alliance for NanoHealth 

Naomi Halas 

The Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and 

Computer Engineering 

Professor of Chemistry, of Biomedical Engineering, and 

of Physics and Astronomy 

Director of the Laboratory for NanoPhotonics 

Robert Hauge 

Distinguished Faculty Fellow in Chemistry 

George Hirasaki 

The A.J. Hartsook Professor in Chemical and 

Biomolecular Engineering 

Kevin Kelly 

Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer 

Engineering 

Tom Killian 

Professor of Physics and Astronomy 

Junichiro Kono 

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and 

of Physics and Astronomy 

Kristen Kulinowski 

Senior Faculty Fellow in Chemistry 

Director of the International Council on 

Nanotechnology 

Jun Lou 

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and 

Materials Science 

Andreas Lüttge 

Professor of Earth Science and of Chemistry 

Director of the National Corrosion Center

John McDevitt 

The Brown-Wiess Professor in Bioengineering and 

Chemistry 

Antonios Mikos 

The Louis Calder Professor in Bioengineering and 

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 

Daniel Mittleman 

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering 

Faculty Director of the Lockheed Martin Advanced 

Nanotechnology Center of Excellence at Rice 

University 

Satish Nagarajaiah 

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and 

of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science 

Doug Natelson 

Professor of Physics and Astronomy and of Electrical 

and Computer Engineering 

Carolyn Nichol 

Lecturer in Chemistry 

Associate Director for Education of the Center for 

Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology 

Krishna Palem 

The Ken and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computer 

Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering 

Director of the Value of Information-based Sustainable 

Embedded Nanocomputing 

Matteo Pasquali 


and of Chemistry 

Emil Peña 

Founder and Executive Director of the National 

Corrosion Center 

Robert Raphael 

Associate Professor of Bioengineering 

Rebecca Richards-Kortum 

The Stanley C. Moore Professor of Bioengineering 

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering 

Yousif Shamoo 

Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology 

Director of the Institute of Biosciences and 

Bioengineering 

Tomasz Tkaczyk 

Assistant Professor of Bioengineering 

Mason Tomson 

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering 

James Tour 

The Chao Professor of Chemistry 

Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials 

Science and of Computer Science 

Robert Vajtai 

Faculty Fellow in Mechanical Engineering and 

Materials Science 

Bruce Weisman 


Jennifer West 

The Isabel C. Cameron Professor 

Department Chair for Bioengineering 


Lon Wilson 


Michael Wong 


and of Chemistry 

Boris Yakobson 

The Karl F. Hasselmann Professor in Mechanical 

Engineering and Materials Science 


Eugene Zubarev 

Associate Professor of Chemistry 

7

8 

What is 

Nanotechnology? 

Before you can understand nanotechnology, you must first understand 

nano. Nano, derived from the Greek word nanos, meaning dwarf, is a 

prefix in the SI measurement system that means 10 -9 , or one billionth. 

Here are a few interesting metrics to put nano in perspective: 

• If you were 1 nanometer tall, the Earth would be the size of a 

green pea. 

• There are 1 billion nanoseconds in one second. There are 

1 billion seconds in 11,574 days (approximately 31 years, 8 

months, 12 days). 

• A grain of table salt weighs approximately 50,000 nanograms. 

Nano is special because materials have different properties at the 

nanometer scale. Here are two examples: 

Color 

Silver particles that are 100 nm appear red in solution, at 50 nm 

appear green and at 40 nm appear blue. 

Number and surface area 

Basketball Basketball Full of Nanoparticles 

• 7055 cc volume • 7055 cc volume 

• 23.8 cm diameter • 25 nm diameter each 

• number = 1 • number = 870 quintrillion (18 zeros) 

• surface area = 0.18 m2 • surface area = 1.7 million m2 (4,063 basketball courts) 

Nanotechnology is the application of scientific knowledge to the 

control and use of matter at the nanoscale, where size-related 

phenomena and processes may occur as defined by the International 

Organization for Standardization (ISO). But the simplest definition was 

given by Smalley Institute Director Wade Adams at the 2009 Ig Nobel 

Prize Ceremony: “Making Small Stuff Do Big Things.”

Health Care 

HEALTH CARE

“Novel materials are being 

developed for ultrasensitive 

identification and 

detection of important 

molecules that change 

in the body when a disease 

strikes. Measuring 

changes in these disease 

markers will enhance our 

ability to understand, diagnose, 

and treat many 

diseases. Other types of 

nanostructures are being 

designed to deliver 

medicines directly to diseased 

or damaged cells 

and tissues in the body 

to accelerate the healing 

process. New diagnostic 

methods and treatments 

are emerging as we learn 

to control the manufacture 

of nanomaterials and their 

actions in the body.” 

—National Institutes of Health 

Innovative Medical Research at the 

Molecular Scale

Center for Biological and 

Environmental Nanotechnology 

(CBEN) 

Vicki Colvin, Director 

cben.rice.edu 

CBEN’s mission is to discover and develop 

nanomaterials that enable new medical 

and environmental technologies. 

The mission is accomplished by the 

following: 

• Fundamental examination of the “wet/ 

dry” interface between nanomaterials, 

complex aqueous systems and ultimately 

our environment. 

• Engineering research that focuses on 

multifunctional nanoparticles that solve 

problems in environmental and biological 

engineering. 

• Educational programs that develop 

teachers, students and citizens who are 

well informed and enthusiastic about 

nanotechnology. 

• Innovative knowledge transfer that 

recognizes the importance of communicating 

nanotechnology research to the 

media, policymakers and the general 

public. 

Institute of Biosciences and 

Bioengineering (IBB) 

Yousif Shamoo, Director 

http://ibb.rice.edu 

The mission of the institute is to promote 

cross-disciplinary research and education 

encompassing the biological, chemical and 

engineering disciplines. IBB represents a 

unique educational environment in which 

to prepare students to meet the complex 

scientific, technological and ethical challenges 

we face in the 21st century. 

Alliance for NanoHealth (ANH) 

Mauro Ferrari, President 

nanohealthalliance.org 

The ANH is the first multidisciplinary, 

multi-institutional collaborative research 

endeavor aimed solely at using nanotechnology 

to bridge the gaps between 

medicine, biology, materials science, 

computer technology and public policy to 

develop solutions to unresolved problems 

in medicine. Its principal goal is to provide 

new clinical approaches to saving lives 

through better diagnosis, treatment and 

prevention. 

Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) 

Naomi Halas, Director 

lanp.rice.edu 

LANP has a multidisciplinary approach to 

developing innovative new nanoparticlebased, 

molecular-specific approaches to 

breast cancer detection and treatment. 

Projects pursued are based on the use of 

nanoshells, which have the potential to 

radically transform how breast cancer is 

detected, diagnosed and treated. Rather 

than incremental advances to current 

technology, LANP pursues an exciting new 

approach to breast cancer detection and 

treatment that offers specific advantages 

relative to the current standard of care. 

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Jennifer West 

Naomi Halas 

Eugene Zubarev 

12 

Cancer 

Professors Jennifer West and Naomi Halas 

investigate the therapeutic applications of 

gold nanoshells, nanoparticles with tunable 

optical properties. Nanoshells can 

be designed to strongly absorb or scatter 

light in the near infrared where tissue 

and blood are relatively transparent. In a 

cancer therapy application, nanoshells are 

designed to absorb light and convert the 

energy to heat for tumor destruction. By 

conjugating antibodies or peptides to the 

nanoshell surfaces, binding of nanoshells 

can be targeted to cancerous cells, and 

subsequent exposure to near infrared light 

results in specific and localized destruction 

of the cancerous cells. 

Associate Professor Eugene Zubarev’s 

laboratory researchers concentrated delivery 

of traditional chemotherapeutics by 

nanoparticle delivery. Paclitaxel is very 

effective at slowing the growth of tumors 

in some patients by slowing down cell replication. 

However, paclitaxel as a general 

inhibitor of cell division can affect healthy 

cells that tend to divide rapidly, leading 

to hair loss and suppressed immune 

function. Zubarev’s new delivery system 

centers on a tiny ball of gold that’s barely 

wider than a strand of DNA. The paclitaxel 

is tethered to the gold nanoparticle so that 

the specific region of the drug binds with 

microtubules. This region of the drug fits 

neatly into the cell’s support structure, 

like a chemical ”key” fitting into a lock. A 

single gold nanoparticle can hold up to 70 

paclitaxel molecules.

Oral cancer afflicts more than 300,000 

people a year, including 35,000 in the 

United States alone. The five-year survival 

rate is 60 percent, but if oral cancer is detected 

early, that rate rises to 90 percent. 

Professor John McDevitt and his team are 

working to create an inexpensive chip that 

can differentiate premalignancies from the 

95 percent of lesions that will not become 

cancerous. The minimally invasive technique 

would deliver results in 15 minutes 

instead of several days, as lab-based diagnostics 

do now. Instead of an invasive, 

painful biopsy, the new procedure requires 

just a light brush of the lesion on the 

cheek or tongue with an instrument that 

looks like a toothbrush. 

Professor Lon Wilson’s research group, 

in collaboration with The University of 

Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is 

investigating the use of nanoparticle and 

nanotubes for radiofrequency (RF) induced 

thermal ablation of cancerous cells and 

tumors. When carbon nanotubes and gold 

nanorods are bombarded with radio waves 

of a specific frequency, the RF energy 

is converted to heat, which “cooks’‘ the 

cancerous cells. RF ablation is of particular 

interest because the tissue penetration 

depth is significantly greater than near-infrared 

light, paving the way for noninvasive 

bone cancer treatment. 

Professor Rebecca Richards-Kortum 

focuses on translating research that integrates 

advances in nanotechnology and 

molecular imaging with microfabrication 

technologies to develop optical imaging 

systems that are inexpensive and provide 

point-of-care diagnosis. When used 

with contrast agents, these rugged and 

portable optical imaging systems detect 

molecular signatures of precancer, assess 

tumor margins and monitor a patient’s 

response to therapy. Over the past few 

years, Richards-Kortum and collaborators 

have translated these technologies from 

North America to both low- and mediumresource 

developing countries (Botswana, 

India, Taiwan, Mexico and Brazil). 

John McDevitt 

Lon Wilson 


13

John McDevitt 

Tomasz Tkaczyk 


Lon Wilson 

14 

Diagnostics 

Professor McDevitt has developed lab-ona-chip 

technology to diagnose and treat patients 

with HIV/AIDS by determining their 

CD4 cell levels quickly at the point of care. 

The chip technology replaces a $50,000 

dishwasher-sized instrument with a toaster-sized 

device that costs about the same 

as a digital camera. When CD4 cell testing 

is done regularly and used to determine 

the appropriate therapy, life expectancy in 

HIV/AIDS patients can increase by up to 

300 percent. 

McDevitt and his team of researchers at 

Rice’s BioScience Research Collaborative 

are also using the lab-on-a-chip technology 

to process saliva, yielding on-the-spot 

results for heart attack and oral cancer 

screening. The nano-bio-chip is currently 

being employed at the Michael E. 

DeBakey VA Medical Center to test for 

heart attack patients. Chest pain brings 

about 5 million patients to U.S. emergency 

rooms each year, but 80 percent of those 

patients are not suffering heart attacks. 

The saliva screening for heart attacks will 

save lives, time and money by allowing 

doctors to identify those suffering from a 

heart attack before administering a battery 

of costly tests. 

Assistant Professor Tomasz Tkaczyk and 

Professor Richards-Kortum are also developing 

lab-on-a-chip technologies to detect 

viral load. These sensors are battery powered, 

fit on top of a penny and can reduce 

the cost of equipment to between $10 

and $100. These technologies hold promise 

for meeting the challenge of diagnosing 

HIV-infected babies, who require very 

expensive tests different from those used 

on adults. Specialized HIV tests for infants 

have the potential to save the lives of 

more than 275,000 children each year. 

Professor Wilson specializes in the medical 

applications of fullerenes and ultrashort 

carbon nanotubes. When filled with traditional 

contrast elements like gadolinium 

ions, iron oxide or iodine, the resultant 

nano-contrast agent provides as much as 

40 times more contrast in MRI and X-ray 

imaging. The increased contrast provides a 

mechanism to detect smaller tumors earlier, 

thereby decreasing mortality rates.

Tissue Engineering 

Professor Antonios Mikos emphasizes 

the use of synthetic biodegradable polymers 

as supportive scaffolds for cells, 

conduits for guided tissue growth, specific 

substrates for targeted cell adhesion or 

stimulants for a desired cellular response. 

In recent years, his laboratory has been 

involved in collaborative projects with the 

Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative 

Medicine to develop novel tissue-engineering 

strategies to treat wounded 

military personnel and to accelerate the 

translation of regenerative medical technologies 

from the laboratory bench to the 

clinic. 

Professor Wilson and collaborators at the 

Texas Heart Institute are using gadoliniumfilled 

nanotubes to ‘tag’ stem cells for 

cardiovascular regenerative medicine. The 

gadonanotube is used to magnetically 

manipulate stem cells and image accumulation 

via MRI. The gadolinium being 

encased inside nanotubes eliminates the 

metal’s toxicity and produces approximately 

40 times higher MRI signals. 

Associate Professor Robert Raphael and 

Professor Tom Killian have developed a 

process that uses magnetic nanoparticles 

to levitate cells while they divide 

and grow. Levitation allows cells to grow 

into 3-D microtissue structures. More 

closely simulating tissue in the lab enhances 

research into drug discovery, stem 

cell biology, regenerative medicine and 

biotechnology. 

Antonios Mikos 

Robert Raphael 

Tom Killian 

15


Rebekah Drezek 

Sibani Lisa Biswal 

16 

World Health 

Professor Richards-Kortum focuses on 

translating research that integrates advances 

in nanotechnology and molecular 

imaging with microfabrication technologies 

to develop optical imaging systems 

that are inexpensive and provide point-ofcare 

diagnosis. When used with contrast 

agents, these rugged and portable optical 

imaging systems detect molecular signatures 

of precancer, assess tumor margins 

and monitor a patient’s response to therapy. 

Over the past few years, Richards- 

Kortum and collaborators have translated 

these technologies from North America to 

both low- and medium-resource developing 

countries (Botswana, India, Taiwan, 

Mexico and Brazil). 

Professor Rebekah Drezek conducts basic, 

applied and translational research at 

the interface of photonics, medicine and 

nanotechnology toward the development of 

cost-effective, optically based strategies for 

screening, diagnosis and monitoring of cancer 

with particular emphasis on novel technologies 

to improve women’s health care. 

Recently Drezek was awarded a grant to 

combine the advantages of immunotherapy 

and light-activated photothermal therapy in 

the detection and treatment of cancer. 

Assistant Professor Sibani Lisa Biswal is 

working with MD Anderson Cancer Center 

researchers to improve disease screening 

in patients through a new technology of 

programmable nanodroplet chemistry. This 

sensor technology detects the way proteins 

are folded to assess disease states. 

Using nanotechnology and microfluidics, 

this sensor offers a cost-effective way to 

test for a variety of variables quickly and 

efficiently.

Defense 

DEFENSE

“Scientific breakthroughs 

and advances in the last 

ten years demonstrate 

the potential for nanotechnology 

to impact a 

tremendous number of 

key capabilities for future 

war fighting: chemical 

and biological warfare defense; 

high performance 

materials for platforms 

and weapons; unprecedented 

information 

technology; revolutionary 

energy and energetic materials; 

and uninhabited 

vehicles and miniature 

satellites.” 

—Defense Nanotechnology Research 

and Development Program report, 2007

Consortium for Nanomaterials 

for Aerospace Commerce and 

Technology (CONTACT) 

Jack Agee, Executive Director 

contact.rice.edu 

CONTACT is a cooperative research program 

of seven universities in Texas and 

the Air Force Research Laboratory. The 

program takes advantage of the strengths 

and resources of each institution under 

the guidance of the Air Force to facilitate 

commercialization of nanomaterial solutions 

for the defense aerospace industry. 

CONTACT brings together Rice University, 

the University of Houston, the U.S. Air Force 

Research Laboratory and the University 

of Texas at Austin, Arlington, Dallas, Pan 

American and Brownsville. 

Value of Information-based 

Sustainable Embedded 

Nanocomputing (VISEN) 

Krishna Palem, Director 

visen.rice.edu 

VISEN tackles the emerging hurdles to 

Moore’s law for nanoscale embedded 

nanocomputing through innovations across 

computer science, electrical engineering, 

probability and neurobiology. Increasingly, 

electronics and computing devices are used 

in contexts where human perception is the 

primary interface to the (embedded) computing 

engine — cell phones, bioprosthetics, 

sensors, signal processing and search 

technologies are a few examples. The center’s 

guiding philosophy is to take advantage 

of the limitations in our ability to perceive 

quality of information from a computer and, 

when we do perceive it, our willingness to 

tolerate it if in return we are able to have 

access to devices with much lower cost, 

energy consumption and heat dissipation 

and an ability to cope with fluctuations in the 

quality of the transistors. 

Lockheed Martin Advanced 

Nanotechnology Center of Excellence 

at Rice University (LANCER) 

Daniel Mittleman, Faculty Director 

lancer.rice.edu 

Lockheed Martin launched LANCER in April 

2008 as a unique nanotechnology research 

program to explore new technologies for 

materials, electronics, energy, security and 

defense. LANCER works in two main parts: 

education and technical advocacy and applied 

research. In the former, Rice faculty teach 

nanotechnology courses of various types 

to Lockheed Martin engineers and managers. 

The research process involves finding 

topics of long- and medium-term interest 

to Lockheed Martin that are also areas of 

basic-research interest and expertise at Rice. 

Lockheed Martin recognizes the critical importance 

of nanotechnology to its current 

and future business portfolio. 

LANCER concentrates on materials and composites, 

including ultralightweight, superstrong 

materials that can have significant implications 

for people, systems, vehicles and aerospace 

platforms. Direct benefits include reduced 

transportation and logistics costs through energy 

savings and efficiencies, longevity, and 

enhanced personal protection for military and 

first responder applications. Additional areas of 

research will include supersensitive detectors 

with space-based applications, fast communications 

systems, and greatly improved devices 

for energy generation and storage. 

nano Carbon Center (nC 2 ) 

Wade Adams, Director 

nC 2 , formerly Carbon Nanotechnology 

Laboratory (CNL), provides a nucleus of ideas, 

talent and expertise that feeds many of Rice 

University’s top carbon nanotechnology research 

groups. Additionally, nC 2 aims to enhance the 

global visibility of carbon nanotechnology research 

and to foster the growing carbon nanotechnology 

community at Rice University. 

The high-pressure carbon monoxide (HiPco) 

nanotube production laboratory is part of nC 2 . 

The HiPco lab began as part of a cooperative 

agreement with NASA for Advanced 

Nanotechnology Materials and Applications. 

Now 15 years old, the HiPco lab is the test 

bed for nanomanufacturing efforts in carbon 

nanotube synthesis. 

19


Daniel Mittleman 


20 

Defense 

Professor Junichiro Kono investigates 

semiconductor nanostructures and quantum 

device structures to develop hightemperature 

infrared sensors. Infrared 

sensors are used in thermal imaging. 

For high-definition thermal imaging, the 

sensors have to be cryogenically cooled. 

Kono’s sensor technology increases the 

implementation possibilities to include military 

vehicles and satellites where power 

and space are minimal. 

Kono also discovered a tunable material 

that can either transmit or block terahertz 

(THz) signals. THz signals are being investigated 

for use in high-altitude communications 

like aircraft to satellite and satellite to 

satellite as well as security screening and 

surveillance since THz penetrate fabrics 

and plastics. Kono’s group is developing 

similar materials with wider effective-temperature 

ranges. 

Professor Mittleman’s laboratory focuses 

on THz technologies. THz sensing techniques 

have been identified as a promising 

new technology platform for a variety of 

tasks, including environmental monitoring 

and chemical/biological weapons detection. 

Air Force applications requiring the 

detection of a single molecule of high 

explosive or chemical compound include 

improvised explosive device detection; 

reconnaissance; and chemical, biological 

or radiological agent detection and 

identification. 

Professor Enrique Barrera’s research group 

studies hypervelocity impact properties 

of nanocomposites. Hypervelocity, more 

than 6,700 mph, can drastically change a 

material’s behavior, especially under impact 

where metals can behave like fluids. 

Nanocomposites are of particular interest 

because nanoparticle incorporation 

increases the tailorable variables in materials 

engineering. Hypervelocity impacts 

are of particular interest in systems and 

products like the space shuttle, missiles, 

and vehicle and personal armor.

Aerospace 

While investigating carbon nanotube 

synthesis, Distinguished Faculty Fellow 

Robert Hauge created a novel integrated 

carbon structure by growing carbon nanotubes 

on carbon fibers, like a hair brush 

with bristles. Integrating carbon nanotubes 

and fibers allows engineers to take advantage 

of nanotube properties and wellknown 

carbon fiber integration technology. 

One aerospace application of interest is 

ultrastrong and lightning-resistant versions 

of carbon-fiber composite materials found 

in airplanes. 

Assistant Professor Jun Lou’s laboratory 

examines nanocomposites that incorporate 

carbon nanotubes. To achieve the 

superior performance these composite 

materials promise, the polymer matrix and 

nanotube additive must interface strongly. 

Lou’s researchers study matrix-nanotube 

interface properties like load transfer, adhesion, 

debonding and friction. Improved 

nanotube composites are of particular 

interest to materials engineers for applications 

in airplane fabrication, retrievable 

satellite launch vehicles and reusable 

spacecraft. 

Professor James Tour’s group investigates 

carbon nanotube composites. During 

this project funded by NASA, and cognizant 

of the need for new processes to 

repair spacecraft before they re-enter the 

earth’s atmosphere, Tour blended carbon 

nanotubes into elastomers that are typically 

used for heat shield materials on the 

space shuttle. When carbon nanotubes 

are exposed to microwave radiation, they 

produce tremendous amounts of localized 

heat. For this application, the nanotube/ 

elastomer composite cures quickly, making 

possible in-space repair to shuttle components 

like the heat shield. 

Professor Barrera’s nanocomposite research 

extends to smart composites to 

morph and self-heal. For this, Barrera’s 

group investigates the incorporation of 

functionalized carbon nanotubes, which 

have been shown to actuate under electrical 

stimulus. Aerospace applications 

include airplane wings and bodies that can 

morph to optimize maneuverability, speed 

and fuel efficiency while in flight. 

Robert Hauge 

Jun Lou 

James Tour 

21


James Tour 

Robert Vajtai 


22 

Radiation Shielding 

Professor Barrera examines the radiation 

shielding properties of various nanocomposites. 

Radiation shielding is critically 

important for space exploration vehicles 

and personal protective equipment for first 

responders and military personnel. 

Professor Tour investigates nanoparticles 

for in vivo radiation protection. By loading 

a carbon nanotube with known radio-protectants, 

more medicine can be delivered 

to cells. Some nanoradio-protectants 

have been shown to reverse the cellular 

damage caused by radiation. This technology 

is important for first responders and 

military personnel, as well as long-duration 

space flight. 

Electronics and Wiring 

Electronics and copper wire account for 

approximately 15 percent of an aircraft’s 

weight. Employing nanoelectronics and 

the armchair quantum wire (Page 26) 

could reduce aircraft weight by 5–10 percent, 

thereby increasing maneuverability, 

fuel efficiency and payload capacity. 

Faculty Fellow Robert Vajtai discovered 

that thin films of nanotubes created with 

ink-jet printers offer a new way to make 

field-effect transistors (FETs), the basic 

element in integrated circuits. Vajtai has 

reported that circuits can scale down to 

about 100 microns — about the width of 

a human hair — with a channel length of 

about 35 microns — the size of the print 

head. Nanotube-based FETs will be good 

for logic-based applications that can be 

printed on a flexible surface but don’t need 

a large number of circuits. 

Professor Boris Yakobson discovered 

that acoustic waves traveling along ribbons 

of graphene might be just the ticket 

for removing heat from nano electronic 

devices. The power density of current 

microelectronics would, on a macro scale, 

be enough to heat a teapot to boiling in 

seconds, so it’s becoming increasingly 

important to remove heat from sensitive 

instruments and release it to the air in a 

hurry. Finding a way to deal with transmitting 

heat away from ever-smaller devices 

is critical to sustaining Moore’s Law, which 

accurately predicted (so far) that the number 

of transistors that could be placed on 

an integrated circuit would double about 

every two years.

Infrastructure 

INFRASTRUCTURE

”Infrastructure has a direct 

impact on our personal 

and economic health, 

and the infrastructure 

crisis is endangering our 

nation’s future prosperity. 

… It will take government 

and industry leadership, 

sound technology, wise 

community planning, and 

involved citizens to make 

real changes.” 

—D. Wayne Klotz 

Past President of the American 

Society of Civil Engineers

National Corrosion Center (NCC) 

Andreas Lüttge, Director 

Emil Pena, Executive Director 

nationalcorrosioncenter.org 

Rice University established the NCC to 

provide researchers with the opportunity 

to develop better technology for preventing 

corrosion — a problem that is estimated 

to cost $276 billion a year in the 

U.S. NCC leaders are working closely 

with NACE International, an association 

of more than 20,000 scientists, engineers 

and technicians around the world who are 

involved in virtually every industry and aspect 

of corrosion prevention and control. 

One of the largest strategic partnerships 

is with Panama through its technology 

institute, the City of Knowledge, which 

will include corrosion mitigation for major 

construction projects. 

Infrastructure Center for Advanced 

Materials (ICAM) 

Enrique Barrera, Director 

ICAM is a multicollaborative center enabling 

near-term use of nanomaterials and 

multifunctional capabilities that nanotechnology 

offers. ICAM is partnered with the 

Air Force Research Laboratory and the 

University of Houston to develop and accelerate 

the production and scale-up of 

nanomaterials and nanocomposites into 

the transportation (land, air and sea) arena. 

Areas of research include: 

• Nanocomposites for repair and retrofit 

• Health monitoring 

• Self-sensing heat management (thermal 

management) 

• Energy harvesting and production 

• Advanced battery devices 

• Noise reduction (damping) 

• Deicing 

• Advanced modeling 

Transportation Infrastructure 

Professor Barrera’s group investigates dispersing 

carbon nanotubes in ceramics, including 

cements and concretes. Nanotube 

integration enhances mechanical strength 

and adds a thermal management aspect. 

Additionally, carbon nanotubes in pavement 

may allow for conversion of the 

mechanical and thermal energy created by 

driving into electrical energy. 

Professor Satish Nagarajaiah and 

Professor Pulickel Ajayan collaborate to 

develop a nanocomposite material for 

strain sensing. They have investigated carbon 

nanotube and zinc oxide composites. 

The technology could be further developed 

into a built-in sensor to detect building or 

bridge strain in real time. 

Construction Materials 

Professor Pedro Alvarez, along with two 

co-authors, recently conducted a review 

of nanomaterials for construction materials 

and noted that construction will be the 

third-greatest industry impacted by nanomaterials, 

after biomedical and electronics 

applications. For example, nanomaterials 

can strengthen both steel and concrete, 

keep dirt from sticking to windows, kill 

bacteria on hospital walls, make materials 

fire-resistant, drastically improve the efficiency 

of solar panels, boost the efficiency 

of indoor lighting, and even allow bridges 

and buildings to “feel” the cracks, corrosion 

and stress that will eventually cause 

structural failures. As an environmental 

engineer, Alvarez is continuing to investigate 

the responsible lifecycle engineering 

of man-made nanoparticles, including environmental 

impact. 

Professor James Tour is incorporating 

graphite oxide into several materials to 

impart flame retardance. While the research 

is primarily aimed at increasing 

survivability in aircraft crashes, the applications 

extend to construction materials, 

especially for flame and smoke retardation 

in high-rise buildings. 


Satish Nagarajaiah 


Pedro Alvarez 

James Tour 

25

Matteo Pasquali 



26 

The Grid • Armchair Quantum Wire 

Transport energy as electricity over wires rather than as mass (coal, oil, gas) 

The Smalley Institute at Rice University has a major effort underway 

toward developing a lightweight, highly conductive electric wire with 

high tensile strength called the armchair quantum wire (AQW). Today’s 

electric power grid connects gigawatt-scale power plants to population 

centers over an average distance of 100 miles, and about 10 percent of 

the power is lost in transmission. Future grid scenarios based on renewable 

energy sources will have to transmit greater amounts of power 

over distances of approximately 1,000 miles. Current grid technology 

will lose most of that power to heat, so at least a ten-times better transmission 

technology will be required. A solution is the AQW — a cable of 

pure armchair carbon nanotubes. Several professors at Rice University 

are contributing to different parts of the AQW development.

Professor Matteo Pasquali’s research 

group spins carbon nanotube fibers using 

techniques similar to those used for spinning 

Kevlar. The fibers spun by Pasquali’s 

group also have advanced materials applications 

in the aerospace, energy and 

construction sectors. 

Professors Junichiro Kono and Bruce 

Weisman are leading the way with carbon 

nanotube separation. Currently carbon 

nanotube production methods produce 

several varieties of nanotubes. For this 

particular application, as well as many 

others, a single type of carbon nanotube 

is needed. The Kono and Weisman labs 

recently produced two publications on a 

separation process that isolates individual 

types of nanotubes. Of particular interest 

for this application are the armchair 

nanotubes. This work will pave the way for 

a moderate-scale armchair quantum wire 

prototype. 

Professor Ajayan and Distinguished 

Faculty Fellow Robert Hauge are developing 

“carpet growth” methods for producing 

large quantities of single-wall carbon 

nanotubes with controlled lengths for use 

in the quantum wire and other applications. 

Although the specific types of tubes 

cannot yet be controlled, having longer 

tubes (up to centimeters long) will help in 

making higher strength fibers. 

Professors Andrew Barron, Michael Wong 

and Vicki Colvin are developing methods 

of precise catalyst size and shape control, 

along with combinations of metal compositions, 

to study the control of nanotube 

diameter and type in the nucleation and 

growth of single-wall carbon nanotubes. 

This is the alternative method to type 

separation in Kono’s group. 

The entire project, under the direction of 

the Smalley Institute Director Wade Adams, 

is seeking a proof of concept demonstration 

for the AQW, where a microfibril of 

nearly 100 percent armchair-type nanotubes 

will be tested for its electrical conductivity 

and current-carrying capacity compared to 

the commonly used conductors of today’s 

grid — copper and aluminum. 

Robert Hauge 

Andrew Barron 

Michael Wong 

Vicki Colvin 

Wade Adams 

Bruce Weisman 

27

Vicki Colvin 

Mason Tomson 

Pedro Alvarez 


James Tour 

28 

Water 

Professors Colvin, Mason Tomson and 

Alvarez have developed a process for 

water disinfection and arsenic removal 

using nanoparticles that can be magnetically 

separated. This technology does not 

require expensive infrastructure; it can be 

used in family kitchens for less than pennies 

per gram. It holds great promise for 

preventing disease and improving health 

around the world. A technology field test 

has been implemented in Guanajuato, 

Mexico. 

Corrosion 

Professor Lüttge’s research focuses on the 

chemical processes, primarily corrosion, 

that occur on the surfaces of minerals, 

rocks, metals and glasses. The most costly 

and common form of corrosion is rust. 

Every bridge, dam or building that contains 

iron or steel is potentially subject to 

damage from corrosion. Recently, Lüttge 

developed an interferometer technology 

coupled with advanced software that can 

quickly and easily measure corrosion at 

the atomic scale. Ultimately, this technology 

sets the stage for the discovery of 

new corrosion prevention and mitigation 

technologies. 

Professor Tour has developed a series of 

spray-on coatings for lubrication and corrosion 

protection of steel. These products 

have applications for oil production and 

refining, diverse marine applications, 

machined parts, electronics, chemical 

and petrochemical manufacture, cooling 

water systems, pipelines, power stations, 

transportation, and building and bridge 

infrastructure.

Energy 

ENERGY

“So, another myth is that 

we have all the technology 

we need to solve 

the energy problem, it’s 

only a matter of political 

will. I think political will is 

absolutely necessary ... 

but we need new technologies 

to transform the 

[energy] landscape.” 

—Steven Chu 

U.S. Secretary of Energy

Advanced Energy Consortium (AEC) 

The AEC’s primary goal is to develop 

intelligent subsurface micro and nanosensors 

that can be injected into oil and gas 

reservoirs to help characterize the space 

in three dimensions and improve the recovery 

of existing and new hydrocarbon 

resources. By leveraging existing surface 

infrastructure, the technology will minimize 

environmental impact. The consortium 

also believes that there is near-term 

potential to increase the recovery rate in 

existing reservoirs by exploiting the unique 

chemical and physical properties of materials 

at the nanoscale. 

James A. Baker III Institute for 

Public Policy Energy Forum 

Rather than focus exclusively on either the 

theory or practice of energy policy, Energy 

Forum research synthesizes both by drawing 

together experts from academia, the 

energy industry, government, the media 

and nongovernmental organizations. To 

develop its energy policy analysis and 

recommendations, the Energy Forum 

draws on Rice University’s interdisciplinary 

expertise in environmental engineering, 

energy sustainability, economics, political 

science, geology, nanotechnology, architecture, 

sociology, anthropology and religious 

studies. 

nanoAlberta Collaborative 

The nanoAlberta Collaborative addresses 

issues surrounding the production of 

petrochemicals from Alberta’s oil sands, 

one of the world’s largest reserves of recoverable 

oil. The collaboration integrates 

academic, government and industry scientists 

to find nano solutions for efficient and 

clean oil sands recovery. 

Conventional Carbon-Based Energy 

Oil and Natural Gas 

Professor James Tour’s lab works with M-I 

SWACO’s researchers to optimize the effectiveness 

of graphene additives to drilling 

fluids, also known as muds. Water- or 

oil-based muds are typically forced downhole 

through drill pipe to keep the drillhead 

clean and to remove cuttings as the fluid 

streams back up toward the surface, but 

the fluids themselves can clog pores in 

the shaft through which oil should flow. 

The nanoscale graphene additive, just a 

small amount per barrel, would be forced 

by the fluid’s own pressure to form a thin 

filter cake on the shaft wall thereby preventing 

mud from clogging the pores. 

Tour, in collaboration with Professor 

Michael Wong and Professor Mason 

Tomson, is also developing a nanoreporter 

for downhole sensing of the chemical 

and physical environment throughout an 

oil reservoir. The nanoreporter is a carbon 

nanostructure with several functional 

groups to report on individual attributes 

like oil content, temperature and pressure. 

Professor Andrew Barron develops smart 

proppant technologies. In a project funded 

by the AEC, Barron incorporates novel 

paramagnetic nanoparticles into proppant 

structures. This smart proppant could revolutionize 

current oil field injection projects 

by giving reservoir engineers the ability to 

map the fracture efficacy using detectable 

contrast agents. 

James Tour 

Michael Wong 

Mason Tomson 

Andrew Barron 

31

George Hirasaki 

Walter Chapman 

Andrew Barron 

George Bennett 

32 

Unconventional Carbon-Based Energy 

Oil Sands, Gas Hydrates, Shale and 

Biofuels 

Professor George Hirasaki is investigating 

effectively separating nanodroplets of oil 

from bitumen solids through an Alberta 

Collaborative grant. The surfactant and 

polymer-based micelles Hirasaki’s lab 

investigates for enhanced oil recovery 

are also applicable in enhanced oil sands 

recovery. The surfactants wet the bitumen 

solids and aggregate the oil nanodroplets 

for harvesting. 

Professor Walter Chapman models the 

decomposition and formation of gas 

hydrates, self-assembled nanostructure 

cages that encapsulate gas molecules. 

The amount of carbon in gas hydrates 

is estimated to be more than twice the 

amount of carbon in all other fossil fuel 

deposits. Chapman’s group combines 

nuclear magnetic resonance and molecular 

simulation with phase equilibria and 

kinetic studies to provide needed thermodynamic, 

transport and kinetic data for 

hydrate decomposition. 

Professor Barron has developed a series of 

nano-enhanced proppants. The proppant’s 

decreased weight and higher strength 

increase the effective fracture length, enhance 

control over created fracture geometry 

and reduce the environmental impact 

of hydraulic fracturing. Modeling suggests 

the nano-enhanced proppants could increase 

initial production by 50 percent and 

shallow production decline by 15 percent. 

The hollow silica proppant lends itself to 

incorporation of sensor technologies for 

smart proppants, currently under development 

in Barron’s laboratory. 

Professor George Bennett’s laboratory focuses 

on genetic engineering of metabolic 

pathways of microbes for production of 

biofuels and chemicals. Their metabolic 

engineering yields a “cellular refinery” approach 

of producing multiple compatible 

products during a process. Bennett is investigating 

genetic alterations in metabolic 

pathways of bacteria to produce butanol 

and ethanol.

Solar Energy 

Professor Wong’s laboratory investigates 

novel quantum dot structures and applications. 

For solar panels, Wong has focused 

on CdSe tetrapods. Tetrapods, four-legged 

quantum dots, are many times more efficient 

at converting sunlight into electricity 

than regular quantum dots. Wong’s students 

developed a green, scalable synthesis 

route that can make tetrapod quantum 

dots commercially viable for solar panel 

production. Wong’s technology is licensed 

by a startup company. 

Professor Naomi Halas’ research group is 

developing gold nanocups for solar cells. 

The nanocup ensembles focus light in a 

specific direction no matter where the 

incident light is coming from. The nanocup 

technology could lead to a solar panel that 

doesn’t have to track the sun. Instead, it 

focuses light into a beam that’s always on 

target, thereby saving a significant amount 

of money on machinery. 

Professor Barron developed a new technique 

for making solar cells economically 

viable by replacing thermal oxide growth 

with liquid phase deposition (LPD). LPD 

is a more efficient and milder process for 

depositing the silica layer on solar panels. 

Additionally, LPD enables the incorporation 

of silicon quantum dots to enhance 

the overall efficiency. Barron’s technology 

is licensed to a startup company. 

Michael Wong 

Naomi Halas 

33


James Tour 


34 

The Grid • Armchair Quantum Wire 

Transport energy as electricity over wires 

rather than as mass (coal, oil, gas) 

(see Page 26) 

Energy Storage 

Fuel Cells, Batteries, Hydrogen Storage 

Professor Pulickel Ajayan investigates 

nanomaterials for energy generation and 

storage. Ajayan’s research group is particularly 

interested in carbon nanotube 

and nanocomposites in supercapacitors, 

batteries and their hybrids. Of particular 

note, coaxial carbon-nanotube/metal-oxide 

arrays were synthesized as an electrode 

material to enhance lithium-ion battery 

lifetime and capacity. Additionally, this 

technology could prove beneficial for supercapacitors 

and fuel cells. 

Professor Tour’s laboratory is exploring 

carbon nanostructures for hydrogen storage. 

One nanostructure being investigated 

is a cross-linked carbon nanotube fiber. 

Because of the fiber’s density, it adsorbs 

twice as much hydrogen than typical 

macroporous carbon materials per unit of 

surface area. 

Professor Boris Yakobson’s computational 

research recently detailed why graphene 

may be a viable carrier for hydrogen-based 

energy systems of the future, as small 

variations in temperature and pressure 

can effectively control the capture and 

release of hydrogen atoms. Graphene is 

the individual layers that make up graphite 

— pencil lead.

Other Applications 

OTHER APPLICATIONS

“Long term, nanotech can 

be as significant as the 

steam engine, the transistor 

and the Internet. 

There is a critical role for 

government in areas of 

science and technology 

that are risky, long term 

and initially difficult to 

justify to shareholders.” 

—Tom Kalil 

Deputy Director for Policy 

White House Office of Science 

and Technology Policy

Advanced Materials for Consumer 

Products 

Professor Pulickel Ajayan develops advanced 

materials that integrate carbon 

nanotubes. Consumer product applications 

include brush contact pads made of 

carbon nanotubes. Nanotube brushes have 

10 times less resistance than do the carbon-copper 

composite brushes commonly 

used today. Brush contacts are an integral 

part of commutators, or spinning electrical 

switches used in many battery-powered 

electrical devices, such as cordless drills. 

Additional applications include brushes 

for electrical motors in turbines, airplanes, 

drills, electric cars and conveyor belts. 

Professor James Tour’s research has 

yielded a printable carbon nanotube-based 

radiofrequency identification (RFID) tag. 

This inexpensive, printable transmitter 

can be invisibly embedded in packaging. It 

would allow a customer to walk a cart full 

of groceries or other goods past a scanner 

on the way to the car. The scanner 

would read all items in the cart at once, 

total them up and charge the customer’s 

account while adjusting the store’s inventory. 

More advanced versions could collect 

all the information about the contents of a 

store in an instant, letting a retailer know 

where every package is at any time. Tour’s 

collaborators are developing the electronics 

as well as the roll-to-roll printing process 

that will bring the cost of printing the 

tags down to a penny apiece and make 

them ubiquitous. 

Collaboration between Professor James 

Tour’s and Professor Doug Natelson’s laboratories 

have created the first two-terminal 

memory chips that use only silicon, 

one of the most common substances on 

the planet, in a way that should be easily 

adaptable to nanoelectronic manufacturing 

techniques. The technology promises 

to extend the limits of miniaturization 

subject to Moore’s Law. Silicon-oxide circuits 

feature high on-off ratios, excellent 

endurance and fast switching (below 100 

nanoseconds). Such rewritable gate arrays 

could drastically cut the cost of designing 

complex electronic devices. They 

also will be resistant to radiation, which 

should make them suitable for military 

and NASA applications. 


James Tour 

Doug Natelson 

37

Vicki Colvin 

Mason Tomson 

Pedro Alvarez 

Michael Wong 

Naomi Halas 

James Tour 

38 

Water Treatment 

Professors Vicki Colvin, Mason Tomson 

and Pedro Alvarez have developed a process 

for water disinfection and arsenic 

removal using nanoparticles that can be 

magnetically separated. This technology 

does not require expensive infrastructure; 

it can be used in family kitchens for less 

than pennies per gram. It holds great 

promise for preventing disease and improving 

health around the world. A technology 

field test has been implemented in 

Guanajuato, Mexico. 

Professor Michael Wong’s laboratory 

developed a palladium-gold catalyst that 

breaks down trichloroethene (TCE) a common 

solvent and groundwater contaminant 

found in 60 percent of waste sites. 

Wong coupled the catalyst with Professor 

Naomi Halas’ gold nanoshells to create a 

TCE decomposition catalyst merged with 

a nanosensor to monitor decomposition 

rate and efficacy. 

Nanocars 

Professor James Tour and Associate 

Professor Kevin Kelly collaborate on research 

for functional nanomachines that 

can be custom-built and set to work in 

microelectronics and other applications. 

In 2005, after eight years of research, 

Tour’s lab synthesized the first nanocar 

consisting of buckyball wheels and 

chassis and axles made of well-defined 

organic groups with pivoting suspension 

and freely rotating axles. The entire car 

measures just 3–4 nanometers across, 

making it slightly wider than a strand of 

DNA. Kelly’s lab, with the assistance of 

a scanning electron microscope, “drove” 

the nanocars across gold surfaces. 

They demonstrated that the cars travel 

directionally forward and backward, not 

randomly across the surface. In fact, they 

observed the first nanocar crash. 

Since 2005, nanocars have been equipped 

with light-activated motors, cargo transport, 

suspension and sensors. The latest 

work in this series of molecular machines 

has produced what Tour and Kelly call a 

nanodragster for its characteristic hotrod 

shape, with small wheels on a short 

axle in the front and large wheels on a 

long axle in the back. The tiny hot rod, 

1/25,000th the width of a human hair, has 

a chassis that rotates freely and allows 

the car to turn when one front wheel or 

the other is lifted, a behavior not seen in 

previous nanocars. Much to the researchers’ 

amusement, in several of the images 

the nanodragsters appear to be “popping 

wheelies” with both front wheels raised 

off the surface, just like real dragsters at 

the start of a race.

International Council on 

Nanotechnology (ICON) 

Kristen Kulinowski, Director 

icon.rice.edu 

Kristen Kulinowski, through ICON, has 

several programs that disseminate nanosafety 

information. The GoodNanoGuide is 

a highly collaborative, interactive resource 

by and for the occupational safety and 

nanotechnology communities, law and 

industry. The GoodNanoGuide is a practical 

tool for people who handle nanomaterials, 

as well as an online repository of safety 

protocols. It has been developed by experts 

from the worlds of nanotechnology, 

occupational safety and business and is 

governed by an international implementation 

committee. 

Additionally, ICON has a Virtual Journal of 

Nanotechnology Environment, Health and 

Safety (VJ-NanoEHS). Recently ICON integrated 

an interactive component that allows 

users to post ratings and comments 

about technical papers. The five-star rating 

system provides registered users an opportunity 

to acknowledge the publications 

that best exemplify good research practice 

and effective communication. This second 

layer of peer review enables newer toxicology 

researchers to model their studies 

after good research practices. 

Nanoparticle Safety 

Professor Andreas Lüttge investigates 

natural decomposition of nanoparticles. 

Recently Lüttge’s research found bacteria 

from the genus Shewanella easily convert 

graphene oxide to harmless graphene 

that then stacks itself into graphite (pencil 

lead). Graphene oxide is being investigated 

for use in drilling fluids, hydrogen storage, 

computing and oil reservoir mapping. 

Professors Alvarez and Colvin research 

the health risks and toxicity mitigation 

solutions for a variety of nanoparticles. A 

recent study investigated quantum dots, 

molecule-sized semiconducting nanocrystals 

that are generally composed of heavy 

metals surrounded by an organic shell. 

Quantum dots have the potential to bring 

many good things into the world: efficient 

solar power, targeted gene and drug delivery, 

solid-state lighting and advances 

in biomedical imaging. While the study 

found acid rain weathering could pose 

a problem, certain proteins and such 

natural organic matter as humic acids 

may mitigate the effects of decomposing 

quantum dots by coating them or by complexing 

the metal ions released, making 

them less toxic. 

Kevin Kelly 

Kristen Kulinowski 


39

40 

Nanotechnology Education 

Carolyn Nichol, CBEN Associate Director 

for Education 

cben.rice.edu 

Nanoscale science and engineering educational 

activities at Rice University are 

designed to have an impact beyond the 

bounds of our campus. By communicating 

the scientific discoveries and technological 

research emerging from the Smalley 

Institute and the NSF Center for Biological 

and Environmental Nanotechnology to all 

ages, we believe that nanotechnology can 

enhance the quality of K–12 education, 

increase technical literacy of the Houston 

community and engage Americans in scientific 

progress. 

Summer Nano-Academies for High 

School Students 

Nanoscience Discovery Academy uses 

nanotechnology and environmental science 

as a motivational hook. Taught by 

Rice faculty, this two-week summer program 

held in Rice University’s undergraduate 

chemistry labs enriches high school 

students’ understanding of science, 

engages them in scientific careers and 

exposes them to cutting-edge technologies. 

This program is open to ninth- and 

10th-grade students from all schools in the 

Houston area. 

Schlumberger Nanochemistry Academy 

is a partnership between Rice and the 

nonprofit organization Project GRAD. 

This three-week summer program targets 

at-risk high school students from 

five underserved schools in the Houston 

Independent School District. This program 

is designed to help prepare rising 10th- 

and 11th-grade students for success in 

high school chemistry classes. 

Nanotechnology for Teachers 

Meeting weekly during the evenings of 

the spring semester, middle school and 

high school teachers are introduced to 

recent advances in nanoscience, relate 

this research to fundamental concepts in 

chemistry and physics, and learn about 

new pedagogies to engage students in 

science. More than 150 teachers have 

taken the class, impacting as many as 

20,000 high school students. Recently the 

course was taught using distance-learning 

technologies to teachers in Houston and 

Colorado with great success.

Professional Science Master’s 

Program 

Dagmar Beck, Program Director 

sloan-pmp.rice.edu 

The Professional Science Master’s 

Program at Rice’s Wiess School of Natural 

Sciences offers M.S. degrees in environmental 

analysis and decision making, 

subsurface geoscience, and nanoscale 

physics. All three master’s degrees are 

designed for students seeking to gain further 

scientific core expertise coupled with 

enhanced management and communication 

skills. 

The program instills a level of scholastic 

proficiency that exceeds that of the bachelor’s 

level and creates the cross-functional 

aptitudes needed in modern industry. 

Skills acquired in this program allow students 

to move more easily into management 

careers in consulting or research, 

development, design and marketing of 

new science-based products. 

Air Force Minority Leaders Program 

Clarkson Aerospace runs the Air Force- 

funded Minority Leaders Program to support 

and encourage minorities to pursue 

engineering careers. The Minority Leaders 

Program is a multi-institution, multistate 

endeavor. The Smalley Institute, as a 

founding member, provides mentors and 

in-community science outreach. We use 

nanotechnology, advanced materials and 

aerospace to inspire students to consider 

the engineering disciplines. Additionally, 

our faculty have mentored faculty at 

Prairie View A&M, a historically black university, 

in nanotechnology research and 

undergraduate education programs. 

NanoKids 

NanoKids is an educational outreach project 

from Professor Tour’s lab involving 

the synthesis of molecules that resemble 

people. Animated videos featuring these 

characters and others from the world of 

NanoPut are used as educational tools for 

outreach projects intended to bring more 

students into the sciences by illustrating 

the fun and excitement of chemistry via 

animation and fun characters. 

A recent extension of NanoKids is 

the “SciRave” video game developed 

through a grant from the National Science 

Foundation. “SciRave” targets the scientist-to-be 

by working the basics of a 

science education into “Guitar Hero” and 

“StepMania,” both proven winners in the 

world of video games. 

41

Rice University 

Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale 

Science and Technology–MS 100 

P.O. Box 1892 

Houston, TX 77251-1892 

nano.rice.edu 

nano@rice.edu 

713-348-6008

Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and - Center for ...

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