materials / en Three big ideas from the opening of 茄子直播鈥檚 new advanced materials lab /news/three-big-ideas-opening-u-t%E2%80%99s-new-advanced-materials-lab <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Three big ideas from the opening of 茄子直播鈥檚 new advanced materials lab</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2014-07-18T12:01:05-04:00" title="Friday, July 18, 2014 - 12:01" class="datetime">Fri, 07/18/2014 - 12:01</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Not your average ribbon cutting. Indy champ H茅lio Castroneves (left) and Professor Doug Perovic carve the name of 茄子直播鈥檚 newest lab on a ribbon at nano-scale (photo by Roberta Baker).</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/rj-taylor" hreflang="en">RJ Taylor</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/sydney-goodfellow" hreflang="en">Sydney Goodfellow</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Sydney Goodfellow and RJ Taylor</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/materials" hreflang="en">materials</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When three-time Indy 500 winner H茅lio Castroneves speeds around the track at this month鈥檚 Indy races, he鈥檒l be driving a racecar propelled by decades of materials research that makes it faster, safer and more efficient.</p> <p>But with the opening of a new $20-million materials lab at the University of Toronto, the technology in Castroneves鈥 car could soon feel as old-fashioned as your grandma鈥檚 station wagon.</p> <p>On July 17, Castroneves joined 茄子直播 Engineering to unveil the Ontario Centre for Characterization of Advanced Materials (OCCAM) 鈥 a high-tech facility that enables researchers to explore and develop novel materials that could be used in electronics, renewable fuels, construction, disease treatment and even futuristic racecar design.</p> <p>Funded by the <a href="http://www.innovation.ca">Canada Foundation for Innovation</a> (CFI), the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/ministry-research-innovation">Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation </a>(MRI) and <a href="http://hitachi-htc.ca">Hitachi High-Technologies Canada</a>, OCCAM offers highly specialized tools to understand and manipulate matter at the atomic scale. The centre also emphasizes collaborative and multidisciplinary projects, anticipating over 350 different research programs annually involving academic researchers and private companies.</p> <p>"This is expensive equipment to purchase and operate, but the new centre makes it available to everyone, from industry to academia,鈥 said Professor <strong>Charles Mims</strong> (ChemE), a co-principal investigator for OCCAM alongside Professor <strong>Doug Perovic</strong> (MSE). The facility is a joint initiative between the Department of Materials Science &amp; Engineering (MSE) and the Department of Chemical Engineering &amp; Applied Chemistry (ChemE).</p> <p>To celebrate OCCAM鈥檚 grand opening, Castroneves used one of the lab鈥檚 high-power electron microscopes to 鈥渃ut鈥 the centre鈥檚 name into a ribbon at nano-scale. The width of each letter was nearly 1,000 times smaller than a human hair.</p> <p>The MSE logo will also be featured on the front of the racecar of Castroneves 鈥 part of the Hitachi-sponsored Penske Team 鈥 at this weekend鈥檚 <a href="http://www.hondaindytoronto.com">Honda Indy Toronto</a> races.</p> <p>鈥淥CCAM is a shining example of how 茄子直播 Engineering, in partnership with industry and government, is pursuing innovative solutions to some of world鈥檚 greatest challenges in health, city life and energy,鈥 said Dean <strong>Cristina Amon</strong>. 鈥淲e are profoundly grateful to CFI, MRI and Hitachi for their contribution to the creation of this unique world-class facility.鈥</p> <p class="rtecenter"><img alt="MSE logo callout on race car" src="/sites/default/files/OCCAM_racecar_calledout_logo.jpg" style="width: 480px; height: 276px"><br> <em>Don鈥檛 miss MSE鈥檚 logo on the front of Castroneves鈥 racecar in the Honda Indy Toronto races this weekend.</em></p> <p><strong>Three big (and small) ideas enabled by OCCAM:</strong></p> <p>1. <em>Car accidents that no longer kill people</em></p> <p>鈥淲e have the technology today to make vehicles so safe that car accidents no longer kill people,鈥 shared Professor Perovic. But if we have the means, why aren鈥檛 we using them? According to Perovic, the answer is cost 鈥 cost of materials and cost of manufacturing. That鈥檚 why, through OCCAM, he has partnered with Toronto-based <a href="http://www.integran.com">Integran Technologies</a> to develop newer, inexpensive methods of boosting vehicle safety and efficiency.</p> <p>Integran is the only company in the world that can coat plastic and carbon fibre with nano-metals, allowing them to make virtually any material significantly stronger with one coating. While they are continuing to find ways of reducing cost, Integran鈥檚 technology has the potential for impact beyond the auto industry, from better spacecraft to lighter and more durable bicycles.</p> <p>2. <em>Stopping blood clots with non-stick nano-materials</em></p> <p>Blood clots are essential in healing cuts, but they can be deadly for those requiring medical catheters (tubes that carry medicine or drain fluids in the body). Dangerous clots can form around the tubes in a process called thrombosis 鈥 an affiliction that leads to approximately 50,000 deaths in the United States each year.</p> <p>To reduce the risk of blood clots, Professor <strong>Paul Santerre</strong> (IBBME), <strong>Jeannette Ho</strong> (ChemE/ IBBME MASc 9T7) and a group of other medical scientists and engineers have designed a method of producing catheters that include fluorinate oligomers, the same molecules that make frying pans non-stick. Already commercially available through licensing from Santerre鈥檚 spin-off company <a href="http://www.interfacebiologics.com">Interface Biologics</a>, their invention has shown to reduce the rates of thrombosis by up to 75 per cent.</p> <p>鈥淥CCAM gives us access to tools and expertise that a small lab like us wouldn鈥檛 normally have,鈥 said Roseita Esfand, director of research and development at Interface. 鈥淐ollaborations such as this will help us to bring our technologies and products from bench to human.鈥</p> <p>3. <em>Solar fuels 鈥 If trees can do it, we can do it</em></p> <p>Professor <strong>Ben Hatton</strong> (MSE) and a group of multidisciplinary researchers are using OCCAM鈥檚 advanced equipment to design nano-materials that mimic the photosynthetic processes of plants. While plant photosynthesis uses the sun鈥檚 rays to produce sugars and carbohydrates, Hatton鈥檚 lab is hoping to make materials that produce methane and other gases.</p> <p>This technology could be used to power vehicles, houses and more 鈥 and to store energy we aren鈥檛 using for later consumption. In doing so, they could reduce, and even reverse, the detrimental impacts of fossil fuels. 鈥淲e鈥檙e still in early development stages,鈥 explained Hatton. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e excited by the advances and resources that OCCAM will provide, and we look forward to making our technology better and more efficient.鈥</p> <p>鈥淚f trees can do it,鈥 he said, 鈥渨e can do it.鈥</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/14-07-18-OCCAM.jpg</div> </div> Fri, 18 Jul 2014 16:01:05 +0000 sgupta 6370 at