The folks over at OSnano are working to make nanotechnology to the home laboratory. Their first project is a guide to fabricating your own Magnetite Nanocrystals:
Why? Magnetite Nanocrystals are good for removing arsenic from water. Based on recent advances in nanotechnology, it’s now possible to make regular magnetite nanocrystals as small as 20-100nm, and to remove them from solution using a handheld magnet. Arsenic poisoning is a huge problem in Southeast Asia, especially in Bangladesh, and in various other parts of the world. Our project opens up the process for making magnetite and encourages you to experiment with it, contribute to it, and improve it.
Looks pretty excellent, however it requires a TEM to verify the results. Anyone have a homebrew one of those (it should be totally possible…)? [thanks, Heath!]
4 thoughts on “DIY nanotechnology: Make magnetite nanocrystals!”
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Kinda doubt it. Probably an AFM or other microscope type would work as well. You can even get a kit to build an STM: http://sxm4.uni-muenster.de/stm%2Den/
Oh, good point. It should read, requires an electron microscope.
And yeah, building an STM is something I need to get back to at some point- we started building a really simple atmospheric pressure one during my undergraduate years, but never finished it. We achieved what appeared to be tunneling, but the feedback circuits didn’t work quite right :-).