PHOTO: Apparao Rao (in orange) and members of his lab watch as Ramakrishna Podila loads a photoluminescence spectrometer with quantum dots that “glow” under ultraviolet light and have great potential for biomedical imaging.
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Clemson University has completed construction of its 5,000-square-foot Clemson Nanomaterials Center (CNC). The CNC will house interdisciplinary nanotechnology research, including the development of high-energy storage and generation devices and superconducting wires and composites, and gaining new insights into the connections between nanotechnology and biosciences.
“The research work has already begun with most of the equipment already under extensive use,” said Apparao Rao, director of the CNC, in a statement.
Clemson partnered with the South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) to plan and design the facilities, which took six months to complete. Projects already underway are funded by the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Department of Energy. Rao’s work focuses on translating nanotechnology research to energy generation and storage, thermal management and the nanomedicine industry. The technologies could be used in batteries and capacitors in hybrid and electric vehicles, power tools and various other products.
He and collaborators recently won $1.2 million from the National Science Foundation to find ways to make some of their nanomaterials suitable for manufacturing.
