纳米技术造出世界最小刷子

Scientists Create World's Smallest Brush

University of Hawaii nanotechnology experts have invented the world's smallest brush — a device boasting bristles a thousand times finer than a strand of human hair.

Mehrdad Ghasemi-Nejhad, a professor of mechanical engineering at the university, said the brush may be used to sweep nano dust, paint small micro-tubes and clean pollutants in water.

Nanotechnology involves the manufacture and manipulation of materials at the molecular or atomic level. At that scale, materials are measured in nanometers or billionths of a meter.

Ghasemi-Nejhad said the nanotechnology field could allow for the building of ever smaller chips that would reduce the size and weight of computers while increasing their speed and memory.

Nanotechnology may also allow for low-cost, better-performing fuel cells that use hydrogen as clean fuel, he said.

The tiny brush invention has earned the research team, which involves experts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., a spot in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records.

"We need to look at the needs in the nano-world, where machines and materials can be the size of atoms and molecules," said UH doctoral student Vinod P. Veedu. "As in the 'bigger' world, there are messes to sweep, walls to paint, tubes to unclog and electronics to power. So our invention ... demonstrates a way to make the tiniest of brushes to do these jobs."

Ghasemi-Nejhad founded the Hawaii Nanotechnology Laboratory in his UH department three years ago in part to train workers for a growing industry.

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美国夏威夷大学的纳米技术专家日前制造出世界上体积最小的刷子，他们说这种刷子的刷毛只有一根头发丝的千分之一那么细。

据美联社5月16日报道，夏威夷大学的机械工程学教授卡西米-内哈德说，这种刷子可以被用来打扫只有纳米（一米的十亿分之一）大小的尘埃和给微细管道上涂料，还可以用它来清除水里的污染物。纽约州伦塞拉尔理工学院的专家也参与了这项发明过程。这种超纤细的刷子已被收入2007年吉尼斯世界纪录。

利用纳米技术，人们可以在分子或原子级别进行制造和加工工序。卡西米-内哈德说，通过采用纳米技术，科学家还能制造出体积更小、运算速度更快、容量更大的芯片，同时减小计算机的尺寸。这种技术还将用来制造燃料电池，这种电池成本低，能效高，使用氢作为清洁能源。

夏威夷大学的博士研究生维迪表示，与人们日常接触的宏观世界一样，微观世界中也需要垃圾工、油漆匠和管道工。利用纳米技术，人们可以制造出只有原子和分子大小的各种机器与材料来完成这些工作。