|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
UD's Panchapakesan wins NSF Career Award
The five-year, $400,000 award will support Panchapakesan's work in the development of carbon nanotube actuators, which have applications in both medicine and deep space research. The award is one of the National Science Foundation's highest honors for young faculty members, and it recognizes and supports the early career activities of those teachers and scholars who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the future. Panchapakesan is one of four young UD faculty members to have received the award this year, joining Joseph Fox and Neal Zondlo, both assistant professors of chemistry and biochemistry, and Xinyan Deng, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “I was quite surprised and very happy to receive the NSF Career Award,” Panchapakesan said. “Our research group has been getting good results in relatively unexplored fields, and I believe the award will lead to some important findings.” Panchapakesan said the objective of the research is the development of single wall carbon nanotubes as photomechanical actuators for the further development of nanotube-based sensors and actuators. Actuators are devices that transform an input signal into motion. Generally, such signals are electrical but in this case they are optical and set into action by light. Panchapakesan said a great deal of research has been undertaken on nanotube-based electrical actuators, which require small voltages, but very little has been undertaken on optically driven nanotube actuators. In fact, the work of his group is on the leading edge of a new field. “Before our group, no one had demonstrated that you can shine light on a carbon nanotube and make it move in a way that is comparable to electrically driven actuators,” he said. “We have found that you can make actuators out of the material, which can absorb light and transform the energy into mechanical work without the need for relatively heavy and complicated electronics that require hundreds of volts for actuation.” Panchapakesan said the research could have major implications for the NASA space program, particularly for lengthy interplanetary missions, because the photonic actuators are lightweight and can be actuated remotely in deep space. “Using photonic actuators, we could provide satellites the ability to work using the light in their own surroundings rather than depending on materials from Earth,” he said. His vision is to create a robot of carbon nanotubes that can be sent into deep space, sleeping when out of sunlight and reawakening when provided light to perform needed tasks. Panchapakesan also foresees the development of light-powered micro-robotic and nano-robotic mechanical systems with applications in medicine, and specifically in cancer research. Such biosensors placed within the human body can be used to screen for cancer by measuring changes to the properties of protein applied to the actuators when they come in contact with receptors on cancerous cells. “With a large surface area and great sensitivity, they can detect even the smallest changes,” he said. Panchapakesan described the NSF-funded research project as generating a “quantum leap” forward in the development of actuators with emphasis on space research, medicine and robotics. “This is a brand new mechanism that has not been used before,” he said. “The most significant part of project is that it does not require electricity or liquids. You just shine light and it will move.” He added that carbon nanotube actuators are quite robust and capable of working for long periods of time, are flexible and can work in air, in water and even in a vacuum. Panchapakesan received his bachelor's degree in materials engineering at Regional Engineering College in India and doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park in 2001 before joining the faculty at UD. His work is in the area of micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS), nanotechnology and biomedical research. Article by Neil Thomas |
|
|
