Ruthenium has been used in a new development that could help to shed light on the nano-world.

Experts at Cornell University have announced the creation of microscopic nanolamps, which are nanofibres that emit light.

The nanofibres are no larger than a virus or bacteria and are made from a mixture of the metal complex ruthenium tris-bipyridine and the polymer polyethylene oxide. When excited by a low voltage, the nanofibres give off a small light, meaning that they could provide illumination to nanotechnology that has been difficult to see in the past.

The fibres were made from the compound based on ruthenium were created by electrospinning the compound.

"One application of organic light-emitting devices could be integration into flexible electronics," explained the research's author, Jose M Moran-Mirabal. Flexible electronic materials are being made increasingly smaller and this latest development could allow them to be downsized even further.

Sources:

Cornell Researchers Develop Virus-Size 'Nanolamps', 11/4/07
http://www.ccnmag.com/news.php?id=5023

Smallest Organic Light-emitters Created, 12/4/2007
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070411152813.htm

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