Science & Technology - Posted by Alan Blank-Rochester on Tuesday, August 3, 2010 0:34 - 4 Comments 
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Membrane gets permeable in purple light
Controlling a membrane's permeability with light is preferable to controlling it with heat or electricity—two readily used alternative methods—for several reasons, says graduate student and co-inventor Eric Glowacki (above). (Credit: U. Rochester)
U. ROCHESTER (US)—A newly developed membrane blocks gas from flowing through it when one color of light is shined on its surface, and permits gas to flow through when another color of light is used.
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The text of this article by Futurity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License.
It is the first time that scientists have developed a membrane that can be controlled in this way by light.
The membrane is a piece of hard plastic riddled with tiny holes that are filled with liquid crystals and a dye. When purple light illuminates the surface of the membrane, the dye molecules straighten out and the liquid crystals fall into line, which allows gas to easily flow through the holes.
But when ultraviolet light illuminates the surface, the dye molecules bend into a banana shape and the liquid crystals scatter into random orientations, clogging the tunnel and blocking gas from penetrating.
Controlling a membrane’s permeability with light is preferable to controlling it with heat or electricity—two readily used alternative methods—for several reasons, says co-inventor Eric Glowacki, a graduate student at the University of Rochester.
For starters, light can operate remotely. Instead of attaching electrical lines to the membrane, a lamp or a laser can be directed at the membrane from a distance. This could allow engineers to make much smaller, simpler setups.
Another advantage is that the color of the light illuminating the membrane can be changed precisely and almost instantaneously. Other methods, like heating and cooling, take a relatively long time and repeated heating and cooling can damage the membrane.
Also, light does not have the potential to ignite a gas, which could be a crucial benefit when working with hydrocarbons or other flammable gases. Lastly, the amount of light energy needed to switch the membrane on and off is miniscule.
Creating the membrane is a multi-step process. First, a circular hard plastic chip is bombarded with a beam of neutrons to make the tiny, evenly spaced holes that are about one-hundredth of a millimeter in diameter.
The chip is then dipped in a solution of liquid crystals and dye, and the mixture fills the holes through capillary action. The final product is spun in a centrifuge to remove the excess liquid crystals from the surface.
The membrane could be useful in controlled drug delivery and industrial processing tasks that require the ability to turn the flow of gas on and off as well as in research applications.
Glowacki and Kenneth Marshall, his advisor, presented findings at the annual conference of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) in San Diego on Aug. 1.
More news from the University of Rochester: www.rochester.edu/news
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4 Comments
S. K Prasad
may be intresting to u
mark
It is true that light permeable membrane is good for controlling light and heat
David Britz
Very interesting article, question what was the minimum gas pressure difference required either side of the membrane to see gas flow through your membrane
Since purple is sometimes used to mean violet is that what you mean? Purple is truly a mixture of red and violet, or red and blue.