Nanotechnology in the automotive industry (Nanowerk Spotlight) Nanotechnologies will play a major role in the car industry; but don't hold your breath to see anything like the Volkswagen Nanospyder futuristic concept car anytime soon. This entrance to the 2006 Los Angeles Design challenge was supported by hydrogen fuel cells, solar power, wheel-mounted electric motors and inflatable organic body panels combine to form the unusual shape of the two-seater concept. According to its creators – designers based at the Volkswagen Design Center in Santa Monica – the Nanospyder would be formed out of a latticework of billions of tiny programmable nano devices measuring less than half a millimeter in diameter. Each of these tiny devices can be programmed to be as strong or weak as required meaning active crumple zones can be created. Clothing the nano-lattice are panels formed out of a mix of organic materials some of which can inflate to provide further cushioning in the result of an impact. The material doubles as a power source as polysynthesis generates small amounts of electricity. This coupled with hydrogen fuels generates power to drive the tiny electric motors mounted within the hubs of all four wheels.
Electronics is an innovation driver in the automotive sector as more and more components are being controlled electronically, electromechanically or electromagnetically. Nanostructured actor components could substitute current microsystems technology-based direct injection systems for instance.
Spintronics promises to revolutionize computing. While conventional complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS), a technology used today in all types of electronics, rely on electrons' charge to power devices, the emerging field of spintronics exploits another aspect of electrons – their spin, which could be manipulated by electric and magnetic fields. With the use of nanoscaled magnetic materials, spintronics or electronic devices, when switched off, will not have a stand-by power dissipation problem. With this advantage, devices with much lower power consumption, known as non-volatile electronics, can become a reality.
Spintronics applications in cars.
The quickly emerging hybrid car sector not only uses batteries to store energy for the electric drive mode, it also pushes recuperation technologies, i.e. the re-use of braking energy. Here, the moving energy is converted into electrical current via generator during braking and stored in accumulators or super or ultra capacitors. Nanotechnologies are expected to have a major impact in this area. For instance, scientists are already producing ultra-lightweight, bendable batteries and supercapacitors in the form of everyday paper.
Micro-structured solar cells can already be integrated into sunroofs and are offered as options on some cars. Using nanostructured and flexible plastic solar cells with a thickness of less than 1 micron, it will become possible to cover larger areas of the car exterior with solar energy harvesting thin-films.
The overall electrical to optical efficiency for lighting applications in today's cars is only about 1%. This will be considerably improved by the development of diffractive and microoptics, new light sources, and their integration with the power supply.