Often considered as "artificial atoms," quantum dots are used in the transmission of light. With a range of interesting physicochemical properties, this type of nanotechnology has been successfully used as a sensor in biomedicine or as LEDs in next generation displays. But there is a drawback. Current quantum dots are produced with heavy and toxic metals like cadmium. Carbon is an interesting alternative, both for its biocompatibility and its accessibility.
The choice of brewery waste as a source material came from Daniele Benetti, a postdoctoral fellow at INRS, and Aurel Thibaut Nkeumaleu, the master's student at ÉTS who conducted the work. [...]
"The use of spent grain highlights both an eco-responsible approach to waste management and an alternative raw material for the synthesis of carbon quantum dots, from a circular economy perspective," says Professor Rosei.
The advantage of using brewery waste as a source of carbon quantum dots is that it is naturally enriched with nitrogen and phosphorus. This avoids the need for pure chemicals.
"This research was a lot of fun, lighting up what we can do with the beer by-products," says Claudiane Ouellet-Plamondon, Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Multifunctional Construction Materials at ÉTS. "Moreover, ÉTS is located on the site of the former Dow brewery, one of the main breweries in Quebec until the 1960s. So there is a historical and heritage link to this work."
[...] The next steps will be to characterize these carbon quantum dots from brewery waste, beyond proof of concept. The research team is convinced that this nanotechnology has the potential to become sophisticated detection sensors for various aqueous solutions, even in living cells.
Journal Reference:
Aurel Thibaut Nkeumaleu, Daniele Benetti, Imane Haddadou, et al. Brewery spent grain derived carbon dots for metal sensing [open], RSC Advances (DOI: 10.1039/D2RA00048B)
(Score: 3, Funny) by maxwell demon on Friday June 24 2022, @11:53AM (7 children)
News in 20 years:
To counter the ongoing shortage of raw material for chips, the government has decided to reduce the drinking age to 14 years.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2022, @12:04PM (4 children)
What the carbon footprint of a brewery? I bet is larger per biomass unit than the farting beef.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2022, @12:16PM (1 child)
Can you make electronics out of farting beef?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2022, @01:35PM
But of course. Via a population of EE raised on a beef diet.
(Score: 2) by crm114 on Friday June 24 2022, @12:55PM (1 child)
But you can use brewery waste as a de-icer on roads:
https://www.roadsbridges.com/ag-byproduct-joins-fight-snow [roadsbridges.com]
Not sure I want to drive on roads covered in cow poo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2022, @01:45PM
And this has to do with the carbon footprint of a unit of beer as quantum dots have in common with blackjack (and hookers).
(Score: 3, Funny) by Opportunist on Friday June 24 2022, @01:01PM
If you're out of chips, why not hand out some pretzles to the beer?
Jeesh, people are so picky about their snacks...
(Score: 2) by OrugTor on Friday June 24 2022, @01:30PM
My concern is that there will be a Marmite shortage.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2022, @01:29PM (4 children)
Beer is supposed to contain barley, hops, water and yeast. Not fucking quantum dots, ground-up bugs, or whatever else the Democrats want to shove down your throat this week. #KeepBeerPure.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2022, @01:39PM (2 children)
Says someone in a country that calls Budweiser beer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2022, @06:09PM
Belgium?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 26 2022, @12:21AM
Yeah, you can put that piss right back in the horse it came from!
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Friday June 24 2022, @02:08PM
And alcohol.