In It to WIN It

Nanotechnology and its applications are poised for explosive growth in the years ahead. The Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN), with a new state-of-theart Quantum Nano Centre, a young and dynamic research faculty, and home to hundreds of Canada´s best nanotechnology engineering students, is positioned to contribute to that growth as one of the foremost centers for nanoresearch and innovation in the world. From developments in advanced lithium-ion battery technologies, next-generation solar photovoltaic cells, and thermoelectric conversion materials to hybrid bionanocomposite materials and nanocatalysts, advances in fundamental understanding of materials design will lead to real-world applications. WIN anticipates major progress in organic electronic devices, large-area displays, and miniaturized CNTs or graphene-based X-ray sources. Single-electron and single-photon quantum devices enabled by nanotechnology will be fabricated and employed in quantum information processing. Handheld lab-on-a-chip diagnostic devices with microfluidic flow in channels controlled by electric fields will become a reality for disease and pathogen diagnosis, replacing more bulky and expensive analytical instrumentation. Drugs encapsulated in nanoparticles delivering therapies directly to a cancerous tissue will be in clinical trials for early adoption, and new, innovative nanotools for imaging and measurement will be introduced. These are only a few of the exciting results researchers expect to see from the next ten years of research at WIN.