Feature Channels: Nanotechnology

• share
• favorite_border

Stony Brook assistant professor Jason Trelewicz uses the electron microscopy and computing resources at Brookhaven Lab's Center for Functional Nanomaterials to characterize nanoscale structures in metals mixed with other elements. The goal of his research is to achieve unprecedented properties in classical materials for use in everything from aerospace and automotive components to consumer electronics and nuclear reactors.

• share
• favorite_border

An international team from the Universities of Vienna, Duisburg-Essen and Tel Aviv have created a nanomechanical hand to show the time of an electronic clock, by spinning a tiny cylinder using light. A silicon nanorod, less than a thousandth of a millimetre long, can be trapped in thin air using focussed laser beams, and spun to follow the ticking of a clock, losing only one-millionth of a second over four days.

• share
• favorite_border

Gold nanoparticles could help make drugs act more quickly and effectively, according to new research conducted at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

• share
• favorite_border

A Northwestern University research team is the first to capture on video organic nanoparticles colliding and fusing together. This unprecedented view of “chemistry in motion” will aid Northwestern nanoscientists developing new drug delivery methods as well as demonstrate to researchers around the globe how an emerging imaging technique opens a new window on a very tiny world.

• share
• favorite_border

Research offers cost-effective development of germanium, more efficient semiconductor than silicon

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering have developed a class of breakthrough motion sensors that could herald a near future of ubiquitous, fully integrated and affordable wearable technology.

• share
• favorite_border

Red-sensitive, blue-sensitive and green-sensitive colour sensors stacked on top of each other instead of being lined up in a mosaic pattern - this principle could allow image sensors with unprecedented resolution and sensitivity to light to be created. However, up to now, the reality hasn't quite met expectations. Researchers from Empa and ETH Zurich have now developed a sensor prototype that absorbs light almost optimally - and which is also cheap to produce.

• share
• favorite_border

In the future, new designer alloys for aerospace applications can be manufactured using the 3-D laser melting process (Additive Manufacturing). Pioneering work in this field was provided by Empa researcher Christoph Kenel, who works today at Northwestern University (Chicago). Empa grants him the Research Award 2017.

• share
• favorite_border

A UW–Madison lab has made a molecule that gains magnetic strength through an unusual way of controlling those spins, which could lead to a breakthrough in quantam computing.

• share
• favorite_border

A new SLAS Technology review article by researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles, sheds light on the growing number and more sophisticated designs of theranostic nanoparticles.

• share
• favorite_border

Rural counties continue to rank lowest among counties across the U.S., in terms of health outcomes. A group of national organizations including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National 4-H Council are leading the way to close the rural health gap.

• share
• favorite_border

Argonne researchers have simulated the growth of the 2-D material silicene. Their work, published in Nanoscale, delivers new and useful insights on the material’s properties and behavior and offers a predictive model for other researchers studying 2-D materials.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study shows that a 70-year-old malaria drug can block immune cells in the liver so nanoparticles can arrive at their intended tumor site, overcoming a significant hurdle of targeted drug delivery, according to a team of researchers led by Houston Methodist.

• share
• favorite_border

For the first time in the U.S., time-resolved small-angle x-ray scattering (TRSAXS) is used to observe ultra-fast carbon clustering and graphite and nanodiamond production in the insensitive explosive Plastic Bonded Explosive (PBX) 9502, potentially leading to better computer models of explosive performance.

• share
• favorite_border

Synthetic microspheres with nanoscale holes can absorb light from all directions across a wide range of frequencies, making it a candidate for antireflective coatings, according to a team of Penn State engineers.

• share
• favorite_border

Nanosensors are incredible information-gathering tools for myriad applications, including molecular targets such as the brain. Neurotransmitter molecules govern brain function through chemistry found deep within the brain, so University of California, Berkeley researchers are developing nanosensors to gain a better understanding of exactly how this all plays out, and will discuss their work at the AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition, Oct. 29-Nov. 3, 2017, in Tampa, Florida.

• share
• favorite_border

Exploiting reversible solubility allows for direct, optical patterning of unprecedentedly small features.

• share
• favorite_border

An optical whispering gallery mode resonator developed by Penn State electrical engineers can spin light around the circumference of a tiny sphere millions of times, creating an ultrasensitive microchip-based sensor for multiple applications.

• share
• favorite_border

Glare-free cell phone screens, ultra-transparent windows, and more efficient solar cells—these are some of the applications that could be enabled by texturing glass surfaces with tiny nanoscale features that reduce surface reflections to nearly zero.

• share
• favorite_border

Novel spin-polarized surface states may guide the search for materials that host Majorana fermions, unusual particles that act as their own antimatter, and could revolutionize quantum computers.

• share
• favorite_border

The Molecular Foundry and aBeam Technologies bring mass fabrication to nano-optical devices.

• share
• favorite_border

Among the diverse research studies being presented at this year’s 64th AVS International Symposium and Exhibition are two biomaterial interfaces sessions that feature some highly unusual applications of engineering. The first describes the use of stress forces -- more commonly employed to evaluate the failure mechanisms of materials and devices made from them -- to discover how barnacles stick to surfaces. The second explores the development of two novel mechanical systems, both smaller than the eye can see, for use with gas molecules: one to detect them with ultra-high sensitivity and the other to precisely measure their molecular weights.

• share
• favorite_border

A collaborative group of researchers including Petr Kral, professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago, describe a new technique for creating novel nanoporous materials with unique properties that can be used to filter molecules or light.

• share
• favorite_border

A significant gift from philanthropists Eden ’90 and Steven Romick ’85 to Northwestern University has established a collaborative international partnership between Northwestern’s International Institute for Nanotechnology and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel focused on cancer immunotherapy research.

• share
• favorite_border

Built from the bottom up, nanoribbons can be semiconducting, enabling broad electronic applications.

• share
• favorite_border

Transitions occurring in nanoscale systems, such as a chemical reaction or the folding of a protein, are strongly affected by friction and thermal noise. Almost 80 years ago, the Dutch physicist Hendrik Kramers predicted that such transitions occur most frequently at intermediate friction, an effect known as Kramers turnover. Now, reporting in Nature Nanotechnology, a team of scientists from the ETH Zurich, ICFO in Barcelona and the University of Vienna have measured this effect for a laser-trapped particle, directly confirming Kramers’ prediction in an experiment for the first time.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists reveal structural, chemical changes as nickel-cobalt particles donate electrons, vital for making better batteries, fuel cells.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers combined the immune response created by injection of potato virus nanoparticles with doxorubicin to halt melanoma progression in a mouse model. It is the first demonstration of an anti-tumor response using potato virus nanoparticle vaccination—a novel treatment further enhanced with doxorubicin chemotherapy.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists combine biology, nanotechnology into composites that light up upon chemical stimulation.

• share
• favorite_border

Graphene – a one-atom-thick layer of the stuff in pencils – is a better conductor than copper and is very promising for electronic devices, but with one catch: Electrons that move through it can’t be stopped. Until now, that is. Scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick have learned how to tame the unruly electrons in graphene, paving the way for the ultra-fast transport of electrons with low loss of energy in novel systems. Their study was published online in Nature Nanotechnology.

• share
• favorite_border

Direct writing of pure-metal structures may advance novel light sources, sensors and information storage technologies.

• share
• favorite_border

Northwestern University’s Chad A. Mirkin received a prestigious 2017 Wilhelm Exner Medal at an award ceremony at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna on Oct. 19.

• share
• favorite_border

A research team from the National University of Singapore has recently invented a novel “converter” that can harness the speed and small size of plasmons for high frequency data processing and transmission in nanoelectronics.

• share
• favorite_border

Shawn-Yu Lin, professor of physics, applied physics, and astronomy at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has built a nanostructure whose crystal lattice bends light as it enters the material and directs it in a path parallel to the surface, known as “parallel to interface refraction.”

• share
• favorite_border

A theoretical method to control grain boundaries in two-dimensional materials could result in desirable properties, such as increased electrical conductivity, improved mechanical properties, or magnetism.

• share
• favorite_border

It’s truly small-scale work. But researchers in nanomedicine – the study, development and application of materials under 100 nanometers in size to diagnose and treat disease – are making some big-time advances.

• share
• favorite_border

Science has long inspired the arts, but examples of the reverse scenario are sparse. Now scientists who set out to produce a “Star Wars” parody have inadvertently created such an example. Incorporating animation techniques from the film industry, the researchers developed a robust new modeling tool that could help spur new molecular discoveries. Their project, reported in ACS Nano,resulted in a short film about fertilization called “The Beginning.”For a look behind-the-scenes, watch ACS' Headline Science video.

• share
• favorite_border

DOE Secretary Rick Perry awarded Argonne with nearly $4.7 million in projects as part of the DOE’s Office of Technology Transition’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) in September.

• share
• favorite_border

One of the secrets to making tiny laser devices such as opthalmic surgery scalpels work even more efficiently is the use of tiny semiconductor particles, called quantum dots. In new research at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Nanotech Team, the ~nanometer-sized dots are being doctored, or “doped,” with additional electrons, a treatment that nudges the dots ever closer to producing the desired laser light with less stimulation and energy loss.

• share
• favorite_border

Argonne researchers have found a new way to produce solar fuels by developing “synthetic purple membranes.” These membranes involve an assembly of lipid nanodiscs, man-made proteins, and semiconducting nanoparticles that, when taken together, can transform sunlight into hydrogen fuel.

• share
• favorite_border

Berkeley Lab researchers contributed key algorithms which helped scientists achieve a goal first proposed more than 40 years ago – using angular correlations of X-ray snapshots from non-crystalline molecules to determine the 3D structure of important biological objects.

• share
• favorite_border

The technology, shear thickening fluid, permeates fabrics and layers of material and actually gets stronger when it is struck with increasing force, making the material highly puncture and ballistic-resistant. The nanocomposite material, sometimes called "liquid armor," adds little weight to the fabric and does not reduce its flexibility - two critical features for a space suit. NASA recently provided a grant for its study and prototypes will be sent for testing on the International Space Station in November.

• share
• favorite_border

Lithium-ion batteries can be found in everything from cell phones to hoverboards, but these power sources have recently made headlines for the fires they have inadvertently caused. To address these safety hazards, scientists report in ACS Nano that they are paving the way to better batteries with a naturally occurring form of asphalt.

• share
• favorite_border

Energy from the sun and a block of wood smaller than an adult’s hand are the only components needed to heat water to its steaming point in these purifying devices.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers have begun to use metamaterials, engineered composites that have unique properties not found in nature, to enhance the absorption rates of plasmonic absorbers, and a team in Japan used a trilayered metamaterial to develop a wavelength-selective plasmonic metamaterial absorber on top of a spintronic device to enhance the generation of spin currents from the heat produced in the mid-infrared regime. The research is reported this week in APL Photonics.

• share
• favorite_border

Inspired by human forgetfulness – how our brains discard unnecessary data to make room for new information — scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, in collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory and three universities, conducted a recent study that combined supercomputer simulation and X-ray characterization of a material that gradually “forgets.” This could one day be used for advanced bio-inspired computing.

• share
• favorite_border

UPTON, NY—Chemistry is a complex dance of atoms. Subtle shifts in position and shuffles of electrons break and remake chemical bonds as participants change partners. Catalysts are like molecular matchmakers that make it easier for sometimes-reluctant partners to interact. Now scientists have a way to capture the details of chemistry choreography as it happens.

• share
• favorite_border

UC Riverside physicists have developed a photodetector – a device that converts light into electrons – by combining two distinct inorganic materials and producing quantum mechanical processes that could revolutionize the way solar energy is collected. The researchers stacked two atomic layers of tungsten diselenide on a single atomic layer of molybdenum diselenide. Such stacking results in properties vastly different from those of the parent layers, allowing for customized electronic engineering at the tiniest possible scale.

• share
• favorite_border

Using a simple layer-by-layer coating technique, researchers from the U.S. and Korea have developed a paper-based flexible supercapacitor that could be used to help power wearable devices. The device uses metallic nanoparticles to coat cellulose fibers in the paper, creating supercapacitor electrodes with high energy and power densities – and the best performance so far in a textile-based supercapacitor.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists create widely controllable ultrathin optical components that allow virtual objects to be projected in real environments.