Nanotechnology News - June 2010 Archives

Timely technology sees tiny transitions (6/28/2010)

Scientists can detect the movements of single molecules by using fluorescent tags or by pulling them in delicate force measurements, but only for a few minutes. A new technique by Rice University researchers will allow them to track single molecules without modifying them -- and it works over longer timescales. ...> Full Article

Nanowires for the electronics and optoelectronics of the future (6/27/2010)

The tale begins with a feasibility study on the manufacture of colored fluorescing thin films for optical safety applications. An EU project on the development of novel gas sensors followed. In the meantime, Empa researchers have successfully synthesized complex organic nanowires and managed to attach them together with electrically conducting links -- the first step towards the future production of electronic and optoelectronic components. ...> Full Article

Researchers develop new method for mass-producing graphene (6/26/2010)

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a simple new method for producing large quantities of the promising nanomaterial graphene. The new technique works at room temperature, needs little processing, and paves the way for cost-effective mass production of graphene. ...> Full Article

Researchers create self-assembling nanodevices that move and change shape on demand (6/25/2010)

By emulating nature's design principles, researchers have created nanodevices made of DNA that self-assemble and can be programmed to move and change shape on demand. Double helices fold up into larger, rigid linear struts that connect by intervening single-stranded DNA. These single strands of DNA pull the struts up into a 3D form. The resulting nanodevices are light, flexible and strong "tensegrities," so-called because they balance tension and compression. ...> Full Article

Researchers develop ultra-simple method for creating nanoscale gold coatings (6/24/2010)

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new, ultra-simple method for making layers of gold that measure only billionths of a meter thick. The process, which requires no sophisticated equipment and works on nearly any surface including silicon wafers, could have important implications for nanoelectronics and semiconductor manufacturing. ...> Full Article

Peering into the never-before-seen (6/23/2010)

Scientists can now peer into the inner workings of catalyst nanoparticles 3,000 times smaller than a human hair within nanoseconds. ...> Full Article

Using carbon nanotubes in lithium batteries can dramatically improve energy capacity (6/22/2010)

atteries might gain a boost in power capacity as a result of a new finding from researchers at MIT. They found that using carbon nanotubes for one of the battery's electrodes produced a significant increase -- up to tenfold -- in the amount of power it could deliver from a given weight of material, compared to a conventional lithium-ion battery. Such electrodes might find applications in small portable devices, and with further research might also lead to improved batteries for larger, more power-hungry applications. ...> Full Article

Nanoparticle scientist speaks on new discoveries at Goldschmidt Conference (6/20/2010)

Scientists make discoveries on the thermodynamic properties of transition metal oxides such as insulators and superconductors. ...> Full Article

Researchers discover new properties of World's thinnest material (6/19/2010)

Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered that graphene oxide sheets behave like surfactants, the chemicals in soap and shampoo that make stains disperse in water. ...> Full Article

Gold nanoparticles create visible-light catalysis in nanowires (6/18/2010)

A scientist at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory has created visible-light catalysis, using silver chloride nanowires decorated with gold nanoparticles, that may decompose organic molecules in polluted water. ...> Full Article

Scientists create nano-patterned superconducting thin films (6/17/2010)

A team of scientists has fabricated thin films patterned with large arrays of superconducting nanowires and loops with variable electrical resistance in an external magnetic field. Such superconducting nanowires and nano-loops might eventually be useful for new electronic devices. ...> Full Article

Scientists strive to replace silicon with graphene on nanocircuitry (6/16/2010)

Scientists have made a breakthrough toward creating nanocircuitry on graphene, widely regarded as the most promising candidate to replace silicon as the building block of transistors. They have devised a simple and quick one-step process for creating nanowires, tuning the electronic properties of reduced graphene oxide and thereby allowing it to switch from being an insulating material to a conducting material. ...> Full Article

'Instant acid' method offers new insight into nanoparticle dispersal in the environment and the body (6/16/2010)

Using a chemical trick that allows them to change the acidity of a solution almost instantly, a team at NIST has demonstrated a simple and effective technique for quantifying how the stability of nanoparticle solutions change when the acidity of their environment suddenly changes. ...> Full Article

Applied physicists create building blocks for a new class of optical circuits (6/15/2010)

Imagine creating novel devices with amazing and exotic optical properties not found in nature -- by simply evaporating a droplet of particles on a surface. By chemically building clusters of nanospheres from a liquid, a team of Harvard researchers, in collaboration with scientists at Rice University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Houston has developed just that. ...> Full Article

Nanotech yields major advance in heat transfer, cooling technologies (6/13/2010)

Researchers at Oregon State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have discovered a new way to apply nanostructure coatings to make heat transfer far more efficient, with important potential applications to high-tech devices as well as the conventional heating and cooling industry. ...> Full Article

'Nanocoax' solves solar cell 'thick and thin' dilemma (6/11/2010)

Boston College researchers report developing a "nanocoax" technology that can support a highly efficient thin film solar cells. The nanocoax structures prove to be thick enough to absorb a sufficient amount of light, yet thin enough to extract current with increased efficiency. ...> Full Article

Researchers capture first images of sub-nano pore structures (6/10/2010)

Moore's law marches on: In the quest for faster and cheaper computers, scientists have imaged pore structures in insulation material at sub-nanometer scale for the first time. Understanding these structures could substantially enhance computer performance and power usage of integrated circuits, say Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC) and Cornell University scientists. ...> Full Article

LVEM5 used by US Air Force Research Laboratory to Create Novel Bioassembled Materials (6/10/2010)

Creating new hybrid materials with nanoparticles using a biological blueprint. ...> Full Article

A new approach to finding and removing defects in graphene (6/9/2010)

In a paper in Nature Chemistry, Vivek Shenoy and colleagues pinpointed noncarbon atoms that create defects when graphene is produced through a technique called graphene-oxide reduction. The researchers also propose how to make that technique more efficient by precisely applying hydrogen -- rather than heat -- to remove the impurities. ...> Full Article

Testing predictions in electrochemical nanosystems (6/8/2010)

Physicists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen are gearing up for experimental tests of findings they arrived at through theoretical considerations: that electrochemical reactions take place more rapidly on isolated, nanometer-scale electrodes than on their familiar macroscopic counterparts, and that this surprising behavior is caused by thermal noise. They say their method accounts for effects that macroscopic models can't explain and is general enough to address a variety of research questions beyond those concerning nanoelectrodes. ...> Full Article

Faster computers with nanotechnology (6/7/2010)

The silicon transistors in your computer may be replaced in ten years by transistors based on carbon nanotubes. This is what scientists at the University of Gothenburg are hoping -- they have developed a method to control the nanotubes during production. ...> Full Article

Nanosponge drug delivery system more effective than direct injection (6/6/2010)

When loaded with an anticancer drug, a delivery system based on a novel material called nanosponge is three to five times more effective at reducing tumor growth than direct injection. ...> Full Article

Doping graphene (6/5/2010)

A dopant common in building conventional electronics looks promising for making components out of carbon sheets only one atom thick. ...> Full Article

Liquid method: pure graphene production (6/4/2010)

Researchers from Rice University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have unveiled a new method for producing bulk quantities of pure, one-atom-thick sheets of carbon called graphene. The research appears in the journal Nature Nanotechnology and could lead to novel, flexible electronics, carbon composites and touch-screen displays. ...> Full Article

Copper nanowires enable bendable displays and solar cells (6/3/2010)

A team of Duke University chemists has perfected a simple way to make tiny copper nanowires in quantity. The cheap conductors are small enough to be transparent, making them ideal for thin-film solar cells, flat-screen TVs and computers, and flexible displays. ...> Full Article

Scientists gain new 'core' understanding of nanoparticles (6/2/2010)

A NIST research team has uncovered a mystery in the magnetic response of iron-oxide nanoparticles, one that may be a key to controlling nanoparticle magnetism for future applications. ...> Full Article

Optical Legos: Building nanoshell structures (6/1/2010)

Scientists from four US universities have created a way to use Rice University's light-activated nanoshells as building blocks for 2-D and 3-D structures that could be useful for making chemical sensors, nanolasers and bizarre light-absorbing metamaterials. Much as a child might use Lego blocks to build 3-D models of complex buildings or vehicles, the scientists are using the new chemical self-assembly method to build complex structures that can trap, store and bend light. ...> Full Article