Nanotechnology News - March 2008 Archives

The future of computing - carbon nanotubes and superconductors to replace the silicon chip (3/30/2008)

Nanotech hopes to take on silicon for control of the electronics industry ...> Full Article

Biosensing nanodevice to revolutionize health screenings (3/27/2008)

One day soon a biosensing nanodevice developed by Arizona State University researcher Wayne Frasch may eliminate long lines at airport security checkpoints and revolutionize health screenings for diseases like anthrax, cancer and antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). ...> Full Article

Ivy uses nanoparticles to climb walls, chemists discover (3/27/2008)

Ivy plants secrete nanoparticles to help them grip walls, US-based chemists have reported ...> Full Article

Physicists Show Electrons Can Travel More Than 100 Times Faster in Graphene (3/26/2008)

Physicists have shown that in graphene the intrinsic limit to the mobility, a measure of how well a material conducts electricity, is higher than any other known material at room temperature. Graphene, a single-atom-thick sheet of graphite, is a new material which combines aspects of semiconductors and metals. ...> Full Article

Team Proves Bridge from Conventional to Molecular Electronics Possible (3/24/2008)

Researchers have set the stage for building the "evolutionary link" between the microelectronics of today built from semiconductor compounds and future generations of devices made largely from complex organic molecules. ...> Full Article

Researchers achieve dramatic increase in thermoelectric efficiency (3/23/2008)

Nanotech advance heralds new era in heating, cooling and power generation ...> Full Article

Nanoscience will change the way we think about the world (3/22/2008)

The ubiquity of mineral nanoparticles in natural waters, the atmosphere, and in soils and their intriguing properties provide Earth scientists with another dimension in which to understand our planet. ...> Full Article

Tiny buckyballs squeeze hydrogen like giant Jupiter (3/21/2008)

Carbon cages can hold super-dense volumes of nearly metallic hydrogen ...> Full Article

Prestigious NSF award helps physicist study magnetic nanostructures (3/20/2008)

Physicist lands one of the most prestigious awards available for faculty early in their careers. ...> Full Article

Chemist Recognized for Founding, Establishing the Field of Structural DNA Nanotechnology (3/19/2008)

New York University Chemistry Professor Nadrian Seeman has received the American Chemical Society's Nichols Medal for his founding and establishing the field of structural DNA nanotechnology ...> Full Article

Chemical engineers discover new way to control particle motion potentially aiding micro- and nano-fluid systems for drug delivery, sensors, more (3/18/2008)

Chemical engineers have discovered a new way to control the motion of fluid particles through tiny channels, potentially aiding the development of micro- and nano-scale technologies such as drug delivery devices, chemical and biological sensors, and components for miniaturized biological "lab-on-a-chip" applications. ...> Full Article

Nanotechnology expert awarded $10M grant (3/17/2008)

One of 12 scholars worldwide selected ...> Full Article

Copolymers block out new approaches to microelectronics (3/16/2008)

Scientists have improved manipulation of so-called block copolymers, which can form arrays of tiny dots that could be used as the basis for electronic components that pack terabytes (1000 gigabytes) of memory in something as small as a pack of gum. ...> Full Article

Carbon nanotubes outperform copper nanowires as interconnects (3/15/2008)

Scientists create robust quantum models to compare key characteristics of copper and CNTs ...> Full Article

Nanomaterials Show Unexpected Strength Under Stress (3/14/2008)

In yet another twist on the strangeness of the nanoworld, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland-College Park have discovered that materials such as silica that are quite brittle in bulk form behave as ductile as gold at the nanoscale. Their results may affect the design of future nanomachines. ...> Full Article

All done with mirrors: microscope tracks nanoparticles in 3-D (3/13/2008)

A clever new microscope design allows nanotechnology researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to track the motions of nanoparticles in solution as they dart around in three dimensions. The researchers hope the technology, which NIST plans to patent, will lead to a better understanding of the dynamics of nanoparticles in fluids and, ultimately, process control techniques to optimize the assembly of nanotech devices. ...> Full Article

Measurement technique probes surface structure of gold nanocrystals (3/12/2008)

Researchers have demonstrated a sensitive probe that can identify and characterize the atomic structure of gold and other nanocrystalline materials ...> Full Article

New advances in 3D micro-fabrication of polymer nanocomposites (3/11/2008)

A group of researchers headed by Prof. Duan Xuanming with the CAS Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry in Beijing has achieved new advances in in-situ synthesis and fabrication of the 3D-microstrucutres in multi-colored polymer nanocomposites. ...> Full Article

Switchable nanovalves: pH-sensitive pseudorotaxane as reversible gate for drug nanotransporter (3/10/2008)

We encounter valves every day, whether in the water faucet, the carburetor in our car, or our bicycle tire tube. Valves are also present in the world of nanotechnology. A team of researchers headed by J. Fraser Stoddart and Jeffrey I. Zink at the University of California, Los Angeles, has now developed a new nanovalve. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, the scientists reveal what is special about it: In contrast to prior versions, which only function in organic solvents, this valve operates in an aqueous environment and under physiological conditions-prerequisites for any application as a gate for nanoscopic drug-transport agents, which need to set their cargo free at the right place and time. ...> Full Article

Variable nanocomposites: Small, rigid DNA rings with a gap for the incorporation of functional molecules (3/9/2008)

What appear under an atomic force microscope to be tiny rings with little bits missing are actually nanoscopic rings made of double-stranded DNA with a little gap in the form of a short single-stranded fragment. As Michael Famulok and his team from the University of Bonn, Germany, explain in the journal Angewandte Chemie , this gap is a place to attach other molecules that have the potential to transform the rings into versatile nanocomposites for various applications. ...> Full Article

Researchers create invisibiity cloak (3/8/2008)

New technique to control nanoparticles ...> Full Article

Fluorescent organic nanoparticles help illuminate cellular proteins (3/8/2008)

Like a smart highlighter, immunofluorescent labeling can zero in on a specific protein, helping scientists understand the structure of a cell and how diseases affect that structure. Current techniques have disadvantages, though. ...> Full Article

Nanoswitches Toggled by Light (3/7/2008)

Ultrafast electron microscopy reveals switchable nanochannels in materials ...> Full Article

Physicists Discover Gold Can Be Magnetic on the Nanoscale (3/6/2008)

Physicists have found that applying an electrical field on a surface-supported gold nanocluster changes its structure from a three-dimensional one to a planar flat structure. In another paper, they relate their discovery that gold in this size regime can be made magnetic through oxygenation of gold nanowires. They also found that up to a certain length, oxygenated gold nanowires behave as a conducting metal, but beyond that, they become insulators. This marks the first time on the nanoscale that such a metal-to-insulation transition has been found on the nanoscale. Both findings are important predictions that could some day be implemented as control parameters governing the chemical and physical material properties employed in nanotechnology. ...> Full Article

Surface dislocation nucleation: Strength is but skin deep at the nanoscale, Penn engineers discover (3/4/2008)

For centuries, engineers have bent and torn metals to test their strength and ductility. Now, materials scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science are studying the same metals but at nanoscale sizes in the form of wires a thousand times thinner than a human hair. This work has enable Penn engineers to construct a theoretical model to predict the strength of metals at the nanoscale. Using this model, they have found that, while metals tend to be stronger at nanoscale volumes, their strengths saturate at around 10-50 nanometers diameter, at which point they also become more sensitive to temperature and strain rate. Such prediction of different strength regimes of nano-solids is important for future application and engineering design of nanotechnology. ...> Full Article

Breakthroughs in Nanotechnology on Edge of 'Knowledge Frontier' (3/2/2008)

Scientist's nanotech research earns him 'Outstanding Missourian' award ...> Full Article

Magnetic atoms of gold, silver and copper have been obtained (3/1/2008)

Scientists create magnetic forms of gold, silver and copper ...> Full Article