All Articles Tagged As: crystals

Breakthrough in nanocrystals growth (10/21/2010)

For the first time scientists have been able to watch nanoparticles grow from the earliest stages of their formation. Nanoparticles are the foundation of nanotechnology and their performance depends on their structure, composition, and size. Researchers will now be able to develop ways to control conditions under which they are grown. The breakthrough will affect a wide range of applications including solar-cell technology and chemical and biological sensors. ...> Full Article

Scientists perfect new nanowire technique (10/17/2010)

Scientists at the University of Leeds have perfected a new technique that allows them to make molecular nanowires out of thin strips of ring-shaped molecules known as discotic liquid crystals. ...> Full Article

Nano drugs (10/10/2010)

Researchers in India have demonstrated that producing nanoscopic crystals of a pharmaceutical product can allow the medication to be absorbed by the gut even if the drug is not soluble in water. ...> Full Article

Collaboration leads to simpler method for building varieties of nanocrystal superlattices (7/26/2010)

A University of Pennsylvania collaboration has created a simple and inexpensive method to rapidly grow centimeter-scale membranes of binary nanocrystal superlattices, or BNSLs, by crystallizing a mixture of nanocrystals on a liquid surface. ...> Full Article

A pinch of light (7/10/2010)

A new tool developed by Tel Aviv University, holographic optical tweezers, use holographic technology to manipulate up to 300 nanoparticles at a time, such as beads of glass or polymer, that are too small and delicate to be handled with traditional laboratory instruments. The technology, also known as "optical tweezers," could form the basis for tomorrow's ultra-fast, light-powered communication devices and quantum computers, says Dr. Yael Roichman of TAU's School of Chemistry. ...> Full Article

Scientists reveal secret of nanoparticle crystallization in real time (5/19/2010)

A collaboration between the Advanced Photon Source and Center for Nanoscale Materials at US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory has "seen" the crystallization of nanoparticles in unprecedented detail. ...> Full Article

Crystal defect shown to be key to making hollow nanotubes (4/28/2010)

Scientists have no problem making a menagerie of nanometer-sized objects -- wires, tubes, belts and even tree-like structures. What they sometimes have been unable to do is explain precisely how those objects form in the vapor and liquid cauldrons in which they are made. ...> Full Article

Designer nanomaterials on-demand (3/23/2010)

Berkeley Lab researchers at the Molecular Foundry have developed a universal method by which designer nanomaterials can be created on-demand. This scheme can be used to create materials for battery electrodes, photovoltaics and electronic data storage among a great many other possible applications. ...> Full Article

Trapping sunlight with silicon nanowires (3/11/2010)

Berkeley Lab researchers have found a better way to trap light in photovoltaic cells through the use of vertical arrays of silicon nanowires. This could substantially cut the costs of solar electric power by reducing the quantity and quality of silicon needed for efficient solar panels. ...> Full Article

For nanowires, nothing sparkles quite like diamond (2/19/2010)

Diamonds are renowned for their seemingly flawless physical beauty and their interplay with light. Now researchers are taking advantage of the mineral's imperfections to control that light at the atomic scale, generating one photon at a time. ...> Full Article

New nanocrystalline diamond probes overcome wear (11/12/2009)

Researchers at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University have developed, characterized, and modeled a new kind of probe used in atomic force microscopy, which images, measures, and manipulates matter at the nanoscale. Using diamond, researchers made a much more durable probe than the commercially available silicon nitride probes, which are typically used in AFM to gather information from a material, but can wear down after several uses. ...> Full Article

Scientists trap light and sound vibrations together in nanocrystal (10/28/2009)

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have created a nanoscale crystal device that, for the first time, allows scientists to confine both light and sound vibrations in the same tiny space. "This is a whole new concept," notes Oskar Painter, associate professor of applied physics at Caltech. Painter is the principal investigator on the paper describing the work, which was published in the online edition of the journal Nature. ...> Full Article

Tiny test tube experiment shows reaction of melting materials at the nano scale (10/18/2009)

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have conducted a basic chemistry experiment in what is perhaps the world's smallest test tube, measuring a thousandth the diameter of a human hair. ...> Full Article

More than meets the eye: New blue light nanocrystals (7/22/2009)

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A breakthrough toward industrial production of fluorescent nanodiamonds (6/5/2009)

The laboratory Structure -- Activity of Normal and Pathologic Biomolecules-Inserm, in collaboration with the Material Center of Mines-ParisTech, the NRG-UMR 5060 CNRS/UTBM and the Physic Institute of Stuttgart University, discovered a novel route to fabricate fluorescent nanoparticles from diamond microcrystals. Results are published in Nanotechnology's June 10 issue. ...> Full Article

Researchers show how to 'stamp' nanodevices with rubber molds (11/3/2008)

By manipulating the way tiny droplets of fluid dry, researchers have created an innovative way to make and pattern nanoscale wires and other devices that ordinarily can be made only with expensive lithographic tools. The process is guided by molds that "stamp" the desired structures. ...> Full Article

Ultrananocrystalline Diamond coating improves mechanical pump seals (10/8/2008)

From petroleum to food and beverage to pharmaceuticals, most industries use mechanical pumps, and all these pumps rely on seals to reduce leaks and maintenance costs. Argonne researchers, along with industry partners, have developed a new, efficient and cost-effective alternative to conventional seals. ...> Full Article

'Nanosculpture' Could Enable New Types of Heat Pumps and Energy Converters (7/18/2008)

Researchers discover method to induce, suppress "branching" of nanorods ...> Full Article

Graphene-based gadgets may be just years away (5/3/2008)

Researchers have produced tiny liquid crystal devices with electrodes made from graphene - an exciting development that could lead to computer and TV displays based on this technology. ...> 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

Nanoswitches Toggled by Light (3/7/2008)

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

Rounding up gases, nano style (2/3/2008)

Chemists unveil new process for capturing and storing gas. Potential spin-offs include improvements to greenhouse gas management and fuel cell development. ...> Full Article