Dec 31, 2021 (Nanowerk News) A new technique takes bioprinting — in which an ink of cells is printed, layer by layer, to form a structure — to a whole new, and icy level. Investigators from the Zhang lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed a technology that they...
Optimization of mRNA containing nanoparticles
Dec 28, 2021 (Nanowerk News) The research neutron source Hein Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is playing an important role in the investigation of mRNA nanoparticles similar to the ones used in the Covid-19 vaccines from vendors BioNTech and Moderna. Researchers at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz...
Novel nanowires protection shell prepared for stable oxygen reduction reaction
Dec 28, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Chinese scientists have recently prepared stable face-centered tetragonal (fct)-phase platinum (Pt)-based intermetallics in nano-scaled size, which can be used as a protection shell for new PtFeIr nanowires preparation for stable oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). This research, published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition ("Ordered PtFeIr intermetallic...
Scientists find ways to help perovskite solar cell ‘self-healing’
Dec 28, 2021 (Nanowerk News) A team led by Prof. HU Linhua at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has recently developed a type of self-healing perovskite solar cell by functional combination of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). Related results were published in Journal of Energy...
Engineers bring a soft touch to commercial robotics
Dec 28, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Inspired by the natural dexterity of the human hand, a team of engineers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has created a reconfigurable hybrid robotics system that is able to grip a variety of objects: from the small, soft and delicate to the large,...
Researchers capture high-frequency oscillations in the gigantic eruption of a neutron star
Dec 27, 2021 (Nanowerk News) An international scientific group has managed to measure for the first time oscillations in the brightness of a neutron star –magnetar– during its most violent moments. In just a tenth of a second, the magnetar released energy equivalent to that produced by the Sun in...
Nano-chocolates that store hydrogen
Dec 27, 2021 (Nanowerk News) An innovative approach could turn nanoparticles into simple reservoirs for storing hydrogen. The highly volatile gas is considered a promising energy carrier for the future, which could provide climate-friendly fuels for airplanes, ships and lorries, for example, as well as allowing climate-friendly steel and cement...
A breakthrough in microneedle patches
Dec 27, 2021 (Nanowerk News) The painful feeling of receiving an injection through a hypodermic needle or with the unpleasant sensation of swallowing a large pill is a globally familiar sensation. But what if a revolutionary and gentler way of administering drugs was in the works? For over two decades,...
Helium bath splash
Dec 27, 2021 (Nanowerk News) While working with helium nanodroplets, scientists at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, have come across a surprising phenomenon: When the ultracold droplets hit a hard surface, they behave like drops of water. Ions with which they were previously doped thus remain protected on impact and...
Gelatin foams show unexpected ultralong organic phosphorescence for optical applications
Dec 27, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Strong, lightweight and biocompatible foams glow in the dark when ultraviolet light is shone on them, RIKEN chemists have discovered (Journal of the American Chemical Society, "Ultralong organic phosphorescent foams with high mechanical strength"). This phosphorescence could have diverse applications, such as imaging biological samples...