Jan 13, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Nature keeps a few secrets. While plenty of structures with low symmetry are found in nature, scientists have been confined to high-symmetry designs when synthesizing colloidal crystals, a valuable type of nanomaterial used for chemical and biological sensing and optoelectronic devices. Now, research from Northwestern...
Newly-found planets on the edge of destruction
Jan 13, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Three newly-discovered planets have been orbiting dangerously close to stars nearing the end of their lives. Out of the thousands of extrasolar planets found so far, these three gas giant planets first detected by the NASA TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) Mission, have some of...
Towards high-performance organic optoelectronics with better crystallinity at semiconductor interface
Jan 13, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Semiconductor electronic devices can be made of either inorganic crystals, formed by the strong bonding of atoms and ions, or organic crystals, which demonstrate weaker bonds held together by van der Waals forces (weak electric forces of attraction between neutral atoms or molecules that do...
Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) creates largest 3d map of the cosmos
Jan 13, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has capped off the first seven months of its survey run by smashing through all previous records for three-dimensional galaxy surveys, creating the largest and most detailed map of the universe ever. Yet it’s only about 10% of the...
Shape guides the growth of organoids
Jan 12, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The next chapter in the evolution of bioengineering will be written by the ability to grow functional miniature organs in the lab. The applications go far and wide, with safe drug testing, disease modeling, reduced animal usage and new insights into human biology topping the...
The Milky Way’s feeding habits shine a light on dark matter
Jan 13, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Astronomers are one step closer to revealing the properties of dark matter enveloping our Milky Way galaxy, thanks to a new map of twelve streams of stars orbiting within our galactic halo. Understanding these star streams is very important for astronomers. As well as revealing...
A treasure map for the realm of electrocatalysts
Jan 13, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Efficient electrocatalysts, which are needed for the production of green hydrogen, for example, are hidden in materials composed of five or more elements. A team from Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and the University of Copenhagen has developed an efficient method for identifying promising candidates in the...
Towards superior nanoscale sensing and imaging with optimized diamond probes
Jan 13, 2022 (Nanowerk News) From the discovery of microorganisms in the field of biology to imaging atoms in the field of physics, microscopic imaging has improved our understanding of the world and has been responsible for many scientific advances. Now, with the advent of spintronics and miniature magnetic devices,...
Increasing efficiency in artificial photosynthesis
Jan 12, 2022 (Nanowerk News) “Artificial photosynthesis is the holy grail of all chemists,” says Astrid Olaya, a chemical engineer at EPFL’s Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC). “The goal is to capture sunlight, on the one hand to oxidize water to generate oxygen and protons, and on the...
Building a silicon quantum computer chip atom by atom (w/video)
Jan 12, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A University of Melbourne led team have perfected a technique for embedding single atoms in a silicon wafer one-by-one. Their technology offers the potential to make quantum computers using the same methods that have given us cheap and reliable conventional devices containing billions of transistors....