Feb 10, 2022 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Advances in nucleic acids research and therapeutic nanotechnology have allowed for the development of rationally designed therapeutic nucleic acids (TNAs) that have played a crucial role in many clinical applications. TNAs have become even more relevant due to the current COVID-19 pandemic as they were...
Future gravitational wave detector in space could uncover secrets of the Universe
Feb 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) New research has shown that future gravitational wave detections from space will be capable of finding new fundamental fields and potentially shed new light on unexplained aspects of the Universe. Professor Thomas Sotiriou from the University of Nottingham’s Centre of Gravity and Andrea Maselli, researcher...
Scientists find clue to possible extraterrestrial origin of peptides
Feb 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) All life as we know it consists of the same chemical building blocks. These include peptides, which perform various completely different functions in the body – transporting substances, accelerating reactions or forming stabilising scaffolds in cells. Peptides consist of individual amino acids arranged in a...
Carbon nanotube films open up new prospects for electronics
Feb 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Physicists from MIPT and Skoltech have found a way to modify and purposely tune the electronic properties of carbon nanotubes to meet the requirements of novel electronic devices. The paper is published in Carbon ("Terahertz-infrared spectroscopy of wafer-scale films of single-walled carbon nanotubes treated by...
New planet detected around star closest to the Sun
Feb 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile have found evidence of another planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Solar System. This candidate planet is the third detected in the system and the lightest...
A new electrolyte for greener and safer batteries
Feb 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The future of battery technologies lies in sodium. More sustainable than lithium - which currently powers most of our devices and vehicles - sodium is also abundant on the earth’s surface. The only problem is that its ions do not move easily in the liquid...
Perovskite research advances offer new possibilities for devices such as solar cells
Feb 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Perovskite materials are low-cost, solution-processable semiconductors that can absorb and convert solar energy with extraordinarily high efficiencies, making them promising material for use in applications such as photovoltaic solar cells – if the material can be made stable and efficient. In research published in the...
Robots in nanoparticle production – reliable, fast and safe (w/video)
Feb 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) What otherwise takes hours in the laboratory, involves annoying waiting times and many sources of error, can now be accomplished by a robot in less time, well digitally documented and with high reproducibility. Automation of synthesis processes for nanoparticles can be a milestone for the...
Tiny antenna enables portable biomedical, food-analysis, and other gadgets driven by integrated nano- and terahertz technologies
Feb 09, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A Skoltech professor and his colleagues from Germany have designed a very small and flat antenna for receiving and transmitting terahertz signals. THz waves are a band of electromagnetic radiation that holds much promise for applications as diverse as security checks and wireless communication, cancer...
The power of seeing magnetic fields
Feb 09, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Being able to ‘see’ magnetic fields all the way down to the atomic scale helps us better understand magnetic properties of materials. Such insight may help us design smaller and more efficient microelectronic devices that use magnetic properties. In a study published in Nature ("Real-space...