Feb 25, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Proteins are among the most versatile and ubiquitous biomolecules on earth. Nature uses them for everything from building tissues to regulating metabolism to defending the body against disease. Now, a new study shows that proteins have other, largely unexplored capabilities. Under the right conditions, they...
Development of a diamond transistor with high hole mobility
Feb 24, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Using a new fabrication technique, NIMS has developed a diamond field-effect transistor (FET) with high hole mobility, which allows reduced conduction loss and higher operational speed (Nature Electronics, "High-mobility p-channel wide-bandgap transistors based on hydrogen-terminated diamond/hexagonal boron nitride heterostructures"). This new FET also exhibits normally-off...
Microparticles show ability to turn in reverse, paving the way for microfluidic devices
Feb 24, 2022 (Nanowerk News) In a new study from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, researchers have identified how a self-organized vortex of rotating microparticles in a fluid will reverse direction when an electric stimulus is interrupted and then reapplied with the same orientation, providing fundamental...
Scientists invent imaging method to assess quality of 3D-printed metal parts
Feb 24, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), have developed a fast and low-cost imaging method that can analyse the structure of 3D-printed metal parts and offer insights into the quality of the material. Most 3D-printed metal alloys consist of a myriad of microscopic crystals,...
Visualization of the origin of magnetic forces by atomic resolution electron microscopy
Feb 24, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The joint development team of Professor Shibata (the University of Tokyo), JEOL Ltd. and Monash University succeeded in directly observing an atomic magnetic field, the origin of magnets (magnetic force), for the first time in the world (Nature, "Real-space visualization of intrinsic magnetic fields of...
Revealing new states in 2D materials
Feb 24, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials can provide highly interesting excitonic properties, which render them an attractive platform to explore polaritonic physics. In the literature, a variety of inorganic exciton-polariton systems have been studied experimentally and described theoretically using the broadly accepted model of two coupled...
Materials design for atmospheric water harvesting
Feb 24, 2022 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Only 30% of all freshwater on the planet is not locked up in ice caps or glaciers (not for much longer, though). Of that, some 20% is in areas too remote for humans to access and of the remaining 80% about three-quarters comes at the...
how new microalgae technologies can hasten the end of our reliance on oil
Feb 24, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Microalgae have been used by the Chinese for medicinal and nutritional purposes for thousands of years in the belief they could cure almost any health condition. The idea that microalgae have extraordinary healing powers isn’t as far-fetched as some might think. Though the ancient Chinese...
Microscopic view on asteroid collisions could help us understand planet formation
Feb 24, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A new way of dating collisions between asteroids and planetary bodies throughout our Solar System’s history could help scientists reconstruct how and when planets were born. A team of researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, combined dating and microscopic analysis of the Chelyabinsk meteorite...
A superior new material for optoelectronic devices
Feb 24, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Liquid crystals derived from borophene have risen in popularity, owing to their immense applicability in optoelectronic and photonic devices. However, their development requires a very narrow temperature range, which hinders their large-scale application. Now, Tokyo Tech researchers investigated a liquid-state borophene oxide, discovering that it...