Mar 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Two-dimensional (2D) materials possess extraordinary properties. They usually consist of atomic layers that are only a few nanometers thick and are particularly good at conducting heat and electricity, for instance. To the astonishment of many scientists, it recently became known that 2D materials can also...
Acoustic propulsion of nanomachines depends on their orientation
Mar 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Microscopically tiny nanomachines which move like submarines with their own propulsion – for example in the human body, where they transport active agents and release them at a target: What sounds like science fiction has, over the past 20 years, become an ever more rapidly...
Quantum information: Light from rare-earth molecules
Mar 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Light can be used to distribute quantum information rapidly, efficiently, and in a secure, tap-proof manner. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Strasbourg University, Chimie ParisTech and the French national research center CNRS have now achieved major progress in the development of materials for...
‘Bubble-through’ nuclear engine might be a future NASA workhorse
Mar 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A cutting-edge nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) rocket engine using what’s called centrifugal liquid fuel bubble-through could one day be a ticket for NASA to go directly into deep space. Under an NTP research contract for the Space Nuclear Propulsion Project Office at NASA’s Marshall Space...
Novel electrical component improves stability of solar cells
Mar 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) In the future, decarbonized societies that use internet of things (IoT) devices will become commonplace. But to achieve this, we need to first realize highly efficient and stable sources of renewable energy. Solar cells are considered a promising option, but their electrical contacts suffer from...
The new, improved Dragonfly is a galactic gas detector
Mar 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The Dragonfly telescope is undergoing a metamorphosis. For the past decade, the Dragonfly Telephoto Array — designed by Yale’s Pieter van Dokkum and the University of Toronto’s Roberto Abraham and located in New Mexico — has conducted groundbreaking science by detecting faint starlight within dimly...
Converting plastic waste into porous carbon for capturing carbon dioxide
Mar 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Besides climate change, which is mostly the result of our carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, plastic pollution stands as one of the most critical environmental concerns of this decade. The sheer quantity of discarded and misplaced plastic is dealing irreparable damage to Earth’s ecosystems, affecting our...
New flexible soft-solid MOF composite membrane boosts H2/CO2 separation
Mar 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Molecular sieve membrane-based separation technology, featured with low energy consumption and small carbon footprint, has attracted much attention in gas separation. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising in gas separation membranes due to their diversified structures, high porosity and tailored functionalities. However, defect-free MOF membrane fabrication...
Physicists show how frequencies can easily be multiplied without special circuitry
Mar 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A new discovery by physicists at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) could make certain components in computers and smartphones obsolete. The team has succeeded in directly converting frequencies to higher ranges in a common magnetic material without the need for additional components. Frequency multiplication is...
Roadmap for finding new functional porous materials
Mar 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The discovery of new structures holds tremendous promise for accessing advanced functional materials in energy and environmental applications. Although cage-based porous materials, metal-organic polyhedra (MOPs), are attracting attention as an emerging functional platform for numerous applications, hardly predictable and seemingly uncontrollable packing structures remain an...