Apr 20, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Graphene, a single-layer carbon sheet with a hexagonal packed lattice structure, has displayed attractive potential in artificial photocatalysis due to its enchanting properties in enhancing light absorption, electron transfer dynamics, and surface reactions. Nowadays, multifunctional graphene-based photocatalysts, such as graphene-semiconductor, graphene-metal, and graphene-organics have been...
Molecular robots work cooperatively in swarms (w/video)
Apr 20, 2022 (Nanowerk News) In a global first, scientists have demonstrated that molecular robots are able to accomplish cargo delivery by employing a strategy of swarming, achieving a transport efficiency five times greater than that of single robots. Swarm robotics is a new discipline, inspired by the cooperative behavior...
Scientists build microporous MOF traps for mitigating toxic gases
Apr 20, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide (NO2 and SO2) are toxic gases harmful to the environment and human health. Once they enter the atmosphere, they can travel hundreds of miles, polluting the air and causing acid rain which in turn damages buildings, trees, and crops. Exposure...
Scientists are saving the planet by coding green
Apr 20, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Climate change has forced humankind to think differently in order to preserve the planet and every living being. A wide variety of technologies and services that preserve natural resources have emerged worldwide, as a result of research and innovation efforts. We now have zero-emission vehicles,...
Using nanotechnology, researchers take step toward developing ‘electric eye’
Apr 20, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Georgia State University researchers have successfully designed a new type of artificial vision device that incorporates a novel vertical stacking architecture and allows for greater depth of color recognition and scalability on a micro-level. The new research is published in the journal ACS Nano ("van...
Why Venus rotates, slowly, despite sun’s powerful grip
Apr 20, 2022 (Nanowerk News) If not for the soupy, fast-moving atmosphere on Venus, Earth’s sister planet would likely not rotate. Instead, Venus would be locked in place, always facing the sun the way the same side of the moon always faces Earth. The gravity of a large object in...
Mars may have less water than previously estimated
Apr 20, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Researchers from the Oden Institute and Jackson School of Geosciences have developed an improved model for planet-wide groundwater flow prediction on Mars that is not only more accurate but, according to its author, more elegant too. A graphic rendering of Mars, showing its icy northern...
Lab creates superfluid circuit using fermions to study electron behavior
Apr 20, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Researchers at Dartmouth have built the world’s first superfluid circuit that uses pairs of ultracold electron-like atoms, according to a study published in Physical Review Letters ("Persistent Currents in Rings of Ultracold Fermionic Atoms"). The laboratory test bed gives physicists control over the strength of...
Electronic nanogenerator tattoos as human-machine interfaces
Apr 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The field of epidermal electronics, or e-tattoos, covers a wide range of flexible and stretchable monitoring gadgets that are wearable directly on the skin. We have covered this area in multiple Nanowerk Spotlights, for instance stick-on epidermal electronics tattoo to measure UV exposure or tattoo-type...
Extremely sensitive nanosensors can detect trace amounts of molecules
Apr 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Utrecht researchers have developed a new type of sensor with an unprecedented ability to detect extremely small amounts of molecules. These sensors can be used to detect and identify trace amounts of substances such as chemical pollutants or molecules important in medicine. The sensors make...