May 21, 2022 (Nanowerk News) For over a decade, scientists have attempted to synthesize a new form of carbon called graphyne with limited success. That endeavor is now at an end, though, thanks to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder. Graphyne has long been of interest to scientists...
Researchers unveil a secret of stronger metals
May 21, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Forming metal into the shapes needed for various purposes can be done in many ways, including casting, machining, rolling, and forging. These processes affect the sizes and shapes of the tiny crystalline grains that make up the bulk metal, whether it be steel, aluminum or...
Unraveling a perplexing explosive process that occurs throughout the universe
May 21, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Mysterious fast radio bursts release as much energy in one second as the Sun pours out in a year and are among the most puzzling phenomena in the universe. Now researchers at Princeton University, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)...
Researchers demonstrate organic crystals can serve as energy converters for emerging technologies
May 21, 2022 (Nanowerk News) New research by a team of researchers at the NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Smart Materials Lab published in the journal Nature Communications ("Exceptionally High Work Density of a Ferroelectric Dynamic Organic Crystal around Room Temperature") demonstrates that organic crystals, a new class of smart engineering...
Mixing laser- and x-ray-beams
May 21, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Unlike fictional laser swords, real laser beams do not interact with each other when they cross – unless the beams meet within a suitable material allowing for nonlinear light-matter interaction. In such a case, wave mixing can give rise to beams with changed colors and...
Bacterial enzyme produces biodegradable polymer
May 21, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Researchers discovered a bacterial enzyme, structurally characterized at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), that synthesizes a biopolymer whose repeating units are linked together in a way that had not been previously observed (ACS Central Science, "A Synthetic Gene Library Yields a Previously Unknown Glycoside Phosphorylase...
‘Boomerang effect’ in droplets could help clean sensitive surfaces (w/video)
May 21, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A group of scientists led by Nate Cira of Harvard and Cornell University and Stefan Karpitschka of the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization has discovered that some liquid droplets first spread out on surfaces and then contract again on their own. This boomerang...
Washable and recyclable solar cell-infused textiles
May 21, 2022 (Nanowerk News) In previous studies, solar cells have been installed on the surfaces, layered on top, or weaved into the threads of textiles. During the three-year Sun-powered Textiles project, researchers at Aalto University’s departments of physics and design developed a method of adhering solar cells to textiles...
Light-controlled reactions at the nanoscale
May 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Controlling strong electromagnetic fields on nanoparticles is the key to triggering targeted molecular reactions on their surfaces. Such control over strong fields is achieved via laser light. Although laser-induced formation and breaking of molecular bonds on nanoparticle surfaces have been observed in the past, nanoscopic...