Smart thermostats inadvertently strain electric power grids

Jul 13, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Set by default to turn on before dawn, smart thermostats unintentionally work in concert with other thermostats throughout neighborhoods and regions to prompt inadvertent, widespread energy-demand spikes on the grid. The smart thermostats are saving homeowners money, but they are also initiating peak demand throughout...

A combined multiscale modeling and experimental study on surface modification of high-volume micro-nanoparticles with atomic accuracy

Jul 13, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Surface modification of micro-nanoparticles at the atomic and close-to-atomic scales is of great importance to their applications in a variety of fields, such as energy storage, catalysis, sensors, biomedicine, etc. In order to meet the industry requirements in these areas, it is urgently necessary to...

Tiny motors take a big step forward (w/video)

Jul 13, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Motors are everywhere in our day-to-day lives — from cars to washing machines. A futuristic scientific field is working on tiny motors that could power a network of nanomachines and replace some of the power sources we use in devices today. In new research published...

A cooler side to soft robotics (w/video)

Jul 09, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A multidisciplinary team of researchers combined liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) with a thermoelectric device (TED) to develop a stretchable transducer capable of electrically controlled actuation, active cooling, and thermal-to-electrical energy conversion for soft robotics. The shape memory polymers known as liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are...

Researchers accelerate imaging techniques for capturing small molecules’ structures with graphene

Jul 12, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign research effort led by Pinshane Huang is accelerating imaging techniques to visualize structures of small molecules clearly — a process once thought impossible (Nano Letters, "Atomic-Resolution Imaging of Small Organic Molecules on Graphene"). Their discovery unleashes endless potential in improving...