Aug 25, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Two-dimensional materials, which consist of a single layer of atoms, exhibit unusual properties that could be harnessed for a wide range of quantum and microelectronics systems. But what makes them truly special are their flaws. “That’s where their true magic lies,” said Alexander Weber-Bargioni at...
Understanding outsize role of nanopores
Aug 25, 2022 (Nanowerk News) There is an entire aqueous universe hidden within the tiny pores of many natural and engineered materials. Research from the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has shown that when such materials are submerged in liquid, the chemistry inside the tiny...
New insights into the interaction of topological insulators
Aug 25, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Tungsten di-telluride (WTe2) has recently proven to be a promising material for the realization of topological states. These are regarded as the key to novel "spintronic" devices and quantum computers of the future due to their unique electronic properties. Physicists at Forschungszentrum Jülich have now...
High-yield CRISPR without viral vectors
Aug 25, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A new variation of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system makes it easier to re-engineer massive quantities of cells for therapeutic applications. The approach, developed at Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco (UCSF), lets scientists introduce especially long DNA sequences to precise locations in the genomes...
Preparing for water scarcity using hybrid desalination technologies
Aug 25, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Clean water is essential for human survival. However, less than 3% of fresh water can be used as drinking water. According to a report published by the World Meteorological Organization, there is scarcity of drinking water for approximately 1 billion people worldwide, which is expected...
Harvesting energy – drop by drop
Aug 25, 2022 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Water contains tremendous energy in a variety of forms, but very little of this energy is being harnessed – although there are many ways to harvest water energy. On a larger scale, there are traditional hydro energy and tidal force harvesting plants. On a small...
Entangled photons tailor-made
Aug 25, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Physicists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have managed to entangle more than a dozen photons efficiently and in a defined way (Nature, "Efficient generation of entangled multiphoton graph states from a single atom"). They are thus creating a basis for a new...
How do molecular motors convert chemical energy in to mechanical work?
Aug 25, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Molecular motors are complex devices composed of many different parts that consume energy to perform various cellular activities. In short, molecular machines transform energy into useful work. Understanding the mechanistical aspects underlying these motors begins with generating a detailed description of their overall architecture and...
Researchers reveal origin of ultrafast mystery signals in valleytronic materials
Aug 24, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Tiny materials hold big mysteries, the solutions to which could bring about next-generation electronics. An international collaboration led by researchers based in Japan has solved the whodunit of cryptic overtone signals in an analysis of molybdenum diselenide, an atomically thin crystal lattice with desirable properties...