Oct 26, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Researchers from Northwestern University have made a significant advance in the way they produce exotic open-framework superlattices made of hollow metal nanoparticles. Using tiny hollow particles termed metallic nanoframes and modifying them with appropriate sequences of DNA, the team found they could synthesize open-channel superlattices...
Reducing the cost of a future energy carrier
Oct 26, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Hydrogen is essential to the modern economy, and expanding its utility in a more sustainable society is a major global priority. Now, in a study recently published in Science Advances ("Main-group catalysis for H2 purification based on liquid organic hydrogen carriers"), researchers from Osaka University...
Building with nanoparticles, from the bottom up
Oct 26, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Researchers at MIT have developed a technique for precisely controlling the arrangement and placement of nanoparticles on a material, like the silicon used for computer chips, in a way that does not damage or contaminate the surface of the material. The technique, which combines chemistry...
Simple machine may pave the way for more powerful cell phones and WIFI (w/video)
Oct 26, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The next generation of phones and wireless devices are going to need new antennae to access higher and higher frequency ranges. One way to make antennae that work at tens of gigahertz — the frequencies needed for 5G and higher devices — is to braid...
Dye-sensitized solar cells achieve a new record
Oct 26, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Mesoscopic dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were invented in 1990s by Brian O'Regan and Michael Grätzel, taking on the latter’s name – the world-famous Grätzel cells. DSCs convert light into electricity through photosensitizers – dye compounds that absorb light and inject electrons into an array of...
Dielectric nanocavity concentrates light in a volume 12 times below the diffraction limit
Oct 26, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Until recently, it was widely believed among physicists that it was impossible to compress light below the so-called diffraction limit (see fact box), except when using metal nanoparticles, which unfortunately also absorb light. It therefore seemed impossible to compress light strongly in dielectric materials such...
Using chirality for faster, smaller, and more efficient data storage devices
Oct 26, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) are pursuing a completely new and unconventional strategy to improve the way data can be processed and – in particular – stored. Together with their partners at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, they have been granted funding by...
Understanding Fermi polarons and their interactions
Oct 26, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Recent research has provided a first measurement of interactions between Fermi polarons in an atomically-thin 2D semiconductor, using ultrafast spectroscopy capable of probing complex quantum materials (Nature Communications, "Interactions between Fermi polarons in monolayer WS2"). Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology found the signatures of...
Miniaturized infrared detectors based on quantum dot photodetectors
Oct 25, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Miniaturization of infrared spectrometers will lead to their wider use in consumer electronics, such as smartphones enabling food control, the detection of hazardous chemicals, air pollution monitoring and wearable electronics. They can be used for the quick and easy detection of certain chemicals without using...
From batteries to water purifiers, carbon nanotubes are where it’s at
Oct 25, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are scaling up the production of vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) that could revolutionize diverse commercial products ranging from rechargeable batteries, automotive parts and sporting goods to boat hulls and water filters. The research appears in the journal...