Dec 22, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A pressing quest in the field of nanoelectronics is the search for a material that could replace silicon. Graphene has seemed promising for decades. But its potential faltered along the way, due to damaging processing methods and the lack of a new electronics paradigm to...
Scientists turn single molecule clockwise or counterclockwise on demand (w/video)
Dec 22, 2022 (Nanowerk News) You can easily rotate a baseball in your hand by twisting your fingers. But you need inventive scientists with access to world-class scientific facilities to rotate an object that is only two billionths of a meter wide. That is a million times smaller than a...
The physical intelligence of ant and robot collectives (w/video)
Dec 22, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Individual ants are relatively simple creatures and yet a colony of ants can perform really complex tasks, such as intricate construction, foraging and defense. Recently, Harvard researchers took inspiration from ants to design a team of relatively simple robots that can work collectively to perform...
Collective circular dichroism by chiral plasmonic nanoparticles
Dec 22, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Molecular chirality means the geometrical property of molecules with broken mirror symmetry. Characterizing molecular chirality and understanding their roles in physiochemical situations has been important in broad research scope such as, biology, chemistry, and pharmaceutics. In general, molecular chirality can be analyzed using circular dichroism...
Engineers develop new microscale 3D printer for multi-level anticounterfeiting labels
Dec 22, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Counterfeiting threatens the global economy and security. According to the report issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2020, the value of global counterfeit and pirated products is estimated between US$ 1.7 and 4.5 trillion a year. Despite enormous efforts, conventional...
Charge density distributions of electric double layers
Dec 22, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Expanding on their recently developed electrochemical 3D atomic force microscopy (EC-3D-AFM) technique, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers have derived the depth profile of the charge density of electric double layers (EDLs). Through statistical analysis, peak deconvolution, and electrostatic calculations, the researchers developed charge profiling 3D...
Optomechanics simulates graphene lattices
Dec 22, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The precise control of micro-mechanical oscillators is fundamental to many contemporary technologies, from sensing and timing to radiofrequency filters in smartphones. Over the past decade, quantum control of mechanical systems has been firmly established with atoms, molecules, and ions in the first wave of development...
Where we are and where we need to go
Dec 22, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The abundant carbon on Earth might offer a rich, renewable resource for clean, sustainable energy. The technology â called carbon-based electrochemical catalysis â that could make green energy conversion possible exists, according to an international collaboration investigating recent advancements, but is not ready for broad application....