Apr 27, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Iron oxide nanoparticles are often used in medical technology – as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging or as transport agents for drugs in the bloodstream, for example in tumour therapy. For these applications, the nanoparticles have to be biocompatible and superparamagnetic. Thus, they must...
Molecular teamwork is key to efficient organic semiconductors
Apr 27, 2023 (Nanowerk News) This result may lead to more efficient smart watches, solar cells and other organic electronics of the future. Researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have discovered a way to trigger cooperative behavior often found in...
Speedy robo-gripper reflexively organizes cluttered spaces
Apr 27, 2023 (Nanowerk News) When manipulating an arcade claw, a player can plan all she wants. But once she presses the joystick button, it’s a game of wait-and-see. If the claw misses its target, she’ll have to start from scratch for another chance at a prize. The slow and...
Engineers ‘grow’ atomically thin transistors on top of computer chips
Apr 27, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Emerging artificial intelligence (AI) applications, like chatbots that generate natural human language, demand denser, more powerful computer chips. But semiconductor chips are traditionally made with bulk materials, which are boxy 3D structures, so stacking multiple layers of transistors to create denser integrations is very difficult....
Newly developed hydrogel nanocomposite for the mass production of hydrogen
Apr 27, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A research team led by Prof. HYEON Taeghwan at the Center for Nanoparticle Research within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in Seoul, South Korea has developed a new photocatalytic platform for the mass production of hydrogen. The group’s study on the photocatalytic platform led...
Physicists’ 2D crystals show promise for advanced electronics
Apr 27, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A team of researchers, led by University of Texas at Dallas scientists, has developed a new technique to grow exceptionally large, high-quality crystals that could help make advanced electronics, such as spintronic and magnetic optoelectronic devices, a reality (ACS Nano, "A Three-Stage Magnetic Phase Transition...
Research on light emission from black phosphorus hints at new applications
Apr 27, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Energy efficient LEDs (light emitting diodes) have begun to replace many types of lighting both indoor and outdoor. A key reason for the rise of LEDs has been materials research that greatly improved the quality and intensity of light achievable with these devices. But those...
Light-based computing scheme reduces power needed to mine cryptocurrencies
Apr 27, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Researchers have developed a new light-based computing scheme that uses a photonic integrated circuit to reduce the energy necessary for cryptocurrency and blockchain applications. Mining cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin—a process of verifying transactions and adding new cryptocurrency to the blockchain—consumes up to 1% of the world’s...
Better cryoprotection for red blood cells
Apr 27, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Small amounts of nanometer-thin metal-organic layers efficiently protect red blood cells during freezing and thawing, as a team of researchers writing in the journal Angewandte Chemie has discovered ("Dimensional Reduction of Metal–Organic Frameworks for Enhanced Cryopreservation of Red Blood Cells"). The nanolayers, made from metal-organic...
Versatile, high-speed, and efficient crystal actuation with photothermally resonated natural vibrations
Apr 27, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Each material possesses a distinctive natural vibrational frequency, and when an external periodic force is applied at or near this frequency, the vibrations are significantly amplified. In the realm of physics, this phenomenon is referred to as "resonance." Resonance permeates our everyday lives and can...