Jul 17, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A new technology being pioneered at Caltech is allowing researchers to "evolve" optical devices and then print them out using a specialized type of 3D printer. These devices are made of so-called optical metamaterials that derive their properties from structures so small they are measured...
Halide perovskite material exhibits liquid-like atomic vibrations
Jul 18, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Halide perovskites are a recently developed class of materials. They have applications in solar energy and radiation detection. They are also potentially useful for thermal harvesting—capturing heat from engines and other sources. Cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3) is among the simplest members of the broad family...
Structure of the elusive boron monoxide finally determined after 83 years
Jul 18, 2023 (Nanowerk News) In an effort to discover new 2D materials, a team of scientists from Ames National Laboratory determined the structure of boron monoxide. This compound was first discovered in the 1940s and maintained research interest throughout the years. Scientists were, however, unable to determine the structure...
Bioinspired electronic skin takes cues from nature for precision healthcare
Jul 18, 2023 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Electronic skin (e-skin) devices that mimic human skin's ability to sense biomechanical and bioelectrical signals from the body show great promise for healthcare and medical monitoring applications. An international team of researchers recently developed an innovative multi-layered e-skin patch called SPRABE-skin with skin-like properties that...
Scientists move toward engineering living matter by manipulating movement of microparticles
Jul 18, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A team of scientists has devised a system that replicates the movement of naturally occurring phenomena, such as hurricanes and algae, using laser beams and the spinning of microscopic rotors. The breakthrough, reported in the journal Nature Communications ("Hydrodynamic spin-orbit coupling in asynchronous optically driven...
Intelligent rubber materials
Jul 18, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Wearable medical devices, such as the soft exoskeletons that provide support for stroke patients or controlled drug delivery patches, have to be made of materials that can adapt intelligently and autonomously to the wearer's movements and to changing environmental conditions. These are precisely the type...
Testing a perfect absorber metamaterial
Jul 17, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Metamaterials are a type of artificial material which, as the prefix “meta” – meaning in Greek “after” or “beyond” – indicates, demonstrate electromagnetic properties and other characteristics not found in nature. As a result of these characteristics, including negative refraction and perfect lensing and cloaking,...
Proteins that encapsulate viruses can be moulded into defined shapes using DNA and RNA origami nanostructures
Jul 17, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Bioengineers have found a way to program the size and shape of virus particles by combining viral protein building blocks and templates made from DNA. The resulting nanostructures could have applications in vaccine development and transporting drugs inside the body. The research has been published...
Better lipid nanoparticles for drug delivery
Jul 17, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Many diseases can be successfully treated in the simple environment of a cell culture dish, but to successfully treat real people, the drug agent has to take a journey through the infinitely more complex environment within our bodies and arrive, intact, inside the affected cells....
New skin-like sensors fit almost everywhere
Jul 17, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Researchers from the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MIRMI) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed an automatic process for making soft sensors. These universal measurement cells can be attached to almost any kind of object. Applications are envisioned especially in...