Dec 14, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Against the backdrop of climate change and the necessary transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, water electrolysis is becoming increasingly important for the production of hydrogen. However, electrolysis not only requires catalysts for the reduction of protons to hydrogen, but also for the...
Embedding nanodiamonds in polymer can advance quantum computing and biological studies
Dec 14, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center is a defect in the crystal structure of diamond, where a nitrogen atom replaces a carbon atom in the diamond lattice and a neighboring site in the lattice is vacant. This and other fluorescent defects in diamond, known as color centers,...
Ultra-hard material to rival diamond discovered
Dec 14, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Researchers found that when carbon and nitrogen precursors were subjected to extreme heat and pressure, the resulting materials – known as carbon nitrides – were tougher than cubic boron nitride, the second hardest material after diamond. The research has been published in Advanced Materials ("Synthesis...
Unexpected chemistry reveals cosmic star factories’ secrets
Dec 14, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Two galaxies in the early universe, which contain extremely productive star factories, have been studied by a team of scientists led by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. Using powerful telescopes to split the galaxies’ light into individual colours, the scientists were amazed to discover...
The world’s first universal metasurface antenna for high-security 6G communications
Dec 14, 2023 (Nanowerk News) In a world first, the team developed a universal metasurface antenna that allows the independent and simultaneous manipulation of amplitude, phase, frequency, polarisation and direction of electromagnetic radiation. “A universal component capable of manipulating all the fundamental wave properties is the Holy Grail for physicists...
Using next-gen CRISPR tool, scientists create unprecedented molecular map of human immune response
Dec 14, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Scientists at Gladstone Institutes have created an intricate map of how the immune system functions, examining the molecular structures governing human T cells using the next-generation CRISPR tool known as base editing. Their findings, published in Nature ("Base-editing mutagenesis maps alleles to tune human T...
Fully recyclable 3D printing breakthrough uses microwaves to enable sustainable additive manufacturing
Dec 14, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, has shown immense promise as an engine for modern manufacturing transformation. By rapidly printing complex objects on demand, the technology has disrupted industries from aerospace to medical devices. However, an urgent roadblock has threatened the sustainability of wider...
Quantum batteries break causality
Dec 14, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Batteries that exploit quantum phenomena to gain, distribute and store power promise to surpass the abilities and usefulness of conventional chemical batteries in certain low-power applications. For the first time, researchers including those from the University of Tokyo take advantage of an unintuitive quantum process...
This adaptive roof tile can cut both heating and cooling costs
Dec 14, 2023 (Nanowerk News) About half of an average American building’s energy consumption is spent on heating and cooling. That’s a lot of money spent, fossil fuel burned and strain on an aging energy infrastructure during times of severe temperatures. It’s also a problem UC Santa Barbara researchers Charlie...
A new system for producing green hydrogen cheaply and efficiently
Dec 14, 2023 (Nanowerk News) What does it take to produce green hydrogen more efficiently and cheaply? Apparently, small ruthenium particles and a solar-powered system for water electrolysis. This is the solution identified by a joint team involving the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology, IIT) of Genoa,...