Jan 24, 2024 (Nanowerk News) As we transition to a new era in computing, there is a need for new devices that integrate electronic and photonic functionalities at the nanoscale while enhancing the interaction between photons and electrons. In an important step toward fulfilling this need, researchers have developed a...
Atmospheric pressure changes could be driving Mars’ elusive methane pulses
Jan 24, 2024 (Nanowerk News) New research shows that atmospheric pressure fluctuations that pull gases up from underground could be responsible for releasing subsurface methane into Mars’ atmosphere; knowing when and where to look for methane can help the Curiosity rover search for signs of life. “Understanding Mars’ methane variations...
Vibrating nanobubbles could lead to better water treatment
Jan 24, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Fresh research into the physics of vibrating nanobubbles reveals that they do not heat up as much as previously thought (Nano Letters, "Thermal Oscillations of Nanobubbles"). Vibrating nanobubbles have surprising uses as ultrasound contrast agents in cancer diagnosis. They can also be forced to collapse...
Researchers add a ‘twist’ to classical material design
Jan 24, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Researchers with the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University and the DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) grew a twisted multilayer crystal structure for the first time and measured the structure’s key properties. The twisted structure could help researchers develop next-generation materials...
Wearable breath sensor picks up the tiniest changes in airflow
Jan 24, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Manchester scientists have developed a new type of wearable sensor that can precisely track your breath, even the slightest changes in the exhaling and inhaling processes. This innovation, described in a recent study published in Advanced Materials ("Wearable Sensors for Breath Monitoring Based on Water-based...
Tunnelling of electrons via the neighboring atom
Jan 24, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Tunnelling is one of most fundamental processes in quantum mechanics, where the wave packet could traverse a classically insurmountable energy barrier with a certain probability. Within the atomic scale, tunnelling effects play an important role in molecular biology, such as accelerating enzyme catalysis, prompting spontaneous...
Ultrafast excitations in correlated systems
Jan 24, 2024 (Nanowerk News) An international team of researchers from the European XFEL together with colleagues from the Max Born Institute in Berlin, Universities of Berlin and Hamburg, The University of Tokyo, the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the Dutch Radboud University, Imperial College...
New smart materials advance chemical signaling between robots
Jan 24, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Living organisms utilize sophisticated chemical signaling to share information, locate mates, and defend territories. Harnessing similar abilities could revolutionize robotic perception, collaboration, and functionality. However, previous artificial chemical communication attempts faced limitations: Materials lacked integrated send, receive and sense capabilities; Control over chemical release timing...
Organic electronics lead to new ways to sense light
Jan 24, 2024 (Nanowerk News) The past few decades have seen astonishing advances in imaging technology, from high-speed optical sensors that process over two million frames per second to tiny lensless cameras that record images using a single pixel. In a study recently published in Advanced Materials ("Ultraflexible Wireless Imager...
Motion of satellite galaxies suggests younger universe
Jan 23, 2024 (Nanowerk News) In standard cosmological models, the formation of cosmological structures begins with the emergence of small structures, which subsequently undergo hierarchical merging, leading to the formation of larger systems. As the Universe ages, massive galaxy groups and clusters, being the largest systems, tend to increase in...