Jul 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) While taking snapshots with the high-speed “electron camera” at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Acceleratory Laboratory, researchers discovered new behavior in an ultrathin material that offers a promising approach to manipulating light that will be useful for devices that detect, control or emit light,...
Novel 3D nanoprinting method enables complex metal oxide structures with high fidelity
Jul 10, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) The field of three-dimensional (3D) nanoprinting has long promised to revolutionize the fabrication of advanced materials and devices. This technology offers the potential to create intricate structures with nanoscale precision, opening up new possibilities in areas such as electronics, optics, energy storage, and sensing. However,...
A new twist on artificial muscles for safer, softer robots
Jul 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Northwestern University engineers have developed a new soft, flexible device that makes robots move by expanding and contracting — just like a human muscle. To demonstrate their new device, called an actuator, the researchers used it to create a cylindrical, worm-like soft robot and an...
Astronomers find missing link in massive black hole formation
Jul 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Omega Centauri is a spectacular collection of 10 million stars, visible as a smudge in the night sky from Southern latitudes. Through a small telescope, it looks no different from other so-called globular clusters; a spherical stellar collection so dense towards the center that it...
Simulating blood flow dynamics for improved nanoparticle drug delivery
Jul 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Despite gaining a bad rap in mainstream media in recent years, nanoparticles have been successfully used for decades in targeted drug delivery systems. Drug molecules can be encapsulated within biodegradable nanoparticles to be delivered to specific cells or diseased tissues. However, blood flow dynamics can...
On the way to emission-free mining: extracting metals with microorganisms
Jul 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Microorganisms work in an underground bioreactor and convert ores or residual materials from mining into the valuable metals copper, indium and zinc. Innovative membrane filters then filter the valuable metals from the resulting process water. In a pilot plant of a current mining project near...
Building materials for water-rich planets in the early solar system
Jul 09, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Age data for certain classes of meteorite have made it possible to gain new findings on the origin of small water-rich astronomical bodies in the early solar system. These so-called planetesimals continually supplied building materials for planets – also for the Earth, whose original material...
Micro-oscillator symphony: stochastic resonance in nanotech
Jul 09, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Rapid and reliable molecular detection is now within reach, thanks to micro- and nano-electro-mechanical systems, essential for disease diagnostics. Yet, the presence of stochastic noise and nonlinear behaviors pose challenges that hinder optimization. Addressing these issues, there's a pressing demand for sophisticated modeling to forecast...