Jul 30, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Putting 50 billion transistors into a microchip the size of a fingernail is a feat that requires manufacturing methods of nanometer level precision—layering of thin films, then etching, depositing, or using photolithography to create the patterns of semiconductor, insulator, metal, and other materials that make...
Self-powered electrostatic tweezer for adaptive object manipulation and microfluidics
Jul 30, 2024 (Nanowerk News) In a study published in Device ("Self-powered electrostatic tweezer for adaptive object manipulation"), a research team led by Dr. DU Xuemin from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has reported a new self-powered electrostatic tweezer that offers superior...
A revolutionary egg white-based bioink for advanced tissue engineering
Jul 30, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Terasaki Institute scientists have created a cutting-edge technology inspired by nature by developing a novel bioink derived from egg whites or Egg White methacryloyl (EWMA). Bioinks are mainly used in 3D bioprinting to create artificial tissues. These natural or synthetic materials support living cells, aiding...
‘Smart’ nanoparticles combine targeted chemotherapy and heat therapy to combat liver cancer
Jul 29, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Liver cancer remains one of the deadliest forms of cancer worldwide, with limited treatment options for patients in advanced stages. Traditional therapies like chemotherapy often struggle to effectively target tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue, leading to severe side effects. However, recent advances in nanotechnology...
When copper becomes transparent – creating exotic matter with x-ray lasers
Jul 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Exploring the extreme conditions reached in the interior of planets, including Earth, or during a fusion reaction, is a major challenge. By focusing the extremely powerful X-ray laser of European XFEL on a copper foil, researchers have created and investigated a state of matter very...
Researchers trap atoms, forcing them to serve as photonic transistors
Jul 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Researchers at Purdue University have trapped alkali atoms (cesium) on an integrated photonic circuit, which behaves like a transistor for photons (the smallest energy unit of light) similar to electronic transistors. These trapped atoms demonstrate the potential to build a quantum network based on cold-atom...
Researchers achieve quantum breakthrough with novel quantum-to-quantum Bernoulli factory design
Jul 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Unlike classical computers, which use bits to process information as either 0s or 1s, quantum computers use quantum bits, also known as qubits, which can represent and process both 0 and 1 simultaneously thanks to a quantum property called superposition. This fundamental difference gives quantum...
Shape-shifting ‘transformer bots’ inspired by origami
Jul 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Inspired by the paper-folding art of origami, North Carolina State University engineers have discovered a way to make a single plastic cubed structure transform into more than 1,000 configurations using only three active motors. The findings could pave the way for shape-shifting artificial systems that...
Plant-inspired polymers for water purification
Jul 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Clean drinking water is a basic demand for our health and wellbeing. However, as the global population grows, achieving this for all communities worldwide becomes more challenging. Now, in a study published in Nature Communications ("Hyperconfined Bio-Inspired Polymers in Integrative Flow-Through Systems for Highly Selective...
Atomic ‘GPS’ elucidates movement during ultrafast material transitions
Jul 27, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have created the first-ever atomic movies showing how atoms rearrange locally within a quantum material as it transitions from an insulator to a metal. With the help of these movies, the researchers discovered a new material phase that settles a...