Jul 22, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Imagine a thin film, just nanometers thick, that could store gigabytes of data – enough for movies, video games, and videos. This is the exciting potential of ferroelectric materials for memory storage. These materials have a unique arrangement of ions, resulting in two distinct polarization...
Voxel building blocks for bioprinting human-compatible organs
Jul 22, 2024 (Nanowerk News) A research team at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science has developed what it believes could be the template for the first building blocks for human-compatible organs printed on demand. Liheng Cai, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering and...
New method for controllable tuning and instability assessment in 2D materials
Jul 22, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Two-dimensional (2D) materials have atomic-level thickness and excellent mechanical and physical properties, with broad application prospects in fields such as semiconductors, flexible devices, and composite materials. Due to their extremely low bending stiffness, single-layer 2D materials will undergo out-of-plane deformation when subjected to geometric constraints,...
Improving the design of mRNA-loaded nanocarriers for targeted therapies
Jul 22, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Among the vastly different ways of tackling a disease, controlling the genetic expression of cells is undoubtedly one of the most powerful. Over the past few decades, scientists have come up with dozens of innovative strategies that involve using messenger RNA (mRNA) to ‘force’ cells...
Flexible all-cellulose films combine structural color and strength for sustainable electronics
Jul 22, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Cellulose, the most abundant biopolymer on Earth, has long been recognized for its potential as a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based materials. As concerns about environmental pollution and resource depletion grow, researchers have been exploring ways to harness cellulose's unique properties for various applications. Two forms...
From plastic waste to electronic devices
Jul 21, 2024 (Nanowerk News) A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Delaware and Argonne National Laboratory describes a chemical reaction that can convert Styrofoam into a high-value conducting polymer known as PEDOT:PSS. Published in JACS Au ("Imidazolium-Based Sulfonating Agent to Control the Degree of Sulfonation of...
Chemists design novel method for generating sustainable fuel
Jul 19, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Chemists have been working to synthesize high-value materials from waste molecules for years. Now, an international collaboration of scientists is exploring ways to use electricity to streamline the process. In their study, recently published in Nature Catalysis ("The solvation environment of molecularly dispersed cobalt phthalocyanine...
Stretchable electronics might make their way onto the market thanks to roll-to-roll process
Jul 19, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Electronics have evolved over the years to supersede simply enhancing day-to-day life to becoming almost seamlessly integrated with daily life. People have become accustomed to wearable electronics, but what about stretchable ones? There is a growing demand for this type of technology, but the current...
Paving the way to extremely fast, compact computer memory
Jul 19, 2024 (Nanowerk News) For decades, scientists have been studying a group of unusual materials called multiferroics that could be useful for a range of applications including computer memory, chemical sensors and quantum computers. In a study published in Nature ("Giant chiral magnetoelectric oscillations in a van der Waals...
Opening up new ground in the search for dark matter
Jul 18, 2024 (Nanowerk News) A new kind of detector for dark matter has the potential to make a direct detection of the enigmatic material, according to an analysis by RIKEN physicists. Objects that astronomers can detect are thought to make up only about 15% of the mass of the...