Aug 07, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Genetic engineering has brought us revolutionary advances in medicine, biotechnology, and our understanding of life itself. However, the precise manipulation of DNA sequences has remained a formidable challenge. Traditional enzyme-based methods like CRISPR, while powerful, are constrained by their reliance on biological machinery and sensitivity...
Researchers solve long-standing challenge for piezoelectric materials
Aug 07, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Heat and pressure can deteriorate the properties of piezoelectric materials that make state-of-the-art ultrasound and sonar technologies possible – and fixing that damage has historically required disassembling devices and exposing the materials to even higher temperatures. Now researchers have developed a technique to restore those...
Advanced electron microscopy to investigate magnetic layered materials
Aug 07, 2024 (Nanowerk News) In a recent study published in Nature Communications ("Direct observation of twisted stacking domains in the van der Waals magnet CrI3"), INL researchers Loukya Boddapati and Francis Leonard Deepak, along with an international team from Korea, Spain, the U.S., and the U.K., used cutting-edge electron...
Nanomaterials boost plant growth under stress at low doses but harm at high levels
Aug 07, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Soil salt concentrations above the optimal threshold for plant growth can threaten global food security by compromising agricultural productivity and crop quality. An analysis published in Physiologia Plantarum ("Meta-analysis of nanomaterials and plants interaction under salinity stress") examined the potential of nanomaterials – which have...
Nanoharvesting unused signals such as Wi-Fi Into energy for electronics
Aug 07, 2024 (Nanowerk News) We are constantly surrounded by electromagnetic waves such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals. What if we could turn the unused excess into usable energy? Researchers at Tohoku University, the National University of Singapore, and the University of Messina developed a novel technology to efficiently harvest...
Stacking molecules like plates improves organic solar device performance
Aug 06, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Harnessing the power of the sun is vital for a clean, green future. To do so, we need optoelectronic devices, like solar cells, that can convert light into electricity efficiently. Now, a team led by Osaka University has discovered how to further improve device efficiency:...
Looking inside a microchip with 4 nanometer precision
Aug 06, 2024 (Nanowerk News) In a collaboration with EPFL Lausanne, ETH Zurich and the University of Southern California researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have used X-rays to look inside a microchip with higher precision than ever before. The image resolution of 4 nanometers marks a new world...