Sep 11, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Chinese researchers have discovered a promising mass-gap black hole using radial velocity and astrometry methods. The study was published online in Nature Astronomy ("A potential mass-gap black hole in a wide binary with a circular orbit"), and was conducted by a team led by Dr....
New self-healing liquid metal actuators could transform robotics and wearables
Sep 11, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) A material that stretches, bends, and heals itself after being damaged could change the way we think about robotics, wearable devices, and even artificial muscles. Recent research published in Advanced Functional Materials ("Core–Shell Nanostructured Assemblies Enable Ultrarobust, Notch-Resistant and Self-Healing Materials") has moved this vision...
Thermosensitive hydrogel offers fast detection of nitrite
Sep 11, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Nitrite is commonly used as a food additive, but when ingested, it can harm the body's oxygen transport system. The World Health Organization limits nitrite to 1.0 mg/L in drinking water and 30 mg/kg in meat products. However, current nitrite detection methods are often complicated....
Stretchable, wearable device lights up an LED using only the warmth of your skin
Sep 11, 2024 (Nanowerk News) One of the drawbacks of fitness trackers and other wearable devices is that their batteries eventually run out of juice. But what if in the future, wearable technology could use body heat to power itself? UW researchers have developed a flexible, durable electronic prototype that...
Mass production of metal nanowires possible by breakthrough technique
Sep 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) A group from Nagoya University in Japan has created a new technique for growing the tiny metal nanowires (NWs) that are expected to be used in next-generation electronics. Their results suggest a way to mass produce pure metal NWs, which has until now limited their...
Breakthrough in non-volatile photonic-electronic memory with thin-film ferroelectrics
Sep 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) An international research team, led by Professor Gong Xiao from the National University of Singapore, has achieved a groundbreaking advancement in photonic-electronic integration. Their work, published in Light: Science & Applications ("Thin film ferroelectric photonic-electronic memory"), features Postdoc Zhang Gong and PhD student Chen Yue...
Programmable metasurfaces enable advanced hand gesture recognition
Sep 10, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Hand gestures have become a natural way to communicate with digital systems, but making machines understand those gestures with precision remains a technical challenge. While cameras and wearable devices have been used to translate hand movements into commands, both solutions come with trade-offs. Optical systems...
New nanofiltration material could remove long-lasting chemicals from water
Sep 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Water contamination by the chemicals used in today’s technology is a rapidly growing problem globally. A recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that 98 percent of people tested had detectable levels of PFAS, a family of particularly long-lasting compounds also known...
MXenes shows talent as catalyst for oxygen evolution
Sep 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) The MXene class of materials has many talents. An international team led by HZB chemist Michelle Browne has now demonstrated that MXenes, properly functionalised, are excellent catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction in electrolytic water splitting. They are more stable and efficient than the best...
World’s strongest battery paves way for light, energy-efficient vehicles
Sep 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) When cars, planes, ships or computers are built from a material that functions as both a battery and a load-bearing structure, the weight and energy consumption are radically reduced. A research group at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden is now presenting a world-leading advance...