Sep 26, 2024 (Nanowerk News) A toothpaste-based transistor is the latest innovation from the research team at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT-Italian Institute of Technology) in Milan, which pushes the boundaries of edible electronics. This innovative nano-device is expected to become a key component of future smart pills, designed...
Transforming CO2 into buckypaper for scalable, sustainable industrial materials
Sep 26, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Carbon nanomaterials offer significant potential for transforming industries that depend on lightweight, high-strength, and conductive materials. Among them, buckypaper – a thin sheet made of entangled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) – stands out for its exceptional combination of properties: high tensile strength, excellent thermal and electrical...
Light-controlled bio-based OptoAssays can diagnose diseases more easily and cost-effectively
Sep 26, 2024 (Nanowerk News) From Velcro to solar cells, many technological innovations have been inspired by nature. In medical diagnostics, researchers also draw inspiration from biological principles. A research team from the University of Freiburg and the INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials in Saarbrücken has developed testing...
Thermal effects in spintronics systematically assessed for first time
Sep 26, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Spintronics – devices that use microscopic magnetism in conjunction with electric current – could lead to computing technology as fast as conventional electronics but much more energy efficient. As such devices are developed and studied, an important unresolved question is how device operation is affected...
How special is the Milky Way galaxy?
Sep 26, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Is our home galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, a special place? A team of scientists started a journey to answer this question more than a decade ago. Commenced in 2013, the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) Survey studies galaxy systems like the Milky Way. Now,...
Inorganic nanostructures could revolutionize blue energy harvesting
Sep 25, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Researchers led by Ryuhei Nakamura at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan and The Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) of Tokyo Institute of Technology have discovered inorganic nanostructures surrounding deep-ocean hydrothermal vents that are strikingly similar to molecules that make life as...
Programmable Janus particles transform flexible materials into data processors and encryption systems
Sep 25, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) As technology advances toward flexible, adaptive devices, traditional electronics are hitting their limits due to rigidity and power demands. But what if materials themselves could compute, store, and encrypt data—without relying on circuits or chips? This is the potential unlocked by programmable metamaterials like magnetoactive...
New nanoparticle prevents scaling, stabilizes emulsions for safer oil extraction
Sep 25, 2024 (Nanowerk News) In the process of oil extraction, hard mineral buildup inside the pipes and equipment can cause serious operational damage, safety issues such as pipe explosion and significant economic losses. The current methods for descaling mineral buildup, however, can adversely impact the environment. Penn State researchers...
Nanoengineered manganese cathodes could boost lithium-ion batteries
Sep 25, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are growing in adoption, used in devices like smartphones and laptops, electric vehicles, and energy storage systems. But supplies of nickel and cobalt commonly used in the cathodes of these batteries are limited. New research led by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence...
Ultra-high speed camera captures attosecond electron transfer in organic molecules
Sep 25, 2024 (Nanowerk News) In nature, photosynthesis powers plants and bacteria; within solar panels, photovoltaics transform light into electric energy. These processes are driven by electronic motion and imply charge transfer at the molecular level. The redistribution of electronic density in molecules after they absorb light is an ultrafast...