Metalgel combines flexibility and conductivity for next-generation electronics and bioelectronics

Oct 29, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) The demand for materials that combine high conductivity with flexibility has grown sharply, particularly in fields like bioelectronics and wearable technology. Traditional materials either provide conductivity, as metals do, or flexibility, as seen in gels, but achieving both properties in a single material has been...

A navigation system for microswimmers

Oct 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) By applying an electric field, the movement of microswimmers can be manipulated. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS), the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad and the University of Twente, Netherlands, describe the underlying physical principles by comparing experiments and...

Tiny gold radiators fry bacteria on implants

Oct 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) In the fight against antibiotic resistance, a new technology developed at Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, can be of great importance when, for example, hip and knee implants are surgically inserted. By heating up small nanorods of gold with near-infrared light (NIR), the bacteria...

Surprise at the grain boundary

Oct 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Using state-of-the-art microscopy and simulation techniques, an international research team systematically observed how iron atoms alter the structure of grain boundaries in titanium. They were in for a surprise: “Iron atoms not only segregate to the interface, but they form entirely unexpected cage-like structures,” explains...