Dec 06, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Transforming sunlight into chemical energy is one of nature's most elegant tricks. Scientists studying artificial versions of this process have long struggled to track the fleeting movements of electrons that occur when light strikes a catalyst - the material that speeds up chemical reactions. These...
Scalable robotic fibres with light-emitting, self-healing and magnetic properties
Dec 06, 2024 (Nanowerk News) A team of interdisciplinary scientists from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering under the College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed flexible fibres with self-healing, light-emitting and magnetic properties. The Scalable Hydrogel-clad Ionotronic Nickel-core Electroluminescent (SHINE) fibre...
Thin coating of MXene material could replace thick layers of insulation
Dec 05, 2024 (Nanowerk News) In everyday life, materials that conduct electricity well, like metals, also tend to conduct heat. For instance, a metal spoon left in a hot cup of tea will get hot, while the ceramic mug remains cool. This is because good electrical conductors are usually good...
Octahedral DNA origami with nanopores enhances protein detection at low levels
Dec 05, 2024 (Nanowerk News) SMU Lyle mechanical engineering graduate student Kamruzzaman Joty has introduced a groundbreaking new technique in nanotechnology for detecting and analyzing biomolecules, potentially paving the way for new methods of early disease detection. The study, recently featured on the cover of Analytical Chemistry ("DNA Origami Incorporated...
A film capacitor that can take the heat
Dec 05, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and several collaborating institutions have successfully demonstrated a machine-learning technique to accelerate discovery of materials for film capacitors — crucial components in electrification and renewable energy technologies. The technique was used to screen a library of nearly 50,000 chemical...