Jan 08, 2025 (Nanowerk News) Alongside advances in artificial intelligence and widespread availability of digital content, demand for augmented / virtual reality (AR / VR) near-eye displays has surged. There is great commercial interest in developing such technologies for education, gaming, and social interactions, and there is perennial defense and...
Breakthrough in 2D material growth opens doors to cleaner energy and next-generation technology
Jan 08, 2025 (Nanowerk News) A breakthrough in decoding the growth process of Hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN), a 2D material, and its nanostructures on metal substrates could pave the way for more efficient electronics, cleaner energy solutions and greener chemical manufacturing, according to new research from the University of Surrey....
Smart diaper sensors provide continuous monitoring of drug levels and vital electrolytes
Jan 08, 2025 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Medical professionals constantly struggle with monitoring patients' drug levels and vital electrolytes. Traditional monitoring requires repeated blood draws – an invasive process that needs trained staff and specialized equipment. While urine testing offers a gentler alternative, current methods still demand manual sample collection and time-consuming...
Moving in sync, slowly, in glassy liquids
Jan 08, 2025 (Nanowerk News) Glass might seem to be an ordinary material we encounter every day, but the physics at play inside are actually quite complex and still not completely understood by scientists. Some panes of glass, such as the stained-glass windows in many Medieval buildings, have remained rigid...
Focal volume optics for composite structuring in transparent solids
Jan 08, 2025 (Nanowerk News) For a long time, an ultrafast laser has been applied as a point-typed energy source to trigger various material modifications, and the profile of light intensity is mainly considered a Gaussian type. Therefore, the actual morphology and evolution of the light field in the focal...
Researchers tune active sites of bimetallic catalysts with atomic precision
Jan 08, 2025 (Nanowerk News) Bimetallic particles, composed of a noble metal and a base metal, exhibit unique catalytic properties in selective heterogeneous hydrogenations due to their distinct geometric and electronic structures. At the molecular level, effective and selective hydrogenation requires site-specific interactions where the active atoms on the catalyst...
How goji berries can be used to create silver nanoparticles
Jan 07, 2025 (Nanowerk News) As the search for sustainability permeates all fields, researchers are turning to a unique organic source for creating antibacterial silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) – the humble goji berry. Goji berries are a ubiquitous superfood known for a multitude of health benefits, including their antibiotic properties. In...
Novel photonic switch that overcomes this size-speed tradeoff
Jan 07, 2025 (Nanowerk News) Every second, terabytes of data — the equivalent of downloading thousands upon thousands of movies at once — travel around the world as light in fiber-optic cables, like so many cars packed onto a super-fast highway. When that information reaches data centers, it needs a...
A new ultrathin conductor for nanoelectronics
Jan 07, 2025 (Nanowerk News) As computer chips continue to get smaller and more complex, the ultrathin metallic wires that carry electrical signals within these chips have become a weak link. Standard metal wires get worse at conducting electricity as they get thinner, ultimately limiting the size, efficiency, and performance...
Molecular sieve breaks chemical separation barrier using defect-free atomic structure
Jan 07, 2025 (Nanowerk Spotlight) The petrochemical industry relies on separating chemicals that differ by just fractions of a nanometer in size. Methanol must be purified from similarly-sized molecules in the production of plastics, pharmaceuticals, and fuels. Currently, this separation requires heating massive quantities of liquid mixtures until they boil...