EurekAlert! - Nanotechnology

Spin control: New technique sorts nanotubes by length

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) Researchers at NIST have reported a new technique to sort batches of carbon nanotubes by length using high-speed centrifuges. The technique should be easy to scale to industrial quantities for a variety of nanotube applications where length is an important factor.

MIT creates new material for fuel cells

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) MIT engineers have improved the power output of one type of fuel cell by more than 50 percent through technology that could help these environmentally friendly energy storage devices find a much broader market, particularly in portable electronics.

UC San Diego nanostructures will raise thin-film solar cell efficiency

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(University of California - San Diego) University of California, San Diego electrical engineers are working toward thin-film "single junction" solar cells with the potential for nearly 45 percent sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiencies. This is well above theoretical limit of 31 percent efficiency for conventional single junction cells. Nanostructures such as quantum wells and nanoparticles are the keys to the new work that recently received a big funding boost from the US Department of Energy's Solar America program.

Nanotechnology in reverse uses cell to calibrate tools

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(University of California - Davis) Nanotechnology researchers at UC Davis have shown that they can use a red blood cell to calibrate a sensitive instrument, an atomic force microscope.

New efficiency record for solar cells

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(Eindhoven University of Technology) Physicist Bram Hoex and colleagues at Eindhoven University of Technology, together with the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, have improved the efficiency of an important type of solar cell from 21.9 to 23.2 percent (a relative improvement of 6 percent). This new world record is being presented on Wednesday May 14 at a major solar energy conference in San Diego.

Micro and Nano Scale Characterization of Fibers

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(National Physical Laboratory) Fibers present massive challenges and opportunities for micro and nano technologies. These challenges are not in the manufacturing of the fibers but in the control and understanding of their behavior. This one-day workshop will focus on the many challenges of fiber analysis at the micro and nano-scale using state-of-the art surface chemical analysis, including SIMS, XPS and SPM techniques.

Commencement 2008: Student innovation could improve data storage, magnetic sensors

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) Paul Morrow, who will graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on May 17, has come a long way from his days as an elementary school student, pulling apart his mother's cassette player. The talented young physicist has developed two innovations that could vastly improve magnetic data storage and sense extremely low level magnetic fields in everything from ink on counterfeit currency to tissue in the human brain and heart.

Golden nanocrown

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(Wiley-Blackwell) Researchers led by Shu-Yan Yu have recently made a "golden crown" with a diameter of only a few nanometers, a large ring-shaped molecule containing 36 gold atoms.

Nanowires may boost solar cell efficiency, UC San Diego engineers say

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(University of California - San Diego) University of California-San Diego electrical engineers have created experimental solar cells spiked with nanowires that could lead to highly efficient thin-film solar cells of the future.

Small is beautiful: A European view of nanotech cosmetics and safety

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies) How does a company like Paris-based cosmetics leader L'Oreal -- which ranks No. 6 among nanotechnology patent holders in the US -- apply "The Precautionary Principle" to nanotechnology cosmetic products? What specific safety tests and post-market surveillance measures are used? How do US and European regulations differ when applied to nanotechnology products? How does L'Oreal communicate with customers about this cutting-edge technology?

Federal government taps NC State experts to explain nanotech risks

Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(North Carolina State University) The arm of the federal government responsible for coordinating nanotechnology research and regulations across the country has called on experts from North Carolina State University to craft a white paper that will lay out how government and industry officials should communicate potential risks associated with nanotechnology to the media and the public. NC State communication expert Dr. David Berube has been negotiating this project for nearly 18 months.

Scientists demonstrate method for integrating nanowire devices directly onto silicon

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(Harvard University) Applied scientists at Harvard University in collaboration with researchers from the German universities of Jena, Gottingen, and Bremen, have developed a new technique for fabricating nanowire photonic and electronic integrated circuits that may one day be suitable for high-volume commercial production.

New cancer gene found

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Oklahoma) Researchers at the OU Cancer Institute have identified a new gene that causes cancer. The ground-breaking research appears in Nature's cancer journal Oncogene.

New technique measures ultrashort laser pulses at focus

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(Georgia Institute of Technology Research News) Lasers that emit ultrashort pulses of light are used for numerous applications, but the quality of the results is limited by distortions caused by lenses and other optical components that are part of the experimental instrumentation. Researchers have developed a system that tells researchers what types of aberrations are present, which allows them to create the desired pulse at the focus that's free of distortions.

UC San Diego researchers target tumors with tiny 'nanoworms'

Tue, 06 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(University of California - San Diego) Scientists at USD, UCSB and MIT have developed nanometer-sized "nanoworms."

Nanotube production leaps from sooty mess in test tube to ready formed chemical microsensors

Tue, 06 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Warwick) Carbon nanotubes' potential as a super material is blighted by the fact that when first made they often take the form of an unprepossessing pile of sooty black mess in the bottom of a test tube. Now researchers in the University of Warwick's department of chemistry have found a way of producing carbon nanotubes in which they instantly form a highly sensitive ready made electric circuit.

Melting defects could lead to smaller, more powerful microchips

Sun, 04 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(Princeton University, Engineering School) As microchips shrink, even tiny defects in the lines, dots and other shapes etched on them become major barriers to performance. Princeton engineers have now found a way to literally melt away such defects, using a process that could dramatically improve chip quality without increasing fabrication cost.

Environmental fate of nanoparticles depends on properties of water carrying them

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(Georgia Institute of Technology Research News) The fate of carbon-based nanoparticles spilled into groundwater -- and the ability of municipal filtration systems to remove the nanoparticles from drinking water -- depend on subtle differences in the solution properties of the water carrying the particles, a new study has found.

Go Speed Racer! Revving up the world's fastest nanomotors

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(American Chemical Society) In a "major step" toward a practical energy source for powering tomorrow's nanomachines, researchers in Arizona report development of a new generation of sub-microscopic nanomotors that are up to 10 times more powerful than existing motors. The tiny motors, made of platinum and gold nanowires, are supercharged with carbon nanotubes. Go Speed Racer, go!

Spiraling nanotrees offer new twist on growth of nanowires

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Wisconsin-Madison) When University of Wisconsin-Madison chemistry professor Song Jin and graduate student Matthew Bierman accidentally made some nanowire pine tree shapes one day -- complete with tall trunks and branches that tapered in length as they spiraled upward -- they knew they'd stumbled upon something peculiar.

Graphene-based gadgets may be just years away

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Manchester) Researchers at The University of Manchester have produced tiny liquid crystal devices with electrodes made from graphene -- an exciting development that could lead to computer and TV displays based on this technology.

Astute Nanotechnology celebrates first year of success

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(Research Australia) University of Queensland-based Astute Nanotechnology will celebrate the achievements of its first year in business with a special presentation and cocktail reception tomorrow, Tuesday, April 29.

Atomic force microscopy reveals liquids adjust viscosity when confined, shaken

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(Georgia Institute of Technology Research News) New research shows that when water is confined to a small space, it behaves like a gel. Then, when shaken, it becomes fluidic and exhibits the same structural and mechanical properties as water in a bottle. The study -- the first to use an atomic force microscope to measure the viscosity of confined fluids -- revealed that these liquids can respond and modify their viscosity based on environmental changes.

Making a good impression: Nanoimprint lithography tests at NIST

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) In what should be good news for integrated circuit manufacturers, recent studies by NIST have helped resolve two important questions about an emerging microcircuit manufacturing technology called nanoimprint lithography.

Too much technology may be killing beneficial bacteria

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Missouri-Columbia) For years, scientists have known about silver's ability to kill harmful bacteria. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that silver nanoparticles also may destroy benign bacteria that are used to remove ammonia from wastewater treatment systems. The study was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.