Month: February 2020

Sometimes the smallest of things lead to the biggest ideas. Case in point: Nano 2020, a University of Arizona-led initiative to develop curriculum and technology focused on educating students in the rapidly expanding field of nanotechnology. The five-year, multi-university project recently met its goal of creating globally relevant and implementable curricula and instructional technologies, to

Understanding the interactions between proteins and soap molecules (surfactants) has long been important for the industry, particularly within detergents and cosmetics. The anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is known to unfold globular proteins, while the nonionic surfactant octaethylene glycol monododecyl ether (C12E8) does the opposite, i.e. it helps proteins fold into shape again. For

IMAGE: This is Associate Professor Timothy Scott. view more  Credit: Monash University An international research team have for the first time observed dynamic covalent oligomers mimicking the combination of complementary DNA strands, which could lead to exciting developments in electronics and the engineering of interfaces between prostheses and body tissue. The study by Associate Professor Timothy

IMAGE: With a new technique, MIT researchers can peel and stack thin films of metal oxides — chemical compounds that can be designed to have unique magnetic and electronic properties. The… view more  Credit: Image: Felice Frankel At the heart of any electronic device is a cold, hard computer chip, covered in a miniature city of

IMAGE: This is a research concept of copper oxide subnanoparticles. view more  Credit: Makoto Tanabe, Kimihisa Yamamoto Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology have shown that copper oxide particles on the sub-nanoscale are more powerful catalysts than those on the nanoscale. These subnanoparticles can also catalyze the oxidation reactions of aromatic hydrocarbons far more effectively than

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In a recent study, University of Arkansas physics researchers found evidence of an inverse transition in ferroelectric ultrathin films, which could lead to advances in development of data storage, microelectronics and sensors. “We found that a disordered labyrinthine phase transforms into the more ordered parallel-stripe structure upon raising the temperature,” said Yousra Nahas,

IMAGE: Zheng received two honors – an AOCS Honored Student Award and the Manuchehr Eijadi Award, which recognizes the outstanding merit and performance of an honored student. view more  Credit: UMass Amherst Five food science Ph.D. students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have been honored with 2020 student awards from the American Oil Chemists’ Society

IMAGE: a Artistic representation of the HgTe QD layer coated above the laser-printed Au nanobump array. b Side-view (view angle of 45°) SEM image showing the Au nanobump array printed at… view more  Credit: FEFU press office Scientists from Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU, Vladivostok, Russia), together with colleagues from FEB RAS, China, Hong Kong, and

Materials called perovskites show strong potential for a new generation of solar cells, but they’ve had trouble gaining traction in a market dominated by silicon-based solar cells. Now, a study by researchers at MIT and elsewhere outlines a roadmap for how this promising technology could move from the laboratory to a significant place in the

IMAGE: Calculated localized field (left) and temperature distribution (right) of the nano-butterfly structure. view more  Credit: Fujiwara H., et al, Nano Letters. December 23, 2019. A nanoscale gold butterfly provides a more precise route for growing/synthesizing nanosized semiconductors that can be used in nano-lasers and other applications. Hokkaido University researchers have devised a unique approach for

IMAGE: Viscosity is closely guarded within the cell, though at present we don’t know who the guardians are. view more  Credit: IPC PAS, Grzegorz Krzyzewski The only thing that appears to be unchanging in living cells is that they are constantly changing. However, scientists from the IPC PAS have managed to show that there is a

IMAGE: Army scientist Dr. Kang Xu specializes in electrochemistry and materials science to develops innovative solutions for tomorrow’s Soldiers at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory at… view more  Credit: U.S. Army photo by Jhi Scott ADELPHI, Md. (Feb. 5, 2020) – Scientists are closer to understanding exactly what happens inside batteries

IMAGE: Suggested structure of two Au230 nanoclusters linked by 5,5?-bis(mercaptomethyl)-2,2?-bipyridine (BMM-BPy) dithiols. view more  Credit: The University of Jyväskylä/Karolina Sokolowska Manufacture of chemical sensors and catalysts based on gold nanoclusters gained new light from recent cutting-edge research. Chemists at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland and the University of California succeeded in determining the atomic precise structure

Generating electricity from raindrops efficiently has gone one step further. A research team led by scientists from the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has recently developed a droplet-based electricity generator (DEG), featured with a field-effect transistor (FET)-like structure that allows for high energy-conversion efficiency and instantaneous power density increased by thousands times compared to

When metal atoms form small clusters of a particular size, they show interesting and potentially useful electromagnetic characteristics, which are different from those of the actual bulk metal. To fully explore the potential of these properties, it is necessary to find ways to assemble precise macroscopic structures out of these clusters. But, how do these