At the edge of a quantum gas (w/video)

Scientists have achieved a major milestone in simulating the dynamics of condensed-matter systems - such as the behavior of charged particles in semiconductors and other materials - through manipulation of carefully controlled quantum-mechanical models.

Winner announced for NNI?s EnvisioNano 2.0 nanotechnology image contest

Elizabeth Sawicki, a member of the Medical Scholars Program and the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, won the top honors for her image entitled Gelatin Nanoparticles in Brain.

Crystal clear: Thousand-fold fluorescence enhancement in an all-polymer thin film

Scientists have made a remarkable breakthrough in the field of fluorescence enhancement via a discovery they believe could drive the next advances in sensor technology, energy saving and harvesting, lasers and optoelectronics.

New electrode gives micro-supercapacitor macro storage capacity

Researchers have developed an electrode material that means electrochemical capacitors produce results similar to batteries, yet retain their particular advantages.

Sniffing out cancer with improved 'electronic nose' sensors

Researchers have developed a small array of flexible sensors, which accurately detect compounds in breath samples that are specific to ovarian cancer.

Invisibility cloak might enhance efficiency of solar cells

Optical invisibility cloaks guide sunlight around objects that cast a shadow on the solar panel, such as contacts for current extraction.

New research puts us closer to do-it-yourself spray-on solar cell technology

A new study puts us closer to do-it-yourself spray-on solar cell technology - promising third-generation solar cells utilizing a nanocrystal ink deposition that could make traditional expensive silicon-based solar panels a thing of the past.

Nanomachines: Pirouetting in the spotlight

Scientists have developed a new class of molecular motors that rotate unidirectionally at speeds of up to 1 kHz when exposed to sunlight at room temperature. This unique combination of features opens up novel applications in nano-engineering.

Making batteries with portabella mushrooms

Porous structure of portabella mushrooms is key to making efficient batteries that could power cell phones and electric vehicles.

Disappearing carbon circuits on graphene could have security, biomedical uses

Researchers have demonstrated a technique for creating dynamic patterns on graphene surfaces. The patterns could be used to make reconfigurable electronic circuits, which evolve over a period of hours before ultimately disappearing into a new electronic state of the graphene.

Physicists map the strain in graphene, pixel by pixel

This week, an international group of scientists is reporting a breakthrough in the effort to characterize the properties of graphene noninvasively while acquiring information about its response to structural strain.

Tattoo-like electronic health patches may now be cheaper and easier to make

Researchers have invented a method for producing inexpensive and high-performing wearable patches that can continuously monitor the body's vital signs for human health and performance tracking, potentially outperforming traditional monitoring tools such as cardiac event monitors.

Laser4Fun project develops laser-based surface patterning

Using the latest laser techniques, many surfaces of existing products can be accurately treated. The technique can replace the special coatings that are currently applied to existing materials for surface improvement.

Researchers disguise drugs as platelets to target cancer

Researchers have for the first time developed a technique that coats anticancer drugs in membranes made from a patient's own platelets, allowing the drugs to last longer in the body and attack both primary cancer tumors and the circulating tumor cells that can cause a cancer to metastasize. The work was tested successfully in an animal model.

Variance spectroscopy technique advances nanoparticle analysis

In a great example of 'less is more', scientists have developed a powerful method to analyze carbon nanotubes in solution.

A new sunblock that doesn't penetrate the skin

Scientists have developed a new sunblock, made with bioadhesive nanoparticles, that stays on the surface of the skin.

Researchers create first entropy-stabilized complex oxide alloys

Researchers have created the first entropy-stabilized alloy that incorporates oxides - and demonstrated conclusively that the crystalline structure of the material can be determined by disorder at the atomic scale rather than chemical bonding.

New processes in modern ReRAM memory cells decoded

Researchers discovered an unexpected second switching process in valence change memory (VCM): metal ions also help to form filaments in VCMs.

Hopes of improved brain implants with nanowire structures

Neurons thrive and grow in a new type of nanowire material. In time, the results might improve both neural and retinal implants, and reduce the risk of them losing their effectiveness over time, which is currently a problem.

Electric field control of magnetic moment in palladium

This research demonstrates the possibility of electrically inducing magnetism in non-magnetic materials.

A new single-molecule tool to observe enzymes at work

Scientists have created an innovative tool to directly detect the delicate, single-molecule interactions between DNA and enzymatic proteins. Their approach provides a new platform to view and record these nanoscale interactions in real time.

Carbon nanotube rectenna converts light to DC current (w/video)

Using nanometer-scale components, researchers have demonstrated the first optical rectenna, a device that combines the functions of an antenna and a rectifier diode to convert light directly into DC current.

New method for building on an atomic scale

Scientists have pioneered a new way of manipulating several thousand atoms at a time, paving the way for building nanoscale electronic devices more quickly and easily at room temperature.

Metamaterial absorbers for infrared inspection technologies

A metamaterial absorber capable of highly sensitive infrared detection enhances the spectroscopy of tiny molecular details.

Biomimetic dental prosthesis

Material researchers are developing a procedure that allows them to mimic the complex fine structure of biological composite materials, such as teeth or seashells. They can thus create synthetic materials that are as hard and tough as their natural counterparts.

Supercapacitors from scrap tires

Some of the 300 million tires discarded each year in the United States alone could be used in supercapacitors for vehicles and the electric grid using a new technology.

Rsearchers produce first 2D perovskite hybrid sheets

To the growing list of two-dimensional semiconductors, such as graphene, boron nitride, and molybdenum disulfide, whose unique electronic properties make them potential successors to silicon in future devices, you can now add hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites. However, unlike the other contenders, which are covalent semiconductors, these 2D hybrid perovskites are ionic materials, which gives them special properties of their own.

Chip-based technology enables reliable direct detection of Ebola virus

Hybrid device integrates a microfluidic chip for sample preparation and an optofluidic chip for optical detection of individual molecules of viral RNA.

Proposed standards for triboelectric nanogenerators could facilitate comparisons

To provide a means for both comparing and selecting these energy-harvesting nanogenerators for specific applications, the Georgia Institute of Technology research group that pioneered the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) technology has now proposed a set of standards for quantifying device performance. The proposal evaluates both the structural and materials performance of the four major types of TENG devices.

Designed defects in liquid crystals can guide construction of nanomaterials

Imperfections running through liquid crystals can be used as miniscule tubing, channeling molecules into specific positions to form new materials and nanoscale structures.

Organic electronics with an edge

Two-dimensional organic lattices are easier and safer to work with than inorganic materials for spintronic and quantum computing applications.

A magnetic memory bubbling with opportunity

Ultrafast laser pulses can manipulate 'bubble' domains for future spintronic and logic devices.

Scientists build wrench 1.7 nanometers wide

Scientists have invented a new way to use chirality to make a wrench. A nanoscale wrench. The discovery allows to precisely control nanoscale shapes and holds promise as a highly accurate and fast method of creating customized molecules.

Scientists explore hybrid ultrasmall gold nanocluster for enzymatic fuel cells

New technique removes barrier to development of biofuel cells with efficient performance.

Nanomechanical study offers new assessment of silicon for next-gen batteries

A detailed nanomechanical study of mechanical degradation processes in silicon structures containing varying levels of lithium ions offers good news for researchers attempting to develop reliable next-generation rechargeable batteries using silicon-based electrodes.

Liquid crystals show potential for detection of neuro-degenerative disease

Researchers are putting liquid crystals to work in a completely unexpected realm: as detectors for the protein fibers implicated in the development of neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Tracking nanowalkers with light

A tiny gold rod walks across a surface guided by DNA and can be tracked step by step.

New Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence to open

Cornell University, in partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, is opening a new $10 million Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence that brings together scientists, engineers, biologists and physicians to develop and translate new cancer care applications based on nanotechnology.

DNA-based nanodevices for molecular medicine

Self-assembled DNA nanostructures can be used in molecular-scale diagnostics and as smart drug-delivery vehicles.

Doping crystals of nanocrystals

Crucial to silicon semidconductor applications is the ability to 'dope' the semiconductor; which is to say, by controllably adding impurity atoms to a semiconductor, one can continuously vary its electronic and optical properties. Scientists now have demonstrated for the first time, a unique nanoscale analogue.

Evidence for solid-liquid critical points of water in carbon nanotubes

Scientists have provided unambiguous evidence to support the solid-liquid critical point for a class of water in nanotubes by performing extensive molecular dynamics simulations.

Nanotechnology industry body claims proposed EU regulation on Novel Foods is 'unworkable'

Changes are vague, unclear and risk countless products from SMEs across Europe being caught in unnecessary regulation, NIA claims.

New cathode material creates possibilities for sodium-ion batteries

John Goodenough, the inventor of the lithium-ion battery, and his team have identified a new cathode material made of the nontoxic and inexpensive mineral eldfellite for sodium-ion batteries.

New diamond structures produce bright luminescence for quantum cryotography and biomarkers applications

Germanium defects in a diamond crystal lattice act as a reliable source for single photons, new research shows. The results provide a promising new route to building components for quantum cryptography and biomarkers.

Nanowire quantum dot solar cells: oxide layer boosts performance

Scientists demonstrate how a further modification using an oxide layer can reduce the nanowire surface area effects for better-performing solar cells.

Ultrafast lasers offer 3-D micropatterning of biocompatible hydrogels

Biomedical engineers are using low-energy, ultrafast laser technology to make high-resolution, 3-D structures in silk protein hydrogels. The laser-based micropatterning represents a new approach to customized engineering of tissue and biomedical implants.

Novel eco high performance energy storage device can be simply printed on paper

A simple approach to synthesize novel environmentally friendly manganese dioxide ink by using glucose.

Nanotechnology technique could make hydrogen fuel cells more efficient

Researchers developed a simple method for producing a palladium-based nanomaterial that can spur the breakdown of formic acid into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Its efficiency far exceeded that of any other reported heterogeneous catalysts, they say.

Nanoparticles could boost effectiveness and reduce side effects of allergy shots

The researchers designed a new type of nanocarrier based on the biocompatible molecule poly(ethylene glycol), or PEG, that releases its cargo only in targeted immune cells. The nanocarrier degrades when it encounters the acidic part of these cells, simultaneously releasing the allergen and getting rid of the packaging.

Color-coding sensor: Nanostructures for contactless control

Chemists have fabricated a novel nanosheet-based photonic crystal that changes color in response to moisture. The new material could form the basis for humidity-sensitive contactless control of interactive screens on digital devices.

Chemists create switchable gold catalyst

A gold catalyst whose behaviour can be controlled by the addition of acid or metal ion cofactors has been designed.

Flexible microfluidic tactile sensor for robotics, electronics and healthcare applications

Researchers have developed a wearable liquid-based microfluidic tactile sensor that is small, thin, highly flexible and durable. Simple and cost-effective to produce, this novel device is very suitable for applications such as soft robotics, wearable consumer electronics, smart medical prosthetic devices, as well as real-time healthcare monitoring.

Nanosensor-based breathalyzer-type low blood sugar warning device for diabetes

A team of researchers has been awarded a $738,000 National Science Foundation grant to develop a breathalyzer-type device to detect the onset of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar episodes, in people with diabetes.

Physicists find new explanation for key experiment

Scientists publish findings on spin caloritronics and are the first to apply measurement methods in the field.

Frustrated magnets point towards new memory

Theoretical physicists have discovered that so-called 'frustrated magnets' can produce skyrmions, tiny magnetic vortices that may be used in memory storage. This discovery opens up a new class of materials for scientists working on 'skyrmionics', which aims to build memory and logic devices based on skyrmions.

Quantum dots light up under strain

Scientists have demonstrated a radically new approach to manipulate the light emission of quantum dots.