Nano Picture: 07/13/15

Monday, July 13, 2015

Chemotherapeutic coatings enhance tumor-frying nanoparticles

Researchers have devised a heat-induced nanoparticle drug delivery system to add firepower to a treatment already in clinical trials.

Nanoscale light-emitting device has big profile

Engineers have created a nanoscale device that can emit light as powerfully as an object 10,000 times its size. It's an advance that could have huge implications for everything from photography to solar power.

Clay sheets stack to form proton conductors

Model system demonstrates a new material property emerging from the assembly of nanoscale building blocks.

Polymer mold makes perfect silicon nanostructures

Polymer engineers have made a mold for nanostructures that can shape liquid silicon out of an organic polymer material. This paves the way for perfect, 3-D, single crystal nanostructures.

Molecule suggested in 1902 gets its first close-up (w/video)

Today, chemistry teachers and students can breath a sigh of relief. After teaching and learning about a particular family of molecules for decades, scientists have finally proven that they do in fact exist.

Options for the review of the European Commission nanomaterial definition published

The Joint Research Center has published science-based options to improve the clarity and the practical application of the EC recommendation on the definition of a nanomaterial. This is the last JRC report in a series of three, providing the scientific support to the Commission in its review of the definition used to identify materials for which special provisions might apply.

The quantum physics of artificial light harvesting

Plants and bacteria make use of sunlight with remarkably high efficiency: nine out of ten absorbed light particles are being put to use in an ordinary bacterium. For years, it has been a pressing question of modern research whether or not effects from quantum physics are responsible for this outstanding performance of natural light harvesters. A team of European research groups have examined these quantum effects in an artificial model system.

Researchers find nanowires have unusually pronounced 'anelastic' properties

have found that nanowires made of common semiconductor materials have a pronounced anelasticity - meaning that the wires, when bent, return slowly to their original shape rather than snapping back quickly.

Heat buckyballs to help environment

Scientists are forging toward tunable carbon-capture materials with a new study that shows how chemical changes affect the abilities of enhanced buckyballs to confine greenhouse gases.

Environmentally friendly lignin nanoparticle 'greens' silver nanobullet to battle bacteria

Researchers have developed an effective and environmentally benign method to combat bacteria by engineering nanoscale particles that add the antimicrobial potency of silver to a core of lignin, a ubiquitous substance found in all plant cells. The findings introduce ideas for better, greener and safer nanotechnology and could lead to enhanced efficiency of antimicrobial products used in agriculture and personal care.