Nanocages offer new direction in sustainable catalyst design

Engineers have developed a new approach to structuring the catalysts used in essential reactions in the chemical and energy fields. The advance offers a pathway for industries to wean themselves off of platinum, one of the scarcest metals in the earth's crust.

Super-stretchy fibers made by wrapping carbon nanotubes around rubber (w/video)

Researchers made electrically conducting fibers that can be reversibly stretched to over 14 times their initial length and whose electrical conductivity increases 200-fold when stretched.

Ultra-thin hollow nanocages could reduce platinum use in fuel cell electrodes

A new fabrication technique that produces platinum hollow nanocages with ultra-thin walls could dramatically reduce the amount of the costly metal needed to provide catalytic activity in such applications as fuel cells.

$3 million DOD grant for nanoelectronics

This NSSEFF award will enable an ambitious program that aims to merge two existing fields: semiconductor nanoelectronics and complex oxides.

Coral-mimicking nanoplatelets could emove toxic heavy metals from the ocean

A new material that mimics coral could help remove toxic heavy metals like mercury from the ocean, according to a new study.

Plasmonics study suggests how to maximize production of 'hot electrons'

New research could make it easier for engineers to harness the power of light-capturing nanomaterials to boost the efficiency and reduce the costs of photovoltaic solar cells.

Artificial moth eyes enhance the performance of silicon solar cells

Mimicking the texture found on the highly antireflective surfaces of the compound eyes of moths, researchers use block copolymer self assembly to produce precise and tunable nanotextured designs in the range of about 20 nm across macroscopic silicon solar cells. This nanoscale texturing imparts broadband antireflection properties and significantly enhances performance compared with typical antireflection coatings.

Make mine a decaf: breakthrough in knowledge of how nanoparticles grow

A team of researchers have for the first time observed the growth of free nanoparticles in helium gas in a process similar to the decaffeination of coffee, providing new insights into the structure of nanoparticles.