Technology Update

Encapsulating platinum nanoparticles with nitrogen-doped graphene layers improves the catalytic activity of the particles, while making them more resistant to degradation. This is the new finding from researchers at the Korean Institute of Energy Research (KIER) and the University of Oxford in the UK, who say that their work could help make better proton exchange […]

A theoretical framework for creating practical quantum thermometers that are optimized for taking the temperature of tiny structures as varied as living cells and quantum bits has been created by physicists in Spain and the UK. The work identifies an important trade-off between the precision and operating range of such quantum probes, and also describes […]

Researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada have made the first tuneable light-emitting diodes from colloidal cadmium selenide nanoplatelets that emit extremely pure green-blue light – a part of the electromagnetic spectrum to which the human eye is very sensitive. Since the devices emit in a very narrow bandwidth, even a change of 10 nm […]

The capacity of computer memory could be boosted by exploiting tiny magnetic vortices known as skyrmions. That is the vision of physicists in the US, who have made individual skyrmion “bubbles” at room temperature by pushing magnetic domains through a narrow gap in a thin ferromagnetic-metal film – just as bubbles can be made by […]

Researchers at the University of Stanford in the US, the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea and Queen’s University Belfast in the UK have grown carbon-60 thin films on graphene (a sheet of carbon just one atom thick). They then made the resulting structures up into vertical transistors doped with […]

“Dragging” ultracold ions across an optical lattice has provided important insights into friction. By tweaking the distance between the ions, Alexei Bylinskii, Dorian Gangloff and Vladan Vuletić of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US were able to reduce the friction between the two by a factor of 100. Their work could provide important […]

“Dragging” ultracold ions across an optical lattice has provided important insights into friction. By tweaking the distance between the ions, Alexei Bylinskii, Dorian Gangloff and Vladan Vuletić of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US were able to reduce the friction between the two by a factor of 100. Their work could provide important […]

Researchers in California in the US say they have used vertical nanopillars made from quartz to probe the cell nucleus and look at how it deforms under applied mechanical strain. Such experiments are important for better understanding this organelle and the role it plays in disease….. http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/61344

Researchers at the University of Tokyo in Japan have succeeded in measuring the electrical conductance at specific sites on a single-atom point contact for the first time. The contact was formed between the lead tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) and a lead sample surface. The technique could help us better understand the physical […]

Researchers at Northwestern University in the US have developed a new molecule capable of pumping other small molecules up an energy gradient. The new molecular pump, which is very much like the protein pumps in our cells, might be used to design artificial molecular machines similar to those found in nature. Such machines could be […]

Currents of electron spin can travel more than half a micron through germanium at room temperature, according to researchers in Japan and the UK. While physicists already know that germanium is a good conductor of spins at very low temperatures, this is the best measurement yet of its ability to transport spin at room temperature. […]

Researchers in the US, China and Germany say they have developed an ultrathin, soft, skin-like patch containing microscopic piezoelectric actuators and sensors that can measure the mechanical stiffness of skin. The device might be used to assess a variety of cutaneous diseases, and even to test how effective cosmetic skincare products are…… http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/61295 The device

Researchers in the US have furthered our understanding of a promising new semiconductor called black phosphorus by studying low-frequency interlayer “breathing” Raman modes in this material for the first time. These modes can be used to determine how crystals are oriented in the 2D layered structure and calculate its thickness….. http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/61298  

Researchers at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China and the University of Michigan in the US are reporting on a new high surface area 3D composite made from reduced graphene oxide loaded with lithium iron phosphate nanoparticles. The material, assembled layer by layer, has a reversible lithium storage capacity as high as 148 mA […]

Beams of light polarized into spirals have been used by scientists in the UK to create intricate patterns on the surface of metals. This is the first time that these “logarithmic spirals” have been produced in the lab, and the researchers believe that they could provide valuable insights into the angular momentum of light. On […]

Electron pairing without superconductivity has been seen for the first time by a team of physicists in the US. Confirming a prediction made in 1969, the electron pairs were spotted in strontium titanate using a single-electron transistor. The observation could provide useful insights into the nature of superconductivity, and perhaps even help in the design […]

Researchers at the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands say they have succeeded in detecting individual DNA-bound proteins using solid-state nanopores for the first time. The technique could form the basis of a high-speed method to probe DNA-protein interactions – useful for DNA sequencing and for detecting the biomarkers in genetically inherited diseases…. http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/61188 […]