Technology Update
Researchers at the University of Texas say they have made the first flexible ambipolar field-effect transistor based on few-layer black phosphorus (or phosphorene). The device has a high carrier mobility of around 310 cm2/V.s and an effective drain current modulation of more than 103. These values are better than those seen in flexible transistors made from […]
Gold nanotubes could be used to photothermally destroy cancer cells according to new experiments by researchers at the University of Leeds in the UK.
Applying circularly polarized light to a monolayer of graphene dramatically changes how surface electromagnetic waves (or plasmons) disperse along the carbon sheet. This new result, from researchers in Sweden and The Netherlands, could not only be important for studying how charge carriers move in graphene, but could also help build graphene-based elements for the rapidly […]
Researchers in the UK, France and the US have made the first quantum “rattles” from gold quantum dots inside a porous silica shell. The nanostructures can be heated up using light and so be used to kill tumour cells in a technique called photothermal therapy. They can also carry drugs thanks to their hollow cores, […]
Researchers in Germany and Sweden are saying that they can improve the quality of printed graphene inks using a technique called laser annealing. The method might be used to improve inks made from other 2D materials too, and so might become a standard procedure for producing such films. The graphene inks, which are transparent and […]
While carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have long attracted interest for nanoscale electronics, practical deployment of the technology requires a level of device consistency that is still a long way from being achieved
Researchers at the universities of Manchester and Sheffield in the UK have fabricated a new type of light-emitting diode by stacking up several 2D materials: metallic graphene, insulating hexagonal boron nitride and various semiconducting monolayers made from transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs). The devices emit light across their whole surface and have a high quantum efficiency […]
An interlocked DNA ring structure (known as a “catenane”) can be switched between two catalytic states by an external trigger – something that is not possible for a linear DNA arrangement. This result, from researchers at the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, might one day be used […]
Researchers in Moldova and Germany are reporting on a new and simple way to cover the surfaces of porous semiconductors with a monolayer of gold nanodots using a pulsed electroplating technique. The method might be used to make plasmonic photonic crystals, optoelectronic on-chip interconnects and chemical and biological sensors….. http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/60254
Despite their excellent catalytic properties, applications of noble metal nanoparticles have been hindered by their tendency to coagulate,
Researchers in Switzerland, Germany and The Netherlands have succeeded in imaging single skyrmion bubbles in an experiment for the first time using a technique called soft X-ray holography. The way the tiny structures move implies that they behave like particles with mass – a finding that might be important for understanding topologically related structures in […]
A new type of nanoparticle could allow patients to be imaged in six different ways with an injection of just one contrast agent, reports an international research team. If put into clinical use, the technology could give doctors the ability to combine the strong points of a number of imaging techniques, providing a clearer overall […]
Carbon nanoparticles can act as antioxidants according to new spectroscopy experiments by researchers in Houston, Texas. The hydrophilic carbon clusters studied can work as fast as most naturally occurring single-site enzymes for converting reactive oxygen species, such as superoxide, to oxygen without affecting “good” free radicals like nitric oxide. The finding will be important for […]
TVs enhanced with cadmium-free quantum dots look set to launch within the year, marking the first application of these nanomaterials in the mainstream consumer market
More than 15 years ago, Stanford University launched “Folding@Home”, a distributed computing project that enabled anyone who chose to take part to donate their computer’s idle processing power for protein-folding number crunching. The project has since led to 114 published research articles and was recently extended to harness idle processing power in smartphones via a […]
Researchers in the US and Italy say they have succeeded in making the first field-effect transistors from “silicene” – something that was thought difficult to do until now, since the material rapidly degrades in air. Silicene is a sheet of silicon just one atom thick arranged in a hexagonal lattice and is a close cousin […]
When single-walled carbon nanotubes are made, a mixture of both metallic and semiconducting nanotubes is produced. This is a problem when trying to make electronic devices from these nanomaterials because, ideally, either semiconducting or metallic tubes are needed depending on the application and not both. Now, researchers in the US have found that a polymer […]
Researchers at the University of Michigan in the US have made a new type of nanomaterial, dubbed aramid nanofibre, that is as strong as carbon nanotubes but which is much easier and cheaper to produce – from Kevlar™ threads. The material can suppress dendrite growth in the ion-transporting separators placed between the cathode and anode […]
A diverse range of living creatures can form minerals, such as shells, through the process of biomineralization
Researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, have made “hedgehog” particles that, surprisingly, can disperse in both hydrophilic and hydrophobic solvents without being treated with surfactants first. The new particles might find applications in areas as diverse as drug delivery and more environmentally friendly paints….. http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/60001
Metallic rings, or plasmonic ring cavities (PRCs), could be good alternatives to widely used “dimer” or “bowtie” nanoantennas as the light emitting sources in all-optical chip circuits. So say researchers at Imperial College London in the UK who have successfully coupled PRCs to large numbers of semiconducting quantum dots to make hybrid structures that consistently […]
