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Gold nanoparticles have shown promise for cancer therapy by virtue of their ability to absorb laser light, heat up and thus kill the tumor. However, in order for the gold nanoparticles to have their therapeutic effect they need to be taken up specifically by tumor cells. Researchers have now used targeted viral vectors as carriers to bring the gold nanoparticles to the location where they need to work.
Humidity is a measure of the moisture content of an environment. Control of humidity is thus essential for maintaining the desired level of moisture in an enclosure be it in a hospital or in a semiconductor-processing unit or in a laboratory. For humidity control an efficient sensor is an absolute necessity.
Researchers in Israel demonstrated a new technique for creating polymer microlenses. While current processes employed for manufacturing large microlens arrays are not compatible with the need to place single microlenses in very precise, strategic locations (such as an intersection of two nanochannels, for example) the Israeli group's method is specifically designed to do so. They deposit small drops of monomer solution with a nanopipette, mounted as an AFM probe (nano fountain pen, or NFP), and subsequently polymerize them, to yield microlenses. Their technique could ultimately lead to nano-biochips with integrated polymer optics.
Carbon nanotubes have been converted to diamonds before but a group of researchers in the PR China and the UK now managed to do this at a very low pressure of only 80 megapascal.
Researchers in India have demonstrated a reliable and eco-friendly biological process for synthesis of silver nanoparticles.
Notwithstanding all the recent publicity about the presumed or actual toxicity of nanomaterials, the detailed pharmacological knowledge of any nanomaterial is important in order to assess its level of toxicity in the living body. While in vivo toxicity assessment of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is still at the early stage, research in this area is well underway.
Carbon onions, which are made of concentric graphene spherical shells, are a potential solid lubricant similar to Tungstenite (WS2) nanoparticles having an onion-like structure. In addition, carbon onion nanoparticles are expected to have good prospects for other applications, such as the reinforcement of composite materials, magnetic storage media and wear-resistant materials.
Lithography is a critical enabling technology for manufacturing nanoscale devices and structures. Suppose nanolithography tools cost just a few thousand dollars a piece instead of a few million dollars. These cheap tools would wide open the fields of nanotechnology to practically every university and industry researcher interested in the field.