Nanotechnology News – Latest Headlines

Measuring the forces of interactions between quantum dots and living cells

Quantum dots are particularly promising for biological imaging, having size-tunable light emission and excellent photostability. The development of such clinical applications, however, hinges on understanding how such nanoparticles interact with and penetrate living cells. A research team led by Hongda Wang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has now developed a method to measure these interaction forces using atomic force microscopy.

Jun 20th, 2011

Read more

Boron nitride nanotubes could form the basis for fluorescent cell sensors

Hollow nanotubes with walls just a few atoms thick are increasingly being used to monitor biological processes in individual cells. Such nanotubes can be loaded with fluorescent molecules that respond to certain biochemicals or a change in temperature or pH with a measurable change in fluorescence. Most of the biological probes developed so far rely on carbon nanotubes. Now, a research team from Japan has now produced a probe using nanotubes made of boron and nitrogen atoms.

Jun 20th, 2011

Read more

Study evaluates engineered nanoparticles in wastewater

Have you ever wondered what happens to sunscreen after it swirls down the drain with your soap? Probably not, but it is a question that makes Prof. Chin-Pao Huang curious. Sunscreen contains titanium dioxide, an engineered nanoparticle (ENP) that improves the product's performance, reducing your sunburn risk while outdoors.

Jun 19th, 2011

Read more

Packing the ions - discovery boosts supercapacitor energy storage

Drexel University's Yury Gogotsi and colleagues recently needed an atom's-eye view of a promising supercapacitor material to sort out experimental results that were exciting but appeared illogical. The team discovered you can increase the energy stored in a carbon supercapacitor dramatically by shrinking pores in the material to a seemingly impossible size - seemingly impossible because the pores were smaller than the solvent-covered electric charge-carriers that were supposed to fit within them.

Jun 17th, 2011

Read more

RSS Subscribe to our Nanotechnology News feed