Nanotechnology News – Latest Headlines

Seeding method allows functionalized metal-organic frameworks to be grown rapidly with precise structural control

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are highly porous, ordered networks consisting of inorganic centers linked by organic moieties. Their large surface areas make them attractive for various uses including catalysis, gas storage, and as filtration and purification membranes. Such industrial applications, however, require large-scale, well-controlled synthetic routes, which for MOFs have proved difficult to achieve. Dario Buso and Paolo Falcaro from the CSIRO in Australia have now led a group of researchers in developing a seeding method that can trigger MOF formation in a spatially controlled way whilst simultaneously allowing functionalization of the framework.

June 13, 2011 Read more

Resistive memory built with exposed, planar nanowires provides insights into resistive switching

Resistive memory is known to rely on the formation and destruction of nanoscale, filamentary conductive pathways between the electrodes. However, the exact nature of these pathways is not completely understood, particularly for materials in which positive charge carriers are responsible for conduction, known as 'p-type' materials. Takeshi Yanagida, Tomoji Kawai and colleagues at Osaka University in Japan and Konkuk University in Korea have now revealed key details of resistive switching in p-type devices.

June 13, 2011 Read more

Graphene: Foaming for stretchable electronics

A new deposition technique produces three-dimensional graphene structures that remain extraordinarily conductive after elastic deformation.

June 13, 2011 Read more

Graphene: From spheres to perfect dots

Well-defined graphene quantum dots can be synthesized from fullerenes using a ruthenium catalyst.

June 13, 2011 Read more

SACLA laser sets new wavelength record with 1.2 Angstroms

Next-generation facility produces X-ray laser with shortest ever wavelength.

June 13, 2011 Read more

First-of-its-kind hydrogel and new mix-and-match block copolymer 'smart' biomaterials for drug delivery and biomedical applications

Researchers from Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), an institute of Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have invented new 'smart' biomaterials including a unique hydrogel that has an on-off switch to precisely control its density and a new modular block copolymer that can be tailored to be triggered by specific temperatures.

June 13, 2011 Read more

Researchers develop a living laser

It sounds like something out of a comic book or a science fiction movie - a living laser - but that is exactly what two investigators at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital have developed. The researchers describe how a single cell genetically engineered to express green fluorescent protein can be used to amplify the light particles called photons into nanosecond-long pulses of laser light.

June 12, 2011 Read more

Scientists demonstrate first telecommunications wavelength quantum dot laser grown on a silicon substrate

A new generation of high speed, silicon-based information technology has been brought a step closer by researchers in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at UCL and the London Centre for Nanotechnology. The team's research provides the first demonstration of an electrically driven, quantum dot laser grown directly on a silicon substrate with a wavelength suitable for use in telecommunications.

June 12, 2011 Read more

Prototype demonstrates success of advanced new energy technology

With the completion of a successful prototype, engineers at Oregon State University have made a major step toward addressing one of the leading problems in energy use around the world today - the waste of half or more of the energy produced by cars, factories and power plants.

June 10, 2011 Read more

Physicists demonstrate that the Josephson junction could be reproduced

In recent years, UC Santa Barbara scientists showed that they could reproduce a basic superconductor using Einstein's general theory of relativity. Now, using the same theory, they have demonstrated that the Josephson junction could be reproduced.

June 10, 2011 Read more

Ultrathin copper-oxide layers behave like quantum spin liquid

Surprising discovery may offer clues to emergence of high-temperature superconductivity.

June 10, 2011 Read more

New grant to study ways of building nanoscale solid oxide fuel cells

A team of scientists and engineers led by University of Illinois at Chicago engineering professor Christos Takoudis will use a $475,000 National Science Foundation grant to study ways of building nano-scale solid oxide fuel cells that operate efficiently at intermediate-range temperatures.

June 10, 2011 Read more

Presentations now online for "Challenges of Regulation and Risk Assessment of Nanomaterials" event

wenty-eight presentations delivered at the Joint JRC Nano event and 2nd ENPRA Stakeholders Workshop are now available on-line.

June 10, 2011 Read more

New imaging tech promising for diagnosing cardiovascular disease, diabetes

Researchers have developed a new type of imaging technology to diagnose cardiovascular disease and other disorders by measuring ultrasound signals from molecules exposed to a fast-pulsing laser.

June 9, 2011 Read more

Department of Energy award to enable green energy research and pilot production at UAlbany NanoCollege

Project will develop innovative processing to reduce the manufacturing cost of Organic LEDs.

June 9, 2011 Read more

Engineers envision two-dimensional graphene metamaterials and one-atom-thick optical devices

Two University of Pennsylvania engineers have proposed the possibility of two-dimensional metamaterials. These one-atom-thick metamaterials could be achieved by controlling the conductivity of sheets of graphene, which is a single layer of carbon atoms.

June 9, 2011 Read more