Nanotechnology News – Latest Headlines

Nanotechnology is key to recovering usable fingerprints from old evidence

The work of University of Technology Sydney (UTS) forensic science researcher Dr Xanthe Spindler has made an important step towards recovering usable fingerprints from old evidence and surfaces long considered too difficult by crime scene investigators.

June 6, 2011 Read more

Introductory video to solar cells

How do solar cells convert sunlight into electricity? If you are new to solar cells, here is a great introductory video from the VegaScience Trust's great Instructional Science and Engineering Videos series by Jonathan Hare.

June 6, 2011 Read more

Microscopy with a quantum tip

The heart of a scanning probe microscope is a moveable, suspended tip, which, like the needle on a record player, reacts to small height variations on the surface, and turns these into signals that can be displayed on a computer. Researchers have now been able to create this tip, not out of solid material, as in the case of the record player, but out of an ultra-cold, dilute gas of atoms. To do this, they cooled an especially pure gas of rubidium atoms to a temperature less than a millionth of a degree above absolute zero temperature, and stored the atoms in a magnetic trap. This 'quantum tip' can be precisely positioned and enables the probing of nanostructured surfaces.

June 6, 2011 Read more

New battery design could give electric vehicles a jolt

A radically new approach to the design of batteries, developed by researchers at MIT, could provide a lightweight and inexpensive alternative to existing batteries for electric vehicles and the power grid. The technology could even make 'refueling' such batteries as quick and easy as pumping gas into a conventional car.

June 6, 2011 Read more

Liquid crystals: Jogging a pore memory

The topology of a porous material offers new ways to functionalize liquid crystals for optical applications.

June 6, 2011 Read more

Graphene nanoribbons: Drawn together

Graphene nanoribbons produced by dip-pen nanolithography form the basis for high-mobility field-effect transistors.

June 6, 2011 Read more

Carbon nanosystems: Curled-up from within

Graphene nanoribbons form DNA-like helical structures when encapsulated in carbon nanotubes.

June 6, 2011 Read more

Researchers develop super long, ultra-pure graphene film

Researchers at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa have invented a technology that can transform graphite powder into super long, ultra-pure graphene film.

June 6, 2011 Read more

Scientists use super microscope to pinpoint body's immunity 'switch'

Molecular mechanism driving the immune response identified for the first time.

June 5, 2011 Read more

In very narrow spaces, liquids behave more like gels

Three molecules thick, or two, or one: how does an extremely thin layer of trapped liquid behave when we make it even thinner? Measurements made using the Atomic Force Microscope show that the forces of friction increase with each step.

June 3, 2011 Read more

Nanoscale Effects in Tribology (NET 2011) Meeting - Last call for papers

This meeting will address the advances occurring in nanoscale tribology, providing attendees the opportunity to network, and discuss trends and future developments.

June 3, 2011 Read more

Being stressed without ripping - flower-like defects in graphene

Researchers describe a family of seven potential defect structures that may appear in sheets of graphene and image examples of the lowest-energy defect in the family.

June 3, 2011 Read more

Free book downloads! National Academies Press makes more than 4,000 titles available

As of yesterday, all PDF versions of books published by the National Academies Press will be downloadable to anyone free of charge. This includes a current catalog of more than 4,000 books plus future reports produced by the Press.

June 3, 2011 Read more

EuroNanoForum 2011 draws 1200 attendees to see close to market nanotechnology developments

1200 members of the nanotechnology community from over 50 countries gathered in Budapest, Hungary, for three days of presentations, networking and inspiration during EuroNanoForum 2011.

June 3, 2011 Read more

Small change makes a big difference for ion channels

Using a high-resolution single-molecule study technique, University of Illinois researchers have seen the very subtle differences between two branches of an important family of neurotransmitter-gated ion channels.

June 2, 2011 Read more

National Grid provides $225K grant to UAlbany NanoCollege for green energy initiative to establish Solar Power Control and Monitoring Center

National Grid today presented a $225,000 Renewable Energy and Economic Development grant to the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany to help enable a green energy initiative that will establish a Photovoltaic Control and Monitoring Center at CNSE's Albany NanoTech Complex.

June 2, 2011 Read more