Subscribe to our Nanotechnology Spotlight feed
By adopting a single-enzyme approach, scientists have unlocked a new era in enzymatic biofuel cell technology, where one device serves a dual purpose: harvesting electricity and providing an analytical signal for glucose detection, all powered by a single enzyme, glucose oxidase, on both the anode and cathode.
Researchers report single molecule studies of energy transfer using a quantum dot donor with an organic dye acceptor. They demonstrate that suppression of the blinking of the QD donor minimizes the loss of energy, which is achieved by a simple surface treatment method.
Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are rapidly emerging as a cutting-edge technology with the potential to revolutionize the marine industry. As a novel technology that has made significant progress over the past decade, TENGs have been regarded as one of the most efficient methods for harvesting low-frequency ocean energy.
The extensive use of polymer-made, disposable and non-biodegradable COVID-19 pandemic health protectives like surgical face masks, hand gloves and PPE kits, combined with a lack of proper waste recycling systems, considerably increased plastic pollution around the world. Researchers are harnessing a new way to turn these COVID-19 pandemic wastes towards sensor design by fabricating a mask-glove-based contact-separation triboelectric nanogenerator (MG-CS TENG).
By mimicking a biological cell plasma membrane, i.e. the membrane that separates the interior of the cell from the outside environment, researchers have demonstrated that a 2D reduced graphene oxide membrane can regulate complex polysulfide chemistry in lithium-sulfur batteries. The efficiency of this separator in controlling the polysulfide chemistry and its sub-micron thickness allows to minimize the amount of electrolyte needed, which enables lightweight, high energy density batteries.
Molecular energetic ferroelectric crystals are chemical energy materials with external stimuli-dependent energy release. Researchers now report the controlled chemical energy release from spatially programmed molecular energetic ferroelectric crystals. Such stimuli-controlled metamaterials (in this case, energetic ferroelectrics), could potentially provide a pathway towards the controlled release of chemical energy and its conversion to electric energy or thermal energy for use, for instance, in energy conversion systems, energetic materials, and thermal conductors.
Rain can be considered as prolific a sustainable energy source like energy scavenging from solar or wind. Consequently, droplet-driven energy harvesting devices - which offer a simple structure with low-cost materials requirements - have received considerable attention from the global research community. A recent review comprehensively discusses various methods for harvesting water droplets with their future potential for different applications.
One of the challenges of realizing smart dust concepts, as well as nano- and microrobotics in general, is a lack of equally small on-chip power sources for ubiquitous anytime anywhere operation. Now, researchers have created an on-chip micro-Swiss-roll battery by using a self-assembly process known as micro-origami. The batteries are 3 mm in length and about 178 micros in diameter and the self-assembly mechanism allows for the parallel fabrication of multiple micro-Swiss rolls on the wafer in a single run.