Showing Spotlights 1089 - 1096 of 2784 in category All (newest first):
The use of copper as an alternative electrode material to silver would reduce the cost of conductive inks. Nevertheless, copper nanowire conductors face a serious bottleneck for future practical use in flexible and stretchable optoelectronics: although they are nearly as conductive as silver, this conductivity is not stable. Researchers have now demonstrated conductive copper nanowire elastomer composites with ultrahigh performance stability against oxidation, bending, stretching, and twisting. This material offers a promising alternative as electrodes for flexible and stretchable optoelectronics.
Dec 2nd, 2014
The successful implementation of graphene-based devices invariably requires the precise patterning of graphene sheets at both the micrometer and nanometer scale. Finding the ideal technique to achieve the desired graphene patterning remains a major challenge. Researchers have now demonstrated 3D printed nanostructures composed entirely of graphene using a new 3D printing technique. The method exploits a size-controllable liquid meniscus to fabricate 3D reduced graphene oxide nanowires.
Nov 27th, 2014
The space industry has a strong requirement to develop flexible electrostatic discharge protection layers for the exterior cover of satellites in order to protect the electronics of the spacecraft. A new study explores carbon nanotube-polyimide composite materials as a flexible alternative for the currently used indium tin oxide (ITO) coating, which is brittle and suffers from severe degradation of the electrical conductance due to fracture of the coating upon bending.
Nov 26th, 2014
White-light-emitting diodes have many advantages over forms of lighting - incandescent, fluorescent and halogen - and this solid-state lighting technique is bound to make major inroads into the commercial and household markets. Researchers have now designed precursors and chemical processes to synthesize intercrossed carbon nanomaterials with relatively pure hydroxy surface states for the first time, which enable them to overcome the aggregation-induced quenching (AIQ) effect, and to emit stable yellow-orange luminescence in both colloidal and solid states.
Nov 25th, 2014
Most printed electronics applications rely on some kind of ink formulated with conductive nanomaterials. Researchers have now introduced a rapid and facile method to fabricate a foldable capacitive touch pad using silver nanowire inks. The team developed a technique that uses a 2D programmed printing machine with postdeposition sintering using a camera flash light to harden the deposited silver nanowire ink. resulting paper-based touchpads produced by direct writing with silver nanowire inks offer several distinct advantages over existing counterparts.
Nov 24th, 2014
The food chemistry Maillard reaction is responsible for many colors and flavors in foods - roasting of coffee, baking of bread and sizzling of meat. Scientists have made use of this ingenious food chemistry to 'cook' their copper nanowires. This green approach that formulates copper atoms in water to form untangled metallic state nanowires. Naturally, a lingering chocolate-like aroma was detected during the copper nanowires synthesis.
Nov 21st, 2014
A new review article examines opportunities and practical challenges that nanotechnology applications pose in addressing the guiding principles for a green economy. There is a general perception that nanotechnologies will have a significant impact on developing 'green' and 'clean' technologies with considerable environmental benefits. The associated concept of green nanotechnology aims to exploit nanotech-enabled innovations in materials science and engineering to generate products and processes that are energy efficient as well as economically and environmentally sustainable.
Nov 18th, 2014
Studying the complex wiring of neural circuits and identifying the details of how individual neural circuits operate in epilepsy and other neurological disorders requires real-time observation of their locations, firing patterns, and other factors. These observations depend on high-resolution optical imaging and electrophysiological recording. Researchers have now developed a completely transparent graphene microelectrode that allows for simultaneous optical imaging and electrophysiological recordings of neural circuits.
Nov 13th, 2014
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