Recent Headlines:

Nanofabrication:

A Tiny Machine – UCSB

In 1959 renowned physicist Richard Feynman, in his talk “Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” spoke of a future in which tiny machines could perform huge feats.

Researchers Develop Textured Metal-Oxide Sheets Using Graphene Templates – AZO Nano

A new method of producing ultrathin metal-oxide sheets with intricate crumple and wrinkle pattern has been developed by researchers at the Brown University. The researchers show the efficient performance of these textured metal-oxide films when used as battery electrodes and photocatalysts, in a paper published in ACS Nano.

Nano-scale Electronics Score Laboratory Victory – PHYS

Researchers at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering have pioneered a method for growing an atomic scale electronic material at the highest quality ever reported.

IBM Is Using Tiny Tubes to Grow the Chips of the Future – Wired

THE REIGN OF silicon may be coming to an end. For years, researchers and entrepreneurs hoped that carbon nanotubes would revolutionize microchip design. These tiny, molecular-level structures could, in theory, be used to make chips that are six to ten times faster than today’s silicon-based variety—and use far less electricity.

Photonics:

Midwater Ocean Creatures use Nanotech Camouflage – EurekAlert!

A new study from Duke University and the Smithsonian Institution has found that these midwater hyperiid amphipods are covered with anti-reflective coatings on their legs and bodies that can dampen the reflection of light by 250-fold in some cases and prevent it from bouncing back to a hungry lantern fish’s eye.

Graphene Plasmons Reach the Infrared – PHYS

Graphene’s unique properties can be both a blessing and a curse to researchers, especially to those at the intersection of optical and electronic applications. These single-atom thick sheets feature highly mobile electrons on their flexible profiles, making them excellent conductors, but in general graphene sheets do not interact with light efficiently.

Nanophotonic Cloaking Could Eliminate Crosstalk Between Photonic Devices – Photonics Media

A nanophotonic cladding cloak that prevents crosstalk between two closely spaced single-mode waveguides could allow photonic devices to be integrated at a much higher density, without causing light to leak from one waveguide to another. This would allow billions of photonic devices to be packed into a single photonic computer chip and reduce the footprint of the chip, overcoming a major obstacle to the use of photonic chips in computers, data centers and mobile devices.

Tunable Graphene-based Mid-infrared Plasmonic Wide-angle Narrowband Perfect Absorber – Scientific Reports

In this paper, the periodic double-layer graphene ribbon arrays placed near a metallic ground plate coated by a dielectric layer are proposed and analyzed by the coupled-mode theory (CMT) to predict the perfect absorption response in the mid-infrared region.

The Small Matter of Big Solutions: Nanotechnologies Helping to Fulfill the Promise of Solar Energy – Genesis Nano Tech

For the first time in history, scientists from all disciplines are working together towards solving big problems; the ability to control matter at the atomic and molecular level is how nanotechnology is opening doors all across the sciences.

Impurities Enhance the Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells – Nano Werk

The development of perovskite solar cells, first reported in 2009, is a possible route towards high efficiency photovoltaics that are also cost-effectiveness, owing to to their easy-processing from solution. They absorb light across almost all visible wavelengths, they have exceptional power conversion efficiencies exceeding 20% in the lab, and they are relatively easy to fabricate. Question marks have however remained on their stability.

Bio-Medical:

Researchers Create Therapy that Curbs Toxic Chemotherapy Effects – PHYS

Virginia Tech scientists have developed a new cancer drug that uses gold nanoparticles created by the biotech firm CytImmune Sciences to deliver paclitaxel—a commonly used chemotherapy drug directly to a tumor.

Production of Selenium Nanoparticles in Pseudomonas Putida KT2440 – Scientific Reports

Selenium (Se) is an essential element for the cell that has multiple applications in medicine and technology; microorganisms play an important role in Se transformations in the environment. Here we report the previously unidentified ability of the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida KT2440 to synthesize nanoparticles of elemental selenium (nano-Se) from selenite.

By 2030 Hospitals May Be a Thing of the Past: Incorporating New Nano Enabled Materials into Health Care – Genesis Nano Tech

Predictions from the co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Future Council, Melanie Walker, say we’ll soon enter a post-hospital world due to advances in personalized medicine, health monitoring, and nanotechnology.New and evolving technologies in medical science convince Walker we’ll live in a society not dependent on hospitals by 2030.

Magnetic Nanoparticles Produced by Bacteria Could Help Kill Cancer Cells – Nano Werk

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is a form of cancer treatment where a therapeutic agent absorbs energy from photons, usually from near-infrared light, and dissipates it partially in the form of heat. When the therapeutic agents, for instance nanoparticles, are located in close vicinity to the tumor site, the temperature increase can lead to cell damage, i.e. it kills the cancer cell.

Metal-free Fluorinated Graphene Shows no Signs of Toxicity in Cell Culture Tests – PHYS

Graphene, the atomically thin sheets of carbon that materials scientists are hoping to use for everything from nanoelectronics and aircraft de-icers to batteries and bone implants, may also find use as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), according to new research from Rice University.

Materials:

Spinach Enhanced with Carbon Nanotubes Creates Wireless Explosive Sensor – E&T

American researchers have created nanobionic spinach that can detect explosives and send information wirelessly into a handheld device.

Researchers Find Molybdenum Diselenide not as Strong as They Thought – PHYS

Scientists at Rice University have discovered that an atom-thick material being eyed for flexible electronics and next-generation optical devices is more brittle than they expected.

Cellulose Nanofiber Backboned Prussian Blue Nanoparticles as Powerful Adsorbents for the Selective Elimination of Radioactive Cesium – Scientific Reports

A nano/nano combinatorial approach, as is described in this study, has provided an ultimate solution to this intrinsic colloid formation difficulty of PB.

New Nanotech Filaments Turn Your Clothing Into Solar Powered Batteries That Can Charge Your Gadgets On The Go – Science News Journal

The filaments can be used to turn jackets and other clothing into wearable, solar powered batteries that never need to be plugged in. Wearable technology could possibly be revolutionized by this development one day and potential applications range from charging smartphones by simply slipping it in a pocket, to lightening the load of soldiers who now have to carry heavy loads of batteries.

Researchers Discover New Material to Improve De-icing – EurekAlert!

Icy conditions can be deadly, whether you’re flying into bad weather or too close to power transmission lines during a storm. Researchers at the University of Houston have reported the discovery of a material that can be applied to any surface to repel ice.

Sensors:

‘Exceptional’ Nanosensor Architecture Based on Exceptional Points – PHYS

Researchers from the University of California San Diego have developed a novel design for a compact, ultra-sensitive nanosensor that can be used to make portable health-monitoring devices and to detect minute quantities of toxins and explosives for security applications.

Novel Amperometric Glucose Biosensor Based on MXene Nanocomposite – Scientific Reports

A biosensor platform based on Au/MXene nanocomposite for sensitive enzymatic glucose detection is reported. The biosensor leverages the unique electrocatalytic properties and synergistic effects between Au nanoparticles and MXene sheets.

World’s ‘Smallest Magnifying Glass’ Makes it Possible to See Individual Chemical Bonds Between Atoms – Nano Magazine

Using the strange properties of tiny particles of gold, researchers have concentrated light down smaller than a single atom, letting them look at individual chemical bonds inside molecules, and opening up new ways to study light and matter.