Recent Headlines:

Nanofabrication:

Researchers Create Perfect Nanoscrolls from Graphene’s Imperfect Form – Phys

Water filters of the future may be made from billions of tiny, graphene-based nanoscrolls.

Nanoparticle Clumps Recycle Themselves into Complex Structures – Nanowerk

Manufacturers produce high-end technology mostly top-down with large machinery, but small particles are able to build structures by themselves from the bottom up.

Graphene-Based Remote Controlled Molecular Switches – Science Daily

Imagine a world where you can tailor the properties of graphene to have the outcome you desire.

Watch Heat Surge Across Semiconductors at the Speed of Sound – Spectrum IEEE

Using ultrafast electron microscopy, researchers at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis have made the first videos of acoustic phonons—quantized mechanical waves that carry energy through materials—moving heat through semiconductor crystals.

Nanotubes Line Up To Form Films – Eurek Alert

A simple filtration process helped Rice University researchers create flexible, wafer-scale films of highly aligned and closely packed carbon nanotubes.

Researchers Present a Direct First Proof of Stable, Ultra-Long 1d Carbon Chains – Phys

Elemental carbon appears in many forms, including diamond, fullerenes and graphene, which have unique structural, electronic, mechanical, transport and optical properties offering a broad range of applications in physics, chemistry and materials science.

Photonics:

Imec, Crystal Solar Achieve Solar Cell Efficiency – Photonics

Nanoelectronics research center Imec of Leuven, Belgium, and direct wafer developer Crystal Solar have reported 22.5 percent cell efficiency with nPERT silicon solar cells manufactured on 6-in. mono-crystalline epitaxially grown kerfless wafers.

Nano-Magnets Produce 3-Dimensional Images – Eurek ALert

A holographic display produces an exact copy of the wave front of scattered light from an object, and hence, a realistic 3D display is expected. Holographic displays can reconstruct realistic 3D images, thereby eliminating the need for special glasses.

Nanocones Funnel Light So Solar Cells Soak Up More Sun – Spectrum IEEE

Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) in Australia have created an entirely new nanostructure they have dubbed a “nanocone”.

Crumpling Approach Enhances Photodetectors’ Light Responsivity – Nano Werk

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated a new approach to modifying the light absorption and stretchability of atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials by surface topographic engineering using only mechanical strain.

Packaging:

The Advanced Packaging Industry Has Reached Its Zenith – Electro IQ

To overcome the current market and technology constraints taking place today within the semiconductor industry, new advanced packaging technologies have been developed by industrial companies.

Imec Technology Forum Brussels Puts Nanotechnology in the Hot Seat – Electro IQ

Imec, the nanoelectronics research center, today announced that its annual Imec Technology Forum (ITF) in Brussels will take place May 24-25, 2016 in Brussels, Belgium at SQUARE, Brussels Meeting Centre.

Bio-Medical:

Gold Nanoparticle-Based Laser System Modeled for Cell Transfection – Photonics

An optically induced method has been modeled for an efficient and cell-preserving transfection — the delivery of DNA or RNA into eukaryotic cells — in high-throughput screening.

Dressed To Kill: Tailoring a Suit for Tumor-Penetrating Cancer Meds – Phys

For more than a decade, biomedical researchers have been looking for better ways to deliver cancer-killing medication directly to tumors in the body.

Materials:

Metal Foam Obliterates Bullets – And That’s Just the Beginning – Phys

Composite metal foams (CMFs) are tough enough to turn an armor-piercing bullet into dust on impact. Given that these foams are also lighter than metal plating, the material has obvious implications for creating new types of body and vehicle armor – and that’s just the beginning of its potential uses.

2-D Boron Is an Intrinsic Superconductor – Spectrum IEEE

Just as we were getting confirmation that graphene could be coaxed into behaving as a superconductor, we now get research out of Rice University indicating that the two-dimensional version of boron may be the only flatlands material that is an intrinsic superconductor.

For Rechargeable Batteries That Crush the Competition, Crush This Material – Phys

By chemically modifying and pulverizing a promising group of compounds, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have potentially brought safer, solid-state rechargeable batteries two steps closer to reality.

Sensors:

PolyU Develops Novel Nano Biosensor for Rapid Detection of Flu Virus – Eurek Alert

PolyU’s new invention utilizes an optical method called upconversion luminescence resonance energy transfer (LRET) process for ultrasensitive virus detection.

Lighting the Way to New Sensors – Nano Werk

Many machines such as turbines, oil-drills, health monitors and nuclear reactors require internal sensors to monitor physical states such as temperature.

Ferroelectric Localized Field Enhanced Nanowire Photodetectors – Nano Werk

In recent years, one-dimensional semiconductor nanowires have been widely applied in photodetectors due to their excellent optoelectronic characteristics such as tunable light absorption, fast-response, and efficient light-to-current conversion. However, defect-induced intrinsic carriers and surface trapped charges at certain level result in appreciable dark currents, thus lowering the ratio of light to dark current (Ilight/Idark), limiting the detection performance of the photodetectors.