For over a decade, scientists have attempted to synthesize a new form of carbon called graphyne with limited success. That endeavor is now at an end, though, thanks to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Obtaining structurally uniform nanocarbons in order to properly relate structure and function, ideally as single molecules, is a great challenge in the field of nanocarbon science. Thus, the construction of structurally uniform nanocarbons is crucial for the development of functional materials in nanotechnology, electronics, optics, and biomedical applications. An important tool for achieving this goal is molecular nanocarbon science, which is a bottom-up approach toward creating nanocarbons using synthetic organic chemistry. However, the molecular nanocarbons synthesized so far have simple structures, such as that of a ring, bowl, or belt. In order to realize unexplored and theoretically predicted nanocarbons, it is necessary to develop new methodologies for synthesizing molecular nanocarbons with more complex structures.
Strong and coherent ultraviolet light emission devices have enormous medical and industrial application potential, but generating ultraviolet light emission in an effective way has been challenging. Recently, a collaborative research team co-led by researchers from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) developed a new approach to generate deep-ultraviolet lasing through a "domino upconversion" processing of nanoparticles using near-infrared light, which is commonly used in telecommunication devices. The findings provide a solution for constructing miniaturized high energy lasers for bio-detection and photonic devices.
All-inorganic lead-free luminescent metal halide nanocrystals (NCs) are very important in optoelectronics, but their applications are limited by the low photoluminescence (PL) efficiency. It is an effective approach via ns2-metal ions doping for tailoring the optical properties of metal halide NCs and expanding their applications.
Scientists must make ever more sophisticated measurements as technology shrinks to the nanoscale and we face global challenges from the effects of climate change.
Summertime is almost here, a time when many people try to beat the heat. But running air conditioners constantly can be expensive and wasteful. Now, researchers reporting in the ACS journal Nano Letters have designed a lightweight foam made from wood-based cellulose nanocrystals that reflects sunlight, emits absorbed heat and is thermally insulating. They suggest that the material could reduce buildings' cooling energy needs by more than a third.
Biomarkers are components that may be present in biological samples and are related to specific diseases. Therefore, doctors can analyze biological samples from a patient to check their health condition or to monitor the progress of a specific therapy. Typically, these samples need to be purified and diluted before the analysis, and current medical diagnostic techniques rely on health care facilities and laboratories for these routine analyses. This is a lengthy process that requires trained personnel and expensive instrumentation to extract, transport, store, process, and analyze the samples in centralized locations. Moreover, during a period of global crisis like the ongoing pandemic, the pressure of thousands of analysis requests can saturate and collapse the health care system.
Diamond and graphite are two naturally occurring carbon allotropes that we have known about for thousands of years. They are elemental carbons that are arranged in a manner so that they consist of sp3 and sp2 hybridized carbon atoms, respectively. More recently, the discovery of various other carbon allotrope materials, such as graphene, fullerene, carbon nanotube, graphyne, and graphdiyne, has been revolutionizing modern nanomaterials science. In particular, graphene research has made significant advances in modern chemistry and physics because of its fascinating properties.
Imagine a tiny vehicle with a nanomagnetic structure, which can be steered through the human body via external magnetic fields. Arriving at its destination, the vehicle may release a drug, or heat up cancer cells without affecting healthy tissue. Scientists of different disciplines are working on this vision. A multidisciplinary research group at Universidad del Pais Vasco, Leioa, Spain, explores the talents of so-called magnetotactic bacteria, which have the surprising property of forming magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles inside their cells. These particles, with diameters of around 50 nanometers (100 times smaller than blood cells), arrange, within the bacterium, into a chain. The Spanish team is pursuing the idea of using such "magnetic bacteria" as magnetic hyperthermia agents to treat cancer: Steered to the cancer site, the magnetic nanostructures are to be heated by external fields in order to burn the cancer cells.
With antibiotic-resistant infections on the rise and a continually morphing pandemic virus, it's easy to see why researchers want to be able to design engineered nanoparticles that can shut down these infections.
Ovarian cancer kills 14,000 women in the United States every year. It's the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women, and it's so deadly, in part, because the disease is hard to catch in its early stages. Patients often don't experience symptoms until the cancer has begun to spread, and there aren't any reliable screening tests for early detection.
Carbon nanostructures that formed in circumstellar envelopes around carbon-rich stars may have a shared chemical origin with soot particles produced by fuel combustion. The same reaction mechanism may underpin each process, KAUST researchers have shown. The proposed mechanism could also lead to improved methods for carbon nanomaterial manufacture.
The vibrational modes of nanomechanical resonators are analogous to different notes of a guitar string and have similar properties such as frequency (pitch) and lifetime. The lifetime is characterized by the quality factor, which is the number of times that the resonator oscillates until its energy is reduced by 70%. The quality factor is crucial for the modern applications of mechanical resonators as it determines the level of thermal noise, which is a limit for sensing weak forces and observation of quantum effects.
Water scarcity is a growing problem around the world. Desalination of seawater is an established method to produce drinkable water but comes with huge energy costs. For the first time, researchers use fluorine-based nanostructures to successfully filter salt from water. Compared to current desalination methods, these fluorous nanochannels work faster, require less pressure and less energy, and are a more effective filter.
Very thin wires made of a topological insulator could enable highly stable qubits, the building blocks of future quantum computers. Scientists see a new result in topological insulator devices as an important step towards realizing the technology's potential.
In "proof of concept" experiments with mouse and human cells and tissues, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have designed tiny proteins, called nanobodies, derived from llama antibodies, that could potentially be used to deliver targeted medicines to human muscle cells. The researchers say the ability to more precisely target such tissues could advance the search for safer, more efficient ways to alleviate pain during surgery, treat irregular heart rhythms and control seizures.
Microrobots have the potential to revolutionize medicine. Researchers at the Max Planck ETH Centre for Learning Systems have now developed an imaging technique that for the first time recognizes cell-sized microrobots individually and at high resolution in a living organism.
The ground beneath our feet and under the ocean floor is an electrically-charged grid, the product of bacteria "exhaling" excess electrons through tiny nanowires in an environment lacking oxygen.
A research group led by Prof. Wu Aiguo at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in cooperation with Prof. Dan Larhammar's group at Uppsala University, has proposed a D-peptide ligand of neuropeptide Y receptor Y1, which can serve as nanocarriers to facilitate the traversal of the blood brain barrier (BBB) and thus targets gliomas efficiently. Results were published in Nano Today.
An intermediate layer consisting of a few atoms is helping to improve the transport of spin currents from one material to another. Until now, this process involves significant losses. A team from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Microstructure Physics, and the Freie Universitat Berlin reports in the ACS scientific journal Nano Letters on how this can be avoided. The researchers thus demonstrate important new insights relevant for many spintronic applications, including energy-efficient and ultra-fast storage technologies of the future.
Engineers at Johns Hopkins University, supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation, have developed a COVID-19 sensor that addresses the limitations of the two most widely used types of COVID-19 tests: PCR tests that require sample preparation, and the less accurate rapid antigen tests.
The cellular forms of natural materials are the inspiration behind a new lightweight, 3D printed smart architected material developed by an international team of engineers.
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) and Max-Planck-Zentrum fur Physik und Medizin (MPZPM) in Erlangen present a large step forward in the characterization of nanoparticles. They used a special microscopy method based on interfereometry to outperform existing instruments. One possible application of this technique may be to identify illnesses.
Chemical separation processes are essential in the manufacturing of many products from gasoline to whiskey. Such processes are energetically costly, accounting for approximately 10–15 percent of global energy consumption. In particular, the use of so-called "thermal separation processes," such as distillation for separating petroleum-based hydrocarbons, is deeply ingrained in the chemical industry and has a very large associated energy footprint. Membrane-based separation processes have the potential to reduce such energy consumption significantly.
A team from the Tulane University School of Science and Engineering has developed a new family of two-dimensional materials that researchers say has promising applications, including in advanced electronics and high-capacity batteries.
Scientists are exploring new ways to artificially stack two-dimensional (2D) materials, introducing so-called 2.5D materials with unique physical properties. Researchers in Japan reviewed the latest advances and applications of 2.5D materials in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.
Russian scientists have synthesized a new ultra-hard material consisting of scandium containing carbon. It consists of polymerized fullerene molecules with scandium and carbon atoms inside. The work paves the way for future studies of fullerene-based ultra-hard materials, making them a potential candidate for photovoltaic and optical devices, elements of nanoelectronics and optoelectronics, and biomedical engineering as high-performance contrast agents. The study was published in Carbon.
