Hybrid nanomaterials promise a sustainability boost across multiple industries

01-Nov-2023 - Polyoxometalate (POM)-based nanohybrids potentially offer a step-change in sustainability across a wide variety of industries, but research into the substances is in its infancy. A group of researchers has produced a comprehensive review of the sector’s progress and challenges yet to be ...

Scientists create luminescent gels with multitude of applications from counterfeiting to bio-sensing

15-Jun-2022 - Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have taken inspiration from nature to create luminescent, self-healing gels with a suite of potential applications ranging from bank note counterfeiting to next-gen bio-sensing and imaging. Crucially, the scientists have been able to introduce guanosine (a ...

Voltage from the parquet

Piezoelectric wood can generate electricity through deformation

17-Mar-2021 - Researchers at Empa and ETH Zurich have made wood compressible and turned it into a micro-generator. When it is loaded, an electrical voltage is generated. In this way, the wood can serve as a bio-sensor - or generate usable energy. The latest highlight: To ensure that the process does not ...

Structural colors from cellulose-based polymers

Self-assembly of responsive photonic biobased materials in liquid marbles

01-Sep-2020 - A surface displays structural colors when light is reflected by tiny, regular structural elements in a transparent material. Researchers have now developed a method to make structural colors from cellulose-based polymers by using coated droplets that exist in a surrounding fluid--so-called liquid ...

Will your future computer be made using bacteria?

Scientists are making graphene easier and more environmentally friendly to produce

12-Jul-2019 - In order to create new and more efficient computers, medical devices, and other advanced technologies, researchers are turning to nanomaterials: materials manipulated on the scale of atoms or molecules that exhibit unique properties. Graphene--a flake of carbon as thin as a single later of ...

Future electronic components to be printed like newspapers

24-Jul-2018 - A new manufacturing technique uses a process similar to newspaper printing to form smoother and more flexible metals for making ultrafast electronic devices. The low-cost process, developed by Purdue University researchers, combines tools already used in industry for manufacturing metals on a ...

Going with the DNA flow: Molecule of life finds new uses in microelectronics

28-Feb-2018 - For sheer versatility, there's no molecule quite like DNA. The iconic double-helix carries the genetic blueprint for living forms ranging from single-celled organisms to human beings. Recently, researchers have found that DNA's remarkable properties of self-assembly and its ability to conduct ...

Gold shines through properties of nano biosensors

Fluorescence in ligand-protected gold nanoclusters is an intrinsic property of the gold particles themselves

17-Aug-2017 - With their remarkable electrical and optical properties, along with biocompatibility, photostability and chemical stability, gold nanoclusters are gaining a foothold in a number of research areas, particularly in biosensing and biolabeling. These gold nanoclusters are chemically protected by ...

Smart multi-layered magnetic material acts as an electric switch

02-Mar-2017 - The nanometric-size islands of magnetic metal sporadically spread between vacuum gaps display unique conductive properties under a magnetic field. In a recent study published in EPJ Plus, Anatoliy Chornous from Sumy State University in Ukraine and colleagues found that the vacuum gaps impede the ...

Scientists build bacteria-powered battery on single sheet of paper

23-Dec-2016 - Instead of ordering batteries by the pack, we might get them by the ream in the future. Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York have created a bacteria-powered battery on a single sheet of paper that can power disposable electronics. The manufacturing technique reduces ...