Layered liquids arrange nanoparticles into useful configurations

Theoretical approach for assembling nanoparticles uses an idea similar to separated vinaigrettes

28-Mar-2019 - Materials scientists at Duke University have theorized a new "oil-and-vinegar" approach to engineering self-assembling materials of unusual architectures made out of spherical nanoparticles. The resulting structures could prove useful to applications in optics, plasmonics, electronics and ...

Nanowire 'inks' enable paper-based printable electronics

05-Jan-2017 - By suspending tiny metal nanoparticles in liquids, Duke University scientists are brewing up conductive ink-jet printer "inks" to print inexpensive, customizable circuit patterns on just about any surface. Printed electronics, which are already being used on a wide scale in devices such as the ...

Nanocubes simplify printing and imaging in color and infrared

16-Dec-2016 - Duke University researchers believe they have overcome a longstanding hurdle to producing cheaper, more robust ways to print and image across a range of colors extending into the infrared. As any mantis shrimp will tell you, there are a wide range of "colors" along the electromagnetic spectrum ...

Perpetual 'ice water': Stable solid-liquid state revealed in nanoparticles

Gallium nanoparticles that are both solid and liquid are stable over a range of 1000 degrees Fahrenheit

05-Aug-2016 - Imagine pouring a glass of ice water and having the ice cubes remain unchanged hours later, even under a broiler's heat or in the very back corner of the freezer. That's fundamentally the surprising discovery recently made by an international group of researchers led by an electrical engineering ...

New method for producing clean hydrogen

23-May-2013 - Duke University engineers have developed a novel method for producing clean hydrogen, which could prove essential to weaning society off of fossil fuels and their environmental implications. While hydrogen is ubiquitous in the environment, producing and collecting molecular hydrogen for ...

Silver nanoparticles may adversely affect environment

04-Mar-2013 - In experiments mimicking a natural environment, Duke University researchers have demonstrated that the silver nanoparticles used in many consumer products can have an adverse effect on plants and microorganisms.Fifty days after scientists applied a single low dose of silver nanoparticles, the ...

Smaller is better in the viscous zone

25-Oct-2010 - Being the right size and existing in the limbo between a solid and a liquid state appear to be the secrets to improving the efficiency of chemical catalysts that can create better nanoparticles or more efficient energy sources. When matter is in this transitional state, a catalyst can achieve ...

When nano may not be nano

16-Sep-2009 - The same properties of nanoparticles that make them so appealing to manufacturers may also have negative effects on the environment and human health. However, little is known which particles may be harmful. Part of the problem is determining exactly what a nanoparticle is. A new analysis by an ...

How mercury becomes toxic in the environment

20-Aug-2009 - Naturally occurring organic matter in water and sediment appears to play a key role in helping microbes convert tiny particles of mercury in the environment into a form that is dangerous to most living creatures. This finding is important, say Duke University environmental engineers, because it ...

Novel approach estimates nanoparticles in environment

26-May-2009 - Without knowing how much of an industrial chemical is being produced, it is almost impossible for scientists to determine if it poses any threat to the environment or human health. Civil engineers at Duke University believe they have come up with a novel way of estimating how much of one such ...