https://phys.org/news/2021-05-scientist ... onics.htmlMay 18, 2021
Researchers at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) developed a new approach to determine the best electrode materials composition for solid-state lithium-ion batteries. The results of the study were published in the journal Nanomaterials.
The development of miniature devices such as sensors and Internet of things (IoT) devices requires establishing small and complex power supplies with a high energy density. According to experts, traditional technologies for lithium-ion battery production reach their limits. It is difficult to reduce the size and control the shape of the power source any further in the required nano and micron dimensions. Meanwhile, micro and nanoelectronic technologies, such as Atomic Layer Deposition, can assist in producing miniature solid-state lithium-ion batteries with high specific energy.
Studying the new nanoscale materials for electrodes of lithium-ion batteries, the research group of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University developed a method to determine the electrochemical capacity of each component of the nickel-cobalt oxide system. Transition metal oxides have a high capacity and relatively low costs, which is required to develop lithium-ion batteries. In the investigation of thin films obtained by atomic layer deposition (ALD) were used as anode materials and demonstrated a high charge capacity at high current densities.
https://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=58074.phpMay 24, 2021
Materials behave in unconventional ways at the nanoscale, and by combining knowledge of biology, chemistry, and nanotechnology, we can achieve the unimaginable.
Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize agriculture and food systems. Our agricultural system has been facing many challenges with the growing population and the adverse effects of climate change.
As a result of the rise in the global mean temperature, the weather conditions have become more unpredictable and intense. These unfavorable weather conditions are devastating for farmers. The demand for food production is increasing rapidly, and the current production rate will not be enough to satisfy the growing demand. Scientists have turned to nanotechnology to enhance food production.
Nanobiosensors, nanofertilizers, and nanopesticides have the potential to significantly change the agricultural world.
https://phys.org/news/2021-05-birth-sub ... -ball.htmlMay 24, 2021
Ever since the existence of molecules was proven and molecular reactions were predicted, humans have wanted to visually observe how such events proceed. Such observations of single-molecule reactions are highly important for the fundamental understanding of chemical sciences, which would aid in the development of novel catalysts, materials, or drugs, and help us decipher the complex biochemical processes. However, this was not possible for the longest time in modern chemistry, and so far the information of dynamical processes on the nanometer scale was obtained only from indirect methods because molecules were too small to be visualized.
Recent findings by the researchers at the Center for Nanomedicine within the Institute for Basic Science, South Korea, together with researchers from Japan and Germany may have just changed this. The group successfully observed the bottom-up synthesis of fullerene C60, which is an allotrope of carbon that resembles a soccer ball, and produced a video image detailing the process using single-molecule atomic resolution real-time electron microscopy (SMART-EM). This was made possible with the advent of aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the establishment of the conditions for resolving subnanometer-sized objects such as molecules and even single atoms.
An international team led by Empa and ETH Zurich researchers is playing with shape-engineered nanoscale building blocks that are up to 100-times larger than atoms and ions. And although these nano "Lego bricks" interact with each other with forces vastly different and much weaker than those holding atoms and ions together, they form crystals all by themselves, the structures of which resemble the ones of natural minerals. These new mega-crystals or superlattices that are depicted on the cover of the latest issue of Nature exhibit unique properties such as superfluorescence—and may well usher in a new era in materials science.
To really appreciate what a team of researchers led by Maksym Kovalenko and Maryna Bodnarchuk has achieved, it is best to start with something mundane: Crystals of table salt (also known as rock salt) are familiar to anyone who has ever had to spice up an overtly bland lunch. Sodium chloride—NaCl in chemical terms—is the name of the helpful chemical; it consists of positively charged sodium ions (Na+) and negatively charged chloride ions (Cl-). You can imagine the ions as beads that strongly attract each other forming densely packed and rigid crystals like the ones we can see in a saltshaker.
https://phys.org/news/2021-05-breakthro ... n-day.htmlMay 28, 2021
Scientists have taken a step towards the creation of powerful devices that harness magnetic charge by creating the first ever three-dimensional replica of a material known as a spin-ice.
Spin ice materials are extremely unusual as they possess so-called defects which behave as the single pole of a magnet.
These single pole magnets, also known as magnetic monopoles, do not exist in nature; when every magnetic material is cut into two it will always create a new magnet with a north and south pole.
For decades scientists have been looking far and wide for evidence of naturally occurring magnetic monopoles in the hope of finally grouping the fundamental forces of nature into a so-called theory of everything, putting all of physics under one roof.
https://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology ... =58131.phpMay 31, 2021
This is the aim of a multi-disciplined team of scientists including from Heriot-Watt University’s Research Institute for Flexible Materials, who are behind a new project to harvest the kinetic energy generated in clothing through state-of-the-art nanotechnology.
The academics, all of whom are based in Scotland and Ireland, are attempting to create a friction based wearable autonomous energy system. They will use cutting-edge nanogenerators, which are designed to capture and reuse the kinetic energy in clothing materials created as the wearer moves. If successful, these tiny, unobtrusive devices will be woven into every-day clothing.
The team say their technology could be available as early as 2027 and capable of powering a host of devices such as mobile phones, smart watches and tablets.
Professor George Stylios from Heriot-Watt’s School of Textiles and Design in the Scottish Borders is leading on the textile aspects of the project. He is investigating ways to develop and integrate the technology into garments.
An illustration of the novel self-aware metamaterial system as used in a coronary artery stent. The design can sense restenosis when used in a stent, and the same design can be used at a large scale in bridge beams to to self-monitor for defects on the structure. Credit: iSMaRT Lab
From the biggest bridges to the smallest medical implants, sensors are everywhere, and for good reason: The ability to sense and monitor changes before they become problems can be both cost-saving and life-saving.
To better address these potential threats, the Intelligent Structural Monitoring and Response Testing (iSMaRT) Lab at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering has designed a new class of materials that are both sensing mediums and nanogenerators, and are poised to revolutionize the multifunctional material technology big and small.
The research, recently published in Nano Energy, describes a new metamaterial system that acts as its own sensor, recording and relaying important information about the pressure and stresses on its structure. The so-called "self-aware metamaterial" generates its own power and can be used for a wide array of sensing and monitoring applications.
https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/3 ... iruses.htmJun 06, 2021
Viruses spread in a variety of media - from droplets and aerosols carried by air to being carried by water - and a new filter membrane shows promise in deactivating these pathogens.
Currently, filtration technologies have effectively removed viruses and other pathogens using nanoparticles or reverse osmosis methods. However, their effectiveness as a filter membrane is currently limited by their expensive costs and negative effect on the environment. One example is a nanofilter against viruses, which is made from petroleum-based raw materials. Meanwhile, reverse osmosis processes require an unusually large amount of energy, increasing the costs and carbon footprint involved.
A new design for a filter membrane, made from natural materials, is detailed in the report "An antiviral trap made of protein nanofibrils and iron oxyhydroxide nanoparticles." The new study appears in the latest Nature Nanotechnology.
Small pieces of plastic are everywhere, stretching from urban environments to pristine wilderness. Left to their own devices, it can take hundreds of years for them to degrade completely. Catalysts activated by sunlight could speed up the process, but getting these compounds to interact with microplastics is difficult.
In a proof-of-concept study, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces ("A Maze in Plastic Wastes: Autonomous Motile Photocatalytic Microrobots against Microplastics") developed self-propelled microrobots that can swim, attach to plastics and break them down.
Light-driven molecular motors have been around for over 20 years. These motors typically take microseconds to nanoseconds for one revolution. Thomas Jansen, associate professor of physics at the University of Groningen, and Master's student Atreya Majumdar have now designed an even faster molecular motor. The new design is driven by light only and can make a full turn in picoseconds using the power of a single photon. Jansen says, "We have developed a new out-of-the-box design for a motor molecule that is much faster." The design was published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters on 7 June.
The new motor molecule design started with a project in which Jansen wanted to understand the energy landscape of excited chromophores. "These chromophores can attract or repel each other. I wondered if we could use this to make them do something," explains Jansen. He gave the project to Atreya Majumdar, then a first-year student in the Top Master's degree program in Nanoscience in Groningen. Majumdar simulated the interaction between two chromophores that were connected to form a single molecule.
This is a really interesting concept and I like the idea. Still, I do have a couple of questions that the article does not seem to really address.In a proof-of-concept study, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces ("A Maze in Plastic Wastes: Autonomous Motile Photocatalytic Microrobots against Microplastics") developed self-propelled microrobots that can swim, attach to plastics and break them down.
https://nanotechnology.news/2021-06-07- ... ution.html06/07/2021
Researchers from Northwestern University in Illinois have created a sponge-like material capable of removing up to 99 percent of phosphate ions in polluted water.
The “sponge,” technically known as the Phosphate Elimination and Recovery Lightweight (PEARL) membrane, is coated with nanostructures that bind to the phosphate ions. By fine-tuning the pH level of the sponge, the researchers can make it so that the sponge releases the ions. This allows them to use the sponge multiple times.
“We used to reuse phosphate a lot more,” lead author Stephanie Ribet said in a statement. Now, we simply pull more phosphorus out of the ground, use it once and flush it down the drain after use, where it ends up polluting water sources. “So, it’s a pollution problem, a sustainability problem and a circular economy problem,” added Ribet.
Their findings appeared online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Researchers at North Carolina State University have demonstrated a low-cost technique for retrieving nanowires from electronic devices that have reached the end of their utility, and then using those nanowires in new devices. The work is a step toward more sustainable electronics.
"There is a lot of interest in recycling electronic materials because we want to both reduce electronic waste and maximize the use we get out of rare or costly materials," says Yuxuan Liu, first author of a paper on the work and a Ph.D. student at NC State. "We've demonstrated an approach that allows us to recycle nanowires, and that we think could be extended to other nanomaterials—including nanomaterials containing noble and rare-earth elements."
"Our recycling technique differs from conventional recycling," says Yong Zhu, corresponding author of the paper and the Andrew A. Adams Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at NC State. "When you think about recycling a glass bottle, it is completely melted down before being used to create another glass object. In our approach, a silver nanowire network is separated from the rest of the materials in a device. That network is then disassembled into a collection of separate silver nanowires in solution. Those nanowires can then be used to create a new network and incorporated into a new sensor or other devices."
University of Houston researchers are reporting a breakthrough in the field of materials science and engineering with the development of an electrochemical actuator that uses specialized organic semiconductor nanotubes (OSNTs).
Currently in the early stages of development, the actuator will become a key part of research contributing to the future of robotic, bioelectronic and biomedical science.
"Electrochemical devices that transform electrical energy to mechanical energy have potential use in numerous applications, ranging from soft robotics and micropumps to autofocus microlenses and bioelectronics," said Mohammad Reza Abidian, associate professor of biomedical engineering in the UH Cullen College of Engineering. He's the corresponding author of the article "Organic Semiconductor Nanotubes for Electrochemical Devices," published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, which details the discovery.
A breakthrough in stabilizing nanocrystals introduces a low-cost, energy-efficient light source for consumer electronic devices, detectors and medical imaging.
Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are an unsung hero of the lighting industry. They run efficiently, give off little heat and last for a long time. Now scientists are looking at new materials to make more efficient and longer-lived LEDs with applications in consumer electronics, medicine and security.
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory report that they have prepared stable perovskite nanocrystals for such LEDs. Also contributing to the effort was Academia Sinica in Taiwan.
