News tagged with metal surfaces

How ion bombardment reshapes metal surfaces

To modify a metal surface at the scale of atoms and molecules — for instance to refine the wiring in computer chips or the reflective silver in optical components — manufacturers shower it with ions. ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created May 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Making microscopic machines using metallic glass

Researchers in Ireland have developed a new technology using materials called bulk metallic glasses to produce high-precision molds for making tiny plastic components. The components, with detailed microscopically patterned ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created May 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Shape-changing liquid metal antenna could lead to responsive electronic devices

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have fabricated a fluidic antenna that can change its shape, and therefore the frequency at which it resonates, in response to pressure in a controlled and predictable manner. ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jul 21, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (13) | comments 3 | with audio podcast feature

World's first magnetic soap produced

Scientists from the University of Bristol have developed a soap, composed of iron rich salts dissolved in water, that responds to a magnetic field when placed in solution. The soap's magnetic properties were ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jan 23, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (10) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Novel filter metal-organic framework material could cut natural gas refining costs

A new type of hybrid material developed at the University of California, Berkeley, could help oil and chemical companies save energy and money – and lower their environmental impacts – by eliminating ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Mar 29, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

New glass stamp may make cheaper, more precise biosensors

Advances in microchip technology may someday enable clinicians to perform tests for hundreds of diseases -- sifting out specific molecules, such as early stage cancer cells -- from just one drop of blood. ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Oct 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New technique makes it easier to etch semiconductors

Creating semiconductor structures for high-end optoelectronic devices just got easier, thanks to University of Illinois researchers.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Dec 22, 2011 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (5) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Trapping a rainbow: Researchers slow broadband light waves with nanoplasmonic structures

A team of electrical engineers and chemists at Lehigh University have experimentally verified the "rainbow" trapping effect, demonstrating that plasmonic structures can slow down light waves over a broad range of wavelengths.

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Mar 14, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

World’s first 3D plasmon ruler: Taking the 3-D measure of macromolecules

(PhysOrg.com) -- The world's first three-dimensional plasmon rulers, capable of measuring nanometer-scale spatial changes in macrmolecular systems, have been developed by researchers with the U.S. Department ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Jun 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Metal oxide 'can transform'

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team including Oxford University scientists has been investigating what happens to the top layer of atoms on the surface of a material that splits water and has potential uses in nanoelectronics.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Feb 15, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (12) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Graphene is thinnest known anti-corrosion coating

New research has established the "miracle material" called graphene as the world's thinnest known coating for protecting metals against corrosion. Their study on this potential new use of graphene appears ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Feb 22, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (11) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Fool's gold may prove an unlikely alternative to overexploited catalytic materials

Catalytic materials, which lower the energy barriers for chemical reactions, are used in everything from the commercial production of chemicals to catalytic converters in car engines. However, with current catalytic materials ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Feb 10, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (10) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Biochip measures glucose in saliva, not blood

For the 26 million Americans with diabetes, drawing blood is the most prevalent way to check glucose levels. It is invasive and at least minimally painful. Researchers at Brown University are working on a ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Jan 23, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Novel plasmonic material may merge photonic and electronic technologies

Helping bridge the gap between photonics and electronics, researchers from Purdue University have coaxed a thin film of titanium nitride into transporting plasmons, tiny electron excitations coupled to light ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Mar 27, 2012 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Bending light the 'wrong' way

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have tried this with sophisticated meta-materials, but at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) it has now been done with simple metals; materials with a negative refractive ...

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 18, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 9 | with audio podcast