http://phys.org/nanotech-news/nano-materials/ en-us Phys.org Phys.Org provides the latest news on nanomaterials, nanotechnology, nanotech and nanoscience. Nearly everyone is familiar with the polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), otherwise known as Teflon, the brand name used by the chemical company DuPont. Famous for being "non-sticky" and water repellent, PTFE is a dry lubricant used on machine components everywhere, from kitchen tools and engine cylinders to space and biomedical applications. http://phys.org/news287996669.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-17T08:50:03-07:00 Frustration led to revelation when Rice University scientists determined how graphene might be made useful for high-capacity batteries. http://phys.org/news287937899.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-16T15:45:32-07:00 Scientists have identified nanostructures in the ultra-black skin markings of an African viper which they said Thursday could inspire the quest to create the ultimate light-absorbing material. http://phys.org/news287922916.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-16T11:50:01-07:00 Inspired by the structure of moth eyes, researchers at North Carolina State University have developed nanostructures that limit reflection at the interfaces where two thin films meet, suppressing the "thin-film interference" phenomenon commonly observed in nature. This can potentially improve the efficiency of thin-film solar cells and other optoelectronic devices. http://phys.org/news287918613.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-16T10:23:40-07:00 (Phys.org) —Among its many talents, silver is an antibiotic. Titanium dioxide is known to glom on to certain heavy metals and pollutants. Yet other materials do the same for salt. In recent years, environmental engineers have sought to disinfect, depollute, and desalinate contaminated water using nanoscale particles of these active materials. Engineers call them nanoscavengers. The hitch from a technical standpoint is that it is nearly impossible to reclaim the nanoscavengers once in the water. http://phys.org/news287845112.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-15T14:07:06-07:00 Writing in Nature, a large international team led Dr Roman Gorbachev from The University of Manchester shows that, when graphene placed on top of insulating boron nitride, or 'white graphene', the electronic properties of graphene change dramatically revealing a pattern resembling a butterfly. http://phys.org/news287825197.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-15T13:00:04-07:00 (Phys.org) —Alloys like bronze and steel have been transformational for centuries, yielding top-of-the-line machines necessary for industry. As scientists move toward nanotechnology, however, the focus has shifted toward creating alloys at the nanometer scale—producing materials with properties unlike their predecessors. http://phys.org/news287754606.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-14T12:50:17-07:00 (Phys.org) —Most Americans want the U.S. to place more emphasis on developing solar power, recent polls suggest. A major impediment, however, is the cost to manufacture, install and maintain solar panels. Simply put, most people and businesses cannot afford to place them on their rooftops. http://phys.org/news287666861.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-13T12:28:39-07:00 (Phys.org) —Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have uncovered the characteristics of a low-resistance electrical contact to strontium titanate, SrTiO3, an important prototypical oxide semiconductor. Oxides are likely to be important materials in next-generation electronic devices, and they need to be extremely small. Getting electrical signals into and out of oxide semiconductors is hard because a large energy barrier typically develops at the junction with metal contacts. Metal contacts are required to get electricity into and out of a semiconductor device in much the same way that jumper cables are needed to transfer power from a healthy car battery to a dead battery. This work shows how to eliminate this barrier while keeping the contact area extremely small, at the nanometer level. http://phys.org/news287650346.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-13T07:52:35-07:00 A new joint innovation by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the University of Cambridge could pave the way for redefining the ampere in terms of fundamental constants of physics. The world's first graphene single-electron pump (SEP), described in a paper today in Nature Nanotechnology, provides the speed of electron flow needed to create a new standard for electrical current based on electron charge. http://phys.org/news287574062.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-12T13:00:17-07:00 Leading nanoscientists created beautiful, tiled patterns with flat nanocrystals, but they were left with a mystery: Why did some sets of crystals arrange themselves in an alternating, herringbone style? To find out, they turned to experts in computer simulation at the University of Michigan and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. http://phys.org/news287576108.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-12T13:00:11-07:00 (Phys.org) —Quantum dots are tiny nanocrystals with extraordinary optical and electrical properties with possible uses in dye production, bioimaging, and solar energy production. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have developed a way to introduce precisely four copper ions into each and every quantum dot. http://phys.org/news287407933.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-10T12:32:27-07:00 Researchers from IMDEA-Nanociencia Institute and from Autonoma and Complutense Universities of Madrid (Spain) have managed to give graphene magnetic properties. The breakthrough, published in the journal Nature Physics, opens the door to the development of graphene-based spintronic devices, that is, devices based on the spin or rotation of the electron, and could transform the electronics industry. http://phys.org/news287394278.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-10T08:44:47-07:00 Researchers have discovered a technique for controlling the sensitivity of graphene chemical sensors. http://phys.org/news287240294.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-08T13:58:21-07:00 A new "solder" for laser welding of tissue during surgical operations has the potential to produce stronger seals and expand use of this alternative to conventional sutures and stapling in intestinal surgery, scientists are reporting. Their study, which involves use of a gold-based solder, or sealing material, appears in the journal ACS Nano. http://phys.org/news287221638.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-08T09:10:05-07:00 (Phys.org) —Researchers at India's Institute of Technology Madras have developed a new kind of portable water purification system based on nanoparticle filtration. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team explains how their new device does its job—it employs nanoparticles to remove not just biological hazards, but toxic heavy metals as well. http://phys.org/news287138484.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-07T10:30:01-07:00 Early-stage nanotech company SiO2 Nanotech has begun beta testing commercial applications of its anti-fogging technology for corporate partners. The new technology, which was developed from patented research conducted in the lab of Nicole Herbots, professor emerita in the ASU Department of Physics, can be used on a variety of different surfaces, including glass and plastics. http://phys.org/news287134439.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-07T08:34:17-07:00 Researchers from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) have demonstrated high-performance polymer solar cells (PSCs) with power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.92% which is the highest values reported to date for plasmonic PSCs using metal nanoparticles (NPs). http://phys.org/news287130510.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-07T08:20:01-07:00 (Phys.org) —A team led by Berkeley Lab Materials Sciences Division's Jeffrey Urban and Rachel Segalman have discovered highly conductive polymer behavior occurring at a polymer/nanocrystal interface. The composite organic/inorganic material is a thermoelectric – a material capable of converting heat into electricity – and has a higher performance than either of its constituent materials. The results may impact not only thermoelectrics research, but also polymer/nanocrystal composites being investigated for photovoltaics, batteries, and hydrogen storage. http://phys.org/news287130693.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-07T07:50:03-07:00 (Phys.org) —University of Illinois researchers have developed unique approach for the synthesis of highly uniform icosahedral nanoparticles made of platinum. Results showed that the key factors for the shape control include fast nucleation, kinetically controlled growth, and protection from oxidation by air. http://phys.org/news287060134.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-06T11:55:42-07:00 (Phys.org) —Drivers who have ever noticed a residue on their windshields after going through a car wash will sympathize with nanoscientist Seth Darling's pain. http://phys.org/news287040940.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-06T06:35:59-07:00 University of Utah metallurgists used an old microwave oven to produce a nanocrystal semiconductor rapidly using cheap, abundant and less toxic metals than other semiconductors. They hope it will be used for more efficient photovoltaic solar cells and LED lights, biological sensors and systems to convert waste heat to electricity. http://phys.org/news287034461.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-06T04:47:55-07:00 Thermoelectric materials can be used to turn waste heat into electricity or to provide refrigeration without any liquid coolants, and a research team from the University of Michigan has found a way to nearly double the efficiency of a particular class of them that's made with organic semiconductors. http://phys.org/news286954508.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-05T13:00:33-07:00 (Phys.org) —A Rice University laboratory's cagey strategy turns negatively charged carbon nanotubes into liquid crystals that could enhance the creation of fibers and films. http://phys.org/news286801094.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-03T11:58:28-07:00 (Phys.org) —Combining wonder material graphene with other stunning one-atom thick materials could create the next generation of solar cells and optoelectronic devices, scientists have revealed. http://phys.org/news286721581.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-02T14:00:01-07:00 (Phys.org) —An old, somewhat passé, trick used to purify protein samples based on their affinity for water has found new fans at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where materials scientists are using it to divvy up solutions of carbon nanotubes, separating the metallic nanotubes from semiconductors. They say it's a fast, easy and cheap way to produce high-purity samples of carbon nanotubes for use in nanoscale electronics and many other applications. http://phys.org/news286624129.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-01T10:49:03-07:00 Using the same devious mechanism that enables some bacteria to shrug off powerful antibiotics, scientists have developed solar-powered nanofilters that remove antibiotics from the water in lakes and rivers twice as efficiently as the best existing technology. Their report appears in ACS' journal Nano Letters. http://phys.org/news286622676.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-05-01T10:24:50-07:00 Scientists said Tuesday they had manufactured a lightweight and reusable material that can absorb up to 33 times its weight in certain chemicals—a possible new tool against water pollution. http://phys.org/news286548569.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-04-30T14:00:01-07:00 Nanoparticles are used in many commercial products catalysts to cosmetics. A review published today in the Science and Technology of Advanced Materials by researchers in Sweden and Spain describes recent work on the 3 main nanoparticles used in photocatalytic, UV-blocking and sunscreens. http://phys.org/news286440327.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-04-29T07:45:47-07:00 An ultimate goal in the field of carbon nanotube research is to synthesise single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with controlled chiralities. Twenty years after the discovery of SWNTs, scientists from Aalto University in Finland, A.M. Prokhorov General Physics Institute RAS in Russia and the Center for Electron Nanoscopy of Technical University of Denmark (DTU) have managed to control chirality in carbon nanotubes during their chemical vapor deposition synthesis http://phys.org/news286439101.html Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials 2013-04-29T07:25:24-07:00