Better known as glass, silica is a versatile material used in myriad industrial processes, from catalysis and filtration, to chromatography and nanofabrication. Yet despite its ubiquity in labs and cleanrooms, surprisingly ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 12, 2018
0
118
Lightning and volcanos both produce glass, and humans have been making glass from silicon dioxide since prehistory. Industrialization brought us boron-based glasses, polymer glasses and metallic glasses, but now an international ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 9, 2018
0
304
Everyone knows that water freezes at 0 degrees C. Life on Earth would be vastly different if this were not so. However, water's cousin, silica, exhibits wayward behavior when cooled that has long puzzled scientists.
Condensed Matter
Feb 14, 2018
3
811
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the Air Force Research Laboratory have discovered that a technique designed to coat nickel nanoparticles with silica shells actually fragments the material – creating ...
Nanomaterials
Nov 28, 2017
0
11
Filtration membranes are, at their core, sponge-like materials that have micro- or nanoscopically small pores. Unwanted chemicals, bacteria and even viruses are physically blocked by the maze of mesh, but liquids like water ...
Nanomaterials
Nov 1, 2017
0
151
Researchers have developed a solar paint that can absorb water vapour and split it to generate hydrogen - the cleanest source of energy.
Materials Science
Jun 14, 2017
2
660
Lighter-toned bedrock that surrounds fractures and comprises high concentrations of silica—called "halos"—has been found in Gale crater on Mars, indicating that the planet had liquid water much longer than previously ...
Space Exploration
May 30, 2017
0
79
Scientists at Ames Laboratory have discovered a method for making smaller, more efficient intermetallic nanoparticles for fuel cell applications, and which also use less of the expensive precious metal platinum.
Materials Science
May 9, 2017
0
48
Vaccines and antibodies could be transported and stored without refrigeration by capturing them in tiny silica 'cages', a discovery which could make getting vital medicines to remote or dangerous places much easier, cheaper ...
Materials Science
Apr 24, 2017
1
290
Two geoscientists at Arizona State University have made a discovery among hot springs in Chile that may spur scientists to revisit a location on Mars explored several years ago by NASA's Spirit rover. The discovery involves ...
Space Exploration
Nov 17, 2016
0
393
