Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Rice University have created the darkest material ever made by man. The material, a thin coating comprised of low-density arrays of loosely vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes, absorbs more than 99.9 percent of light and one day could be used to boost the effectiveness and efficiency of solar energy conversion, infrared sensors, and other devices.
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made the first direct measurements of the infinitesimal expansion and collapse of thin polymer films used in the manufacture of advanced semiconductor devices. It's a matter of only a couple of nanometers, but it can be enough to affect the performance of next-generation chip manufacturing.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed an imaging system that quickly maps the mechanical properties of materials"”how stiff or stretchy they are, for example"”at scales on the order of billionths of a meter.
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new way to seek out specific proteins, including dangerous proteins such as anthrax toxin, and render them harmless using nothing but light. The technique lends itself to the creation of new antibacterial and antimicrobial films to help curb the spread of germs, and also holds promise for new methods of seeking out and killing tumors in the human body.
Nanowires grown at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have a mechanical "quality factor" at least 10 times higher than reported values for other nanoscale devices such as carbon nanotubes, and comparable to that of commercial quartz crystals.
The unknown human health and environmental impacts of nanotechnology are a bigger worry for scientists than for the public, according to a new report published today (Nov. 25) in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
Almost everyone in the scientific community has heard of buckyballs, but no one until Sandia's Jianyu Huang has seen one being born.
UMass Amherst is host to a new nanomedicine institute focused on developing super-tiny structures for biomedical research. Work will focus on engineering fluorescent nanostructures for tagging proteins, engineering magnetic nanoparticles to remove pathogens from blood; and developing biodegradable nanostructures for fighting the malaria parasite.
Before you can buy nanometer-scale wires at your local Nano Depot, manufacturers will need efficient, reliable methods to build them in quantity. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) believe they have a solution.
Blocks of carbon nanotubes can be used to create effective and powerful pressure sensors, according to a new study by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Taking advantage of the material's unique electrical and mechanical properties, researchers repeatedly squeezed a 3-millimeter nanotube block and discovered it was highly suitable for potential applications as a pressure sensor.
New technology in development at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science could lead to more successful hip and bone replacement surgeries, make better use of solar power and even prevent your computer from overheating.
An interdisciplinary team of Cornell nanotechnology researchers has unraveled some of the fundamental physics of a material that holds promise for light-emitting, flexible semiconductors.
Nanoscale devices present a unique challenge to any optical technology "” there's just not enough room for light to travel in a straight line. Waves become unstable and difficult to predict, making design of devices using this technology difficult. But Georgia Tech researchers have discovered a method of predicting the behavior of light on the nanoscale during radiation heat transfer, opening the door to the design of a spectrum of new nanodevices and technologies.
With the support from a $478,000, five-year CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, Eva Harth is creating a modular, multi-functional drug delivery system that promises simultaneously to enhance the effectiveness and reduce undesirable side-effects of a number of different drugs.
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a simple new technique for identifying and repairing small, potentially dangerous cracks in high-performance aircraft wings and many other structures made from polymer composites. Once a crack is located, engineers can use a simple new method to seal the crack with a 70 percent recovery in strength.
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have created a razor-like material that is truly on the "cutting edge" of nanotechnology. Called nanoblades, these first-of-their-kind magnesium nanomaterials challenge conventional wisdom about nanostructure growth, and could have applications in energy storage and fuel cell technology.
Some great inventions are birthed at a bar, their futures scribbled on cocktail napkins. Multi-pixel X-ray technology, the first substantial technological change in X-rays in more than a century, was born over a greasy Philly cheesesteak sandwich.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Sandia National Laboratories, and a select group of other institutions signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the National Institute for Nano-Engineering, or NINE. The partnership has been driven by concerns over the health of America's science and engineering education and capacity for innovation, as highlighted in the 2005 report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm."
Scientists at Georgia Tech have developed a new technique for nanolithography that is extremely fast and can be used in liquids and outside of a vacuum. The technique could help make the manufacturing of nanocircuits commercially viable.
NIST researchers have shown that length has a significant impact on enhancing the optical properties of single-wall carbon nanotubes. Normally, material properties are constants, but, say the NIST researchers, at the nanoscale sometimes size matters in unusual ways.
University of Arkansas researchers develop nanowire scaffolds with applications in bone replacement and stents as well as hospital settings.
Findings by a team of researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee bode well for using single-walled carbon nanohorns, a particular form of engineered carbon-based nanoparticles, for drug delivery and other commercial applications.
Cornell researchers have demonstrated a new way to make nanoscale resonators vibrate 'in the plane' -- that is, side to side -- and have shown that this can improve biodetection by shaking off extraneous stuff that isn't supposed to be detected.
Researchers from the University of Delaware and Washington University in St. Louis have figured out how to train synthetic polymer molecules to behave--to literally "self-assemble" --and form into long, multicompartment cylinders 1,000 times thinner than a human hair, with potential uses in radiology, signal communication and the delivery of therapeutic drugs in the human body.
Recently, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have used their insights into nanomaterials to create bendy hydrogen sensors, which are at the heart of hydrogen fuel cells used in hydrogen vehicles.
Physicists at Georgia Tech have discovered a phenomenon which allows measurement of the mechanical motion of nanostructures by using the AC Josephson effect. The findings may be used to identify and characterize structural and mechanical properties of nanoparticles, including materials of biological interest.
Scientists at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory have discovered the surprising strength of a sheet of nanoparticles that measures just 50 atoms in thickness.
Chemists at the University of Illinois at Chicago have created a theoretical blueprint for assembling a nanoscale propeller with molecule-sized blades.
The ability of carbon nanotubes to withstand repeated stress yet retain their structural and mechanical integrity is similar to the behavior of soft tissue, according to a new study from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. When paired with the strong electrical conductivity of carbon nanotubes, this ability to endure wear and tear, or fatigue, suggests the materials could be used to create structures that mimic artificial muscles or interesting electro-mechanical systems, researchers said.
Mimicking the agile gecko, with its uncanny ability to run up walls and across ceilings, has long been a goal of materials scientists. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Akron have taken one sticky step in the right direction, creating synthetic "gecko tape" with four times the sticking power of the real thing.
Vanderbilt researchers have removed an obstacle that has restricted fluorescent nanotubes from a variety of medical applications. In a paper published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society they describe a method that can successfully produce large batches of highly fluorescent nanotubes.
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method of compacting carbon nanotubes into dense bundles. These tightly packed bundles are efficient conductors and could one day replace copper as the primary interconnects used on computer chips and even hasten the transition to next-generation 3-D stacked chips.
A team of Iowa State scientists is the first to successfully use nanotechnology to penetrate plant cells, simultaneously delivering a gene and a chemical to activate it. The breakthrough creates a powerful new tool that could transform plant biotechnology. It was a highlighted article in May's Nature Nanotechnology.
You are invited to the Journalist Workshop in Nanotechnology, June 13, 2007, hosted by the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science. (Space is limited and the deadline for registration is May 30. Journalists are encouraged to register now. If the workshop is filled, a waiting list will be created.)
In efforts that can improve studies of biological objects and the construction of nanotech materials, researchers at the University of California-Berkeley have invented "optoelectronic tweezers," a new way of controlling nanometer-scale objects. The research will be presented at the upcoming CLEO/QELS meeting in Baltimore.
A Georgia Tech research team has discovered that water exhibits very different properties when it is confined to channels less than two nanometers wide "“ behaving much like a viscous fluid with a viscosity approaching that of molasses. Determining the properties of water on the nanoscale may prove important for biological and pharmaceutical research as well as nanotechnology.
Researchers have discovered a better way to deliver drugs to tumors. By using a cylindrical-shaped carrier they were able sustain delivery of the anticancer drug paclitaxel to an animal model of lung cancer ten times longer than that delivered on spherical-shaped carriers.
Researchers have demonstrated a prototype nanometer-scale generator that produces continuous direct-current electricity by harvesting mechanical energy from such environmental sources as ultrasonic waves, mechanical vibration or blood flow.
The Nanotechnology and Society Research Group (NSRG) at Northeastern University is hosting a day long "short course" where Northeastern nanoscience researchers will join experts from around the nation to explain the basic science, emerging applications, and societal impacts of nanotechnology to an audience comprised of social science and law researchers, journalists, and public sector officials.
Cornell University researchers have come up with a simple, inexpensive way to measure the vibration of nanomechanical oscillators by 'tapping' with an atomic force microscope.
Gene therapy - the idea of using genetic instructions rather than drugs to treat disease - faces a sizeable hurdle in getting the right genes into the right place at the right time. University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers are developing a tool to tackle this problem.
The size, type, and dispersion of nanomaterials could all play a role in how these materials impact human health and the environment, according to two groups of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In new studies, the teams found that while carbon nanotubes inhibited growth in mammalian cells, they sustained the growth of commonly occurring bacteria.
Nanotechnology may unlock the secret for creating highly efficient next-generation LED lighting systems, and exploring its potential is the aim of several projects centered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Researchers at the University of Arkansas have fabricated and tested a novel biosensor that detects glucose close to real time and with much greater sensitivity than other comparable, biocompatible sensors.
By fusing wet and dry nanotechnologies, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found a way to control the flow of water through carbon nanotube membranes with an unprecedented level of precision. The research could inspire technologies designed to transform salt water into pure drinking water almost instantly, or to immediately separate a specific strand of DNA from the biological jumble.
The object of fascination for most is the DNA molecule. But in solution, DNA, the genetic material that hold the detailed instructions for virtually all life, is a twisted knot, looking more like a battered ball of yarn than the famous double helix. To study it, scientists generally are forced to work with collections of molecules floating in solution, and there is no easy way to precisely single out individual molecules for study.
Bigger may be better, but tinier is stronger. So say scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, who have shown that tiny polymer nanofibers become much stronger when their diameters shrink below a certain size. Their research could make possible stronger fabrics that use less material.
University of Florida engineering student Maria Palazuelos is working on nanotechnology, but she's not seeking a better sunscreen, tougher golf club or other product "” the focus of many engineers in the field.
The layers of mucus that protect sensitive tissue throughout the body have an undesirable side effect: they can also keep helpful medications away. To overcome this hurdle, researchers have found a way to coat nanoparticles with a chemical that helps them slip through this sticky barrier.
Laboratory experiments with a type of nanomaterial that has great promise for industrial use show significant potential for dispersal in aquatic environments -- especially when natural organic materials are present, according to research led by the Georgia Institute of Technology.
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