Nano News: April 2015

Desirable defects in liquid crystals

Introducing flaws into liquid crystals by inserting microspheres and then controlling them with electrical fields: that, in a nutshell, is the rationale behind a method that could be exploited for a new generation of advanced materials, potentially useful for optical technologies, electronic displays and e-readers. A team of scientists (including research...

Making magnetic hot spots with pairs of silicon nanocylinders

Shining visible light on two tiny silicon cylinders, or a ‘nanodimer’, placed just 30 nanometers apart, produces resonant hot spots for both the electric and magnetic fields, finds a study by A*STAR researchers (, "Magnetic and Electric Hotspots with Silicon Nanodimers"). This phenomenon could potentially be used to connect computing devices. Two...

Harnessing sunlight more effectively with nanoparticles

A*STAR researchers have performed theoretical calculations to explain why semiconductor microspheres embedded with metal nanoparticles are so good at using sunlight to catalyze reactions (, "Interference-Induced Broadband Absorption Enhancement for Plasmonic-Metal@Semiconductor Microsphere as Visible Light Photocatalyst"). Analysis of the electric...

Physics of heavy ion induced damage in nanotwinned metals revealed

A group of researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University led by Dr. Xinghang Zhang has investigated defect dynamics in heavy ion (Krypton) irradiated nanotwinned Ag and revealed twin boundary-defect clusters interactions via in situ radiation. High energy...

How to grow nanostructures in a controlled manner on a variety of metals

Materials scientist Irem Tanyeli from energy research institute DIFFER has discovered how you can grow nanostructures in a controlled manner on a variety of metals, by bombarding the metals with helium particles. Such controlled nanostructures provide the possibility of advanced electrodes that produce sustainable fuel using solar energy. Tanyeli and...

Developing portable, highly sensitive gold detection down to nanoparticles

University of Adelaide researchers are developing a portable, highly sensitive method for gold detection that would allow mineral exploration companies to test for gold on-site at the drilling rig. Using light in two different processes (fluorescence and absorption), the researchers from the University’s...

A new constitutive model for the thermo-elasto-plasticity deformation of crystals

Researchers have proposed a new thermo-elasto-plasticity constitutive model based on the interatomic potential and solid mechanics for metal crystals. Through this new model, the material behavior at different temperatures could be described accurately and conveniently. The work, led by Professor Wang TzuChiang, together with collaborators Chen Cen...

When mediated by superconductivity, light pushes matter million times more

When a mirror reflects light, it experiences a slight push. This radiation pressure can be increased considerably with the help of a small superconducting island. This was revealed by the joint research done in the Aalto University and the Universities of Jyväskylä and Oulu. The finding paves a way...

Random light scattering enhances the resolution of wide-field optical microscope images

Researchers at the UT-research institute MESA+ have developed a method to improve the resolution of a conventional wide-field optical microscope. Scattered light usually reduces the resolution of conventional optical microscopes. The UT-researchers however found a simple and efficient way to actively use scattered light to improve the resolution of...

Graphene-based technique creates the smallest gaps in nanostructures

A new procedure will enable researchers to fabricate smaller, faster, and more powerful nanoscale devices - and do so with molecular control and precision. Using a single layer of carbon atoms, or graphene, nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego have invented a new way of fabricating nanostructures that contain well-defined, atomic-sized...

Researchers model new atomic structures of gold nanoparticle

They may deal in gold, atomic staples and electron volts rather than cement, support beams and kilowatt-hours, but chemists have drafted new nanoscale blueprints for low-energy structures capable of housing pharmaceuticals and oxygen atoms. Led by UNL's Xiao Cheng Zeng and former visiting professor Yi Gao, new research has revealed four atomic arrangements...

Study explores the interaction of carbon nanotubes and the blood-brain barrier

A research published in ("The interaction of carbon nanotubes with an in vitro blood-brain barrier model and mouse brain in vivo") studies the interaction of carbon nanotubes and the blood-brain barrier through two different proceedings. The study was carried by the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science at the King's College London and Elzbieta Pach...

Simpler nanoscale bioreplication of beetle decoys

Ash trees in 22 eastern states of U.S.A. are being decimated by emerald ash borers (EABs), an Asian beetle that arrived in Michigan more than two decades ago. The pest has even spread westwards into Kansas and Colorado. Nothing seemed to be effective against EABs, until decoys designed to mimic female...

Graphene brings 3-D holograms clearer and closer

From mobile phones and computers to television, cinema and wearable devices, the display of full colour, wide-angle, 3D holographic images is moving ever closer to fruition, thanks to international research featuring Griffith University ("Athermally photoreduced graphene oxides for three-dimensional...

Chemists' synthesis of silicon oxides opens 'new world in a grain of sand'

Gregory H. Robinson is the University of Georgia Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry. The study, published April 20 in the journal ("Stabilization of elusive silicon oxides"), gives details on the first time chemists have been able to trap molecular species of silicon oxides. Using a technique they developed in 2008, the UGA team succeeded...

A light switch for superconductivity

A device that can be switched between insulating and superconducting states by irradiation with light has been developed by researchers from RIKEN and the Institute for Molecular Science (, "Light-induced superconductivity using a photoactive electric double layer"). The development could ultimately lead to more efficient superconducting microelectronics....

Ultra-sensitive sensor detects individual electrons

A Spanish-led team of European researchers at the University of Cambridge has created an electronic device so accurate that it can detect the charge of a single electron in less than one microsecond. It has been dubbed the 'gate sensor' and could be applied in quantum computers of the future to read information stored in the charge or spin of a single...

Scientists use nanoscale building blocks and DNA 'glue' to shape 3D superlattices

Taking child's play with building blocks to a whole new level—the nanometer scale—scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have constructed 3D "superlattice" multicomponent nanoparticle arrays where the arrangement of particles is driven by the shape of the tiny building blocks. The method uses linker molecules...

Mechanical cloaks of invisibility - without complicated mathematics

A honeycomb is a very stable structure. If it has a larger hole, however, stability is largely lost. What might a honeycomb look like, which survives external forces in spite of a hole? Such stable types of known constructions might be useful in architecture or when developing new construction materials. So far, the mathematical expenditure required...

Low-reflection, nanostructured wings make butterflies nearly invisible

Researchers of KIT under the direction of Hendrik Hölscher found that irregular nanostructures on the surface of the butterfly wing cause the low reflection. In theoretical experiments, they succeeded in reproducing the effect that opens up fascinating application options, e.g. for displays of mobile phones or laptops. The results are published in...

Surface matters: Huge reduction of heat conduction observed in flat silicon channels

Combining state-of-the-art realistic atomistic modelling and experiments, the paper describes how thermal conductivity of ultrathin silicon membranes is controlled to large extent by the structure and the chemical composition of their surface. A detailed understanding of the connections of fabrication and processing to structural and thermal properties...

Nanoscientists model atomic structures of three bacterial nanomachines

esearchers at UCLA’s California NanoSystems Institute have become the first to produce images of the atomic structures of three specific biological nanomachines, each derived from a different potentially deadly bacterium — an achievement they hope will lead to antibiotics targeted toward specific pathogens....

Scientists explain skin fusion at a molecular level

Scientists from the Goethe University (GU) Frankfurt, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Heidelberg and the University of Zurich explain skin fusion at a molecular level and pinpoint the specific molecules that do the job in their latest publication in the journal ("Quantitative analysis of cytoskeletal reorganization during epithelial...

Nanobubbles dilemma solved after more than twenty years

It was a question that has kept physicists and chemists busy for more than twenty years. Why can tiny bubbles in a liquid supersaturated with gas remain stable for weeks, while according to theoretical expectation they should disappear in a fraction of a second? Prof. dr. ir. Detlef Lohse from the University...

Better battery imaging paves way for renewable energy future

In a move that could improve the energy storage of everything from portable electronics to electric microgrids, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Brookhaven National Laboratory researchers have developed a novel X-ray imaging technique to visualize and study the electrochemical reactions in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries containing a new type...

Researchers succeed in light-controlled molecule switching

Scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the University of Konstanz are working on storing and processing information on the level of single molecules to create the smallest possible components that will combine autonomously to form a circuit. As recently reported in the academic journal ("Light-Induced Switching of Tunable...

UNL wins $9.6 million NSF grant for nanotechnology research center

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has earned a $9.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support its Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and its nanotechnology research through 2020. Through this multidisciplinary center, UNL physicists, chemists and engineers collaborate...