Nano News: 08/26/15

Nanoengineered, 3D-printed swiming microrobots

Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego used an innovative 3D printing technology they developed to manufacture multipurpose fish-shaped microrobots -- called microfish -- that swim around efficiently in liquids, are chemically powered by hydrogen peroxide and magnetically controlled. These proof-of-concept synthetic microfish will...

More efficient chips based on plasmonics are a step closer

By using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), A*STAR researchers and their collaborators have generated electromagnetic waves known as surface plasmon polaritons in a gold grating and demonstrated that the direction of travel of these waves can be controlled ("Electrically-excited surface plasmon polaritons with directionality control.")....

Finding 'Goldilocks' nanoparticles for catalysis

A*STAR scientists have used first-principles computer simulations to explain why small platinum nanoparticles are less effective catalysts than larger ones ("Platinum nanoparticle during electrochemical hydrogen evolution: Adsorbate distribution, active reaction species, and size effect"). First-principles simulations reveal distribution of absorbed...