Nano News: 09/28/15

New method for building on an atomic scale

UK scientists have pioneered a new way of manipulating several thousand atoms at a time, paving the way for building nanoscale electronic devices more quickly and easily at room temperature. Drawing with atoms In 1992 the very first man-made atomic structure was created by using a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) to gently nudge individual atoms...

Metamaterial absorbers for infrared inspection technologies

Plasmonic metamaterials are man-made substances whose structure can be manipulated to influence the way they interact with light. As such, metamaterials offer an attractive platform for sensing applications, including infrared (IR) absorption spectroscopy – a technique used to uncover details of the chemical make-up and structure of substances. Now,...

Biomimetic dental prosthesis

There are few tougher, more durable structures in nature than teeth or seashells. The secret of these materials lies in their unique fine structure: they are composed of different layers in which numerous micro-platelets are joined together, aligned in identical orientation. Although methods exist that allow material scientists to imitate nacre, it...