Using an atomic layer deposition process, researchers at Harvard University have developed a way to separate individual quantum dots within a single layer with an aluminum oxide insulating layer. The best metaphor is a carton of eggs, with the CdSe/ZnS QDs representing the eggs and the Al2O3 layer representing the cardboard spacers in between them.
Carbon nanotubes are known for their remarkable mechanical and electrical properties - but can these properties be improved upon? Calculations have now shown that three-dimensional arrays of nanotubes could have strikingly enhanced mechanical and electronic properties.
By changing the organic molecule that coats gold nanorods, scientists at Rice University in Houston have increased the number of gold nanorods inserted into a single, living cell to over 2 million. The previous record was 150,000. This achievement could greatly improve photothermal therapy for cancer, which uses near-IR light to heat nanorods inside cancer cells to destroy them.
Biomedical engineer Marissa Nichole Rylander, associate professor jointly appointed in the mechanical engineering department and Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, at Virginia Tech is the recipient of the 2012 Y.C. Fung Young Investigator Award.
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, member of the Armed Services Committee, secured Senate approval for an increased focus onnanotechnology research by the Defense Department, including a study to determine the need for a center for nanotechnology.
Researchers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Materials Research Institute at Penn State are part of a multidisciplinary team of researchers from universities and national laboratories across the U.S. who have fabricated piezoelectric thin films with record-setting properties.
A recent review in the edition of Nature Nanotechnology examines the technical challenges in the field of structural DNA nanotechnology and outlines some of the promising applications that could be developed if these hurdles can be overcome.
Mit der Konferenz "Next Generation Solar Energy - From Fundamentals to Applications" ist es der Bayern Innovativ GmbH und ihren Partnern erstmals gelungen, mehr als 40 der international renommiertesten Photovoltaik-Wissenschaftler und Entwickler aus innovativen Unternehmen bei einem Kongress in Deutschland zusammenzufuehren.
Graphen ist an sich ein hervorragender elektrischer Leiter. Doch muss nutzbares Graphen ueber Kontakte elektrisch an die Umgebung angebunden sein - das kann sich nachteilig auf die Leitfaehigkeit auswirken. Ein Team von der Uni Duisburg-Essen hat nun erstmals nanometergenau den Widerstand an den Kontaktstellen gemessen.