Researchers Unveil Scalable Graphene Technology to Revolutionize Battery Safety and Performance

Researchers have developed a pioneering technique for producing large-scale graphene current collectors. This breakthrough promises to significantly enhance the safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), addressing a critical challenge in energy storage technology. Read on to learn more.

Nanoscale Device Points the Way to Future Wireless Communication Channels

In a paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, a team of Caltech engineers reports building a metasurface patterned with miniscule tunable antennas capable of reflecting an incoming beam of optical light to create many sidebands, or channels, of different optical frequencies. Read on to learn more.

Stretchable, Flexible Biofuel Cell Runs on Sweat

A flexible and stretchable cell has been developed for wearable electronic devices that require a reliable and efficient energy source that can easily be integrated into the human body. Read on to learn more about it.

Seeing Like a Butterfly: Optical Invention Enhances Camera Capabilities

Butterflies can see more of the world than humans, including more colors and the field oscillation direction, or polarization, of light. Other species, like the mantis shrimp, can sense an even wider spectrum of light, as well as the circular polarization, or spinning states, of light waves. Inspired by these abilities in the animal kingdom, researchers have developed an ultrathin optical element known as a metasurface, which can attach to a conventional camera and encode the spectral and polarization data of images captured in a snapshot or video through tiny, antenna-like nano-structures that tailor light properties.

Self-Propelled Nanorobots

The “nanoswimmers” could be used to remediate contaminated soil, improve water filtration, or even deliver drugs to targeted areas of the body.

DNA-Based Controller to Operate Swarm Molecular Robots

Researchers have successfully developed a DNA-based molecular controller that autonomously directs the assembly and disassembly of molecular robots. This pioneering technology marks a significant step toward advanced autonomous molecular systems with potential applications in medicine and nanotechnology.

Ultra-Sensitive Lead Detector Could Improve Water Quality Monitoring

Engineers have developed an ultra-sensitive sensor made with graphene that can detect extraordinarily low concentrations of lead ions in water. The device achieves a record limit of detection of lead down to the femtomolar range, which is one million times more sensitive than previous sensing technologies. Read on to learn more.

Ultra-Narrowband Optical Filters Pushing Boundaries from the UV to the LWIR

Developments in ultra-narrow manufacturing capabilities enable transformative, world-changing, technology. Read on to learn how boundaries are being pushed.

New Transistor Could Shrink Communications Devices on Smartphones

After announcing a ferroelectric semiconductor at the nanoscale thinness required for modern computing components, a University of Michigan team has demonstrated a reconfigurable transistor using that material. Read on to learn more.

VaCNT Makes Up a Promising Membrane Material

Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and partners carried out steroid hormone adsorption experiments to study the interplay of forces in the small pores. They found that vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VaCNT) of specific pore geometry and pore surface structure are suited for use as highly selective membranes.

Oxygen-Free Chemical Vapor Deposition Method to Make Graphene

Engineers are poised to clean things up with an oxygen-free chemical vapor deposition (OF-CVD) method that can create high-quality graphene samples at scale. Their work directly demonstrates how trace oxygen affects the growth rate of graphene and identifies the link between oxygen and graphene quality for the first time.

New Methods in Preparing and Purifying Nanomaterials

Innovators at NASA’s Glenn Research Center have made several breakthroughs in treating hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) nanomaterials, improving their properties to supplant carbon nanotubes in many applications.

AI-Powered Optical Inspection Can Find Nanoscale PCB Defects

Most PCB manufacturers use automatic optical inspection (AOI) to monitor defects in their printed circuit boards. This delivers strong results when there are defects in the soldering, connections, pads, and traces on printed boards.

New Fuel Cell Architecture Uses Nanowires for Durability

A promising, more durable fuel cell design could help transform heavy-duty trucking and other clean fuel cell applications.

Conductive Carbon Fiber Polymer Composite

Inventors from NASA Langley and NASA Ames have created a new type of carbon fiber polymer composite that has a high thermal conductivity.

First Transformable Nanoscale Electronic Devices

The nanoscale electronic parts in devices like smartphones are solid, static objects that once designed and built cannot transform into anything else. But a team from University of California Irvine has reported the discovery of nanoscale devices that can transform into many different shapes and sizes even though they exist in solid states.

A Lightweight Material Stronger than Steel

Scientists at the Columbia University, University of Connecticut, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory were able to fabricate a pure form of glass and coat specialized pieces of DNA with it to create a material that was not only stronger than steel, but incredibly lightweight.

Scaling Up Nano for Sustainable Manufacturing

Developed by a team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a self-assembling nanosheet could significantly extend the shelf life of consumer products. And because the new material is recyclable, it could also enable a sustainable manufacturing approach that keeps single-use packaging and electronics out of landfills.

Stretchable Micro-Supercapacitors to Self-Power Wearable Devices

A stretchable system that can harvest energy from human breathing and motion for use in wearable health-monitoring devices may be possible, according to an international team of researchers.

More Powerful RNA Vaccines

MIT researchers have engineered both the nanoparticles used to deliver the COVID-19 antigen and the antigen itself, to boost the immune response, without the need for a separate adjuvant. If further developed for use in humans, this type of RNA vaccine could help to reduce costs, the dosage needed, and potentially lead to longer-lasting immunity.

New Blue Light Technique Could Enable Advances in Understanding Nanoscale Technologies

With a new microscopy technique that uses blue light to measure electrons in semiconductors and other nanoscale materials, a team of researchers is opening a new realm of possibilities in the study of these critical components, which can help power devices like mobile phones and laptops.

Making the Structure of ‘Fire Ice’ with Nanoparticles

Cage structures made with nanoparticles could be a step toward making organized nanostructures with mixed materials, and researchers at the University of Michigan have shown how to achieve this through computer simulations.

Self-Sensing Electric Artificial Muscles

Taking inspiration from nature, a team of researchers at Queen Mary’s School of Engineering and Materials Science has successfully created an artificial muscle that seamlessly transitions between soft and hard states while also possessing the remarkable ability to sense forces and deformations.

Synthesizing Complex Optical Materials

Researchers have developed a colloidal synthesis method for alkaline earth chalcogenides. This method allows them to control the size of the nanocrystals in the material.

A Novel Way to Convert Heat to Electricity

Researchers have fabricated a novel device that could dramatically boost the conversion of heat into electricity. If perfected, the technology could help recoup some of the recoverable heat energy that is wasted in the U.S. at a rate of about $100 billion each year.

3D Printing Stronger Carbon Nanotubes

Researchers in the Lyding Group at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have discovered an efficient, sustainable method for 3D-printing single-walled carbon nanotube films, a versatile, durable material that can transform how we explore space, engineer aircraft, and wear electronic technology.

Nanomaterial Promises Big Benefits for Bendable Electronics

An international team of scientists is developing an inkable nanomaterial that they say could one day become a spray-on electronic component for ultra-thin, lightweight, and bendable displays and devices.

Caterpillar-Inspired Soft Robotics Locomotion

Researchers have demonstrated a caterpillar-like soft robot that can move forward, backward, and even dip under narrow spaces. Its movement is driven by a novel pattern of silver nanowires.