Nanotechnology

Engineers at Purdue, Northwestern University, and the University of Southern California have created an active-matrix display using a new class of thin, transparent transistors and circuits. The transistors incorporate nanowires, tiny cylindrical structures assembled on glass or films of flexible plastic that are as thin as...

Nanotechnology has taken another significant step toward someday revolutionizing the computer industry. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute recently used Rensselaer’s Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations, the world’s most powerful university-based supercomputer, to measure the...

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a method to detect and destroy proteins, including dangerous ones such as anthrax, using light. The process exposes the proteins to invisible, near-infrared light, rendering them harmless. The technique lends itself to creating new antibacterial and...

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), IBM, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have pushed the measurement of thin films to the edge to produce the first data on how the edges of metallic thin films contribute to their magnetic properties. The results may impact the...

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new technique for identifying and repairing small, potentially dangerous cracks in aircraft wings and other structures made from polymer composites. By infusing a polymer with electrically conductive carbon nanotubes, and then monitoring the structure's electrical...

Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania have developed nanowires that can store computer data for 100,000 years and retrieve the data 1,000 times faster than existing portable memory devices such as Flash and micro-drives. The self-assembling nanowire is made of germanium antimony telluride, a phase-changing material that...

Nominations for Nanotech Briefs' third annual Nano 50 awards competition are being accepted through 11:59 PM today, April 2. The awards honor the top 50 innovators, products, and technological advancements that demonstrate the greatest potential toward developing the commercialization of nanotechnology. Previous winners include...

Nanotech Briefs® magazine is accepting nominations for its third annual Nano 50 awards competition. The Nano 50 recognizes the top 50 technologies, innovators, and products with the greatest potential to advance the commercialization of nanotechnology.

Several improved techniques for connecting superconducting thin films on substrates have been developed. The techniques afford some versatility for tailoring the electronic and mechanical characteristics of junctions between superconductors in experimental electronic devices. The techniques are...

Dispersions (including monodispersions) of nanotubes in water at relatively high concentrations have been formulated as prototypes of reagents for use in making fibers, films, and membranes based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Other than water, the ingredients of a dispersion of this...

Schottky diodes based on semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes are being developed as essential components of the next generation of submillimeter-wave sensors and sources. Initial performance predictions have shown that the performance characteristics of these devices can exceed those of the state-of-the-art...

A surface treatment has been found to enhance the performances of carbon nanofibers as electrode materials for electrochemical capacitors in which aqueous solutions of potassium hydroxide are used as the electrolytes. In the treatment, sulfonic acid groups are attached to edge plane sites...