Engineers at Oregon State University have made a significant advance toward producing electricity from sewage, by the use of new coatings on the anodes of microbial electrochemical cells that increased the electricity production about 20 times. The findings bring the researchers one step closer to technology that could clean biowaste at the same time it produces useful levels of electricity — a promising new innovation in wastewater treatment and renewable energy.

A University of Pennsylvania collaboration has created a simple and inexpensive method to rapidly grow centimeter-scale membranes of binary nanocrystal superlattices, or BNSLs, by crystallizing a mixture of nanocrystals on a liquid surface.

Rice scientists have found a way to synthesize graphene oxide in bulk in an environmentally friendly way, eliminating toxic and explosive chemicals from the process. They have also found a class of common bacteria breaks down graphene oxide into environmentally benign graphene.

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have constructed molecular “knots” with dimensions of around two nanometers — around 30,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.

Surface tension isn’t a very powerful force, but it matters for small things — water bugs, paint, and, it turns out, nanowires.

In the recent issue of Nature, scientists from Empa and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research report how they have managed for the first time to grow graphene ribbons that are just a few nanometers wide using a simple surface-based chemical method. Graphene ribbons are considered to be “hot candidates” for future electronics applications as their properties can be adjusted through width and edge shape.

Summer just wouldn’t be complete without mosquitoes nipping at exposed skin. Or would it? Research conducted by a Kansas State University team may help solve a problem that scientists and pest controllers have been itching to for years.

Speakers made from carbon nanotube sheets that are a fraction of the width of a human hair can both generate sound and cancel out noise — properties ideal for submarine sonar to probe the ocean depths and make subs invisible to enemies. That’s the topic of a report on these “nanotube speakers,” which appears in ACS’ Nano Letters, a monthly journal.

New research accepted by the Journal of Molecular Recognition confirms that a revolutionary technology developed at Wake Forest University will slash years off the time it takes to develop drugs — bringing vital new treatments to patients much more quickly.