Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) in Singapore have now successfully demonstrated, for the first time, a lithography-free, direct-write technique for fabricating discrete field-effect transistors, as well as digital logic gates on a single nanowire. In this novel direct-write fabrication process, a focused electron beam or ion-beam is scanned over the sample in the presence of a precursor gas, causing the metals or insulators to be deposited directly onto the sample and with nanometer resolution. This is another step of bringing nanofabrication processes closer to mass production.

Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center have found a way to use a radical new type of gene therapy to prevent blindness caused by retinitis pigmentosa, giving hope to the estimated 100,000 Americans who suffer from this debilitating disease. Using nanoparticles, discovered a way to deliver known gene therapies directly to the light-sensitive cells affected by this disease.

In order to not only observe, but also really understand a chemical reaction, scientists have to know how electrons move within molecules. Until now it was technically impossible to observe how electrons move within a molecule, because they move so incredibly fast. However, a group of European researchers has now achieved this goal with the help of attosecond laser pulses.

At the very heart of some of the most brilliant colors on the wings of butterflies lie bizarre crystal nanostructures, a multidisciplinary team of Yale researchers has found. These structures are intriguing the team’s scientists and engineers, who want to use them to harness the power of light.

Organic nanoelectronics move a step closer. Although they could revolutionize a wide range of high-tech products such as computer displays or solar cells, organic materials do not have the same ordered chemical composition as inorganic materials, preventing scientists from using them to their full potential. But an international team of researchers have published research that shows how to solve this decades-old conundrum. The team has effectively discovered a way to order the molecules in the PEDOT, the single most industrially important conducting polymer.

In response to the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, a University of Pittsburgh engineering professor has developed a technique for separating oil from water via a cotton filter coated in a chemical polymer that blocks oil while allowing water to pass through. The researcher reports that the filter was successfully tested off the coast of Louisiana and shown to simultaneously clean water and preserve the oil.

New research describes how nanoparticles formed by very small numbers of silver atoms can protect against the cell damage caused by ethanol. Alcohol has particularly harmful effects on nerve cells. Following application of the silver nanoparticles to ethanol-exposed cells, the actin cytoskeleton shows marked improvements and cell-death does not occur.

In the quest for faster and cheaper computers, scientists have imaged pore structures in insulation materials at sub-nanometer scale for the first time. Understanding these structures could substantially enhance computer performance and power usage of integrated circuits.

A research team has produced the first material made of two-dimensional fullerene layers that acts like a metal. All previous fullerene-containing crystals with metallic properties have been one- or three-dimensional structures and contained metal elements. This new class of compounds could open a route toward novel superconducting materials.

Scientists have discovered a new way to apply nanostructure coatings to make heat transfer far more efficient, with important potential applications to high tech devices as well as the conventional heating and cooling industry. These coatings can remove heat four times faster than the same materials before they are coated, using inexpensive materials and application procedures. The discovery has the potential to revolutionize cooling technology, experts say.

A team has developed methods for synthesizing protein-sized polymer particles with a binding affinity and selectivity comparable to those of natural antibodies by combining molecular imprinting nanoparticle synthesis with a functional monomer optimization strategy. In effect, they have created a plastic antibody, an artificial version of the real thing. They have also demonstrated that it works in the bloodstream of a living animal.

In nano-optics breakthrough, researchers develop plasmonic amplifier. Under normal circumstances, optical energy travels over very short distances in plasmonic waveguides, before it is absorbed due to Ohmic loss in the metal. Although clever design can somewhat increase the useful length of plasmonic waveguides, it is widely accepted that the only way to completely overcome this problem is to add a mechanism that continuously amplifies the light as it travels along the plasmonic waveguide. However, integrating such plasmonic amplification has turned out to be a challenging task. developed a structure that provides sufficient amplification to overcome the intrinsic absorption of a plasmonic waveguide. In fact, the optical amplification is sufficient to provide a net gain of the plasmon-bound light as it travels along the waveguide.

When loaded with an anticancer drug, a delivery system based on a novel material called nanosponge is three to five times more effective at reducing tumor growth than direct injection. Imagine making tiny sponges that are about the size of a virus, filling them with a drug and attaching special chemical “linkers” that bond preferentially to a feature found only on the surface of tumor cells and then injecting them into the body. The tiny sponges circulate around the body until they encounter the surface of a tumor cell where they stick on the surface (or are sucked into the cell) and begin releasing their potent cargo in a controllable and predictable fashion.

Scientists have developed a new massively-parallel approach for manipulating single DNA and protein molecules and studying their interactions under force. The team of researchers claim that their technique, which they call “single molecule centrifugation”, offers dramatic improvements in throughput and cost compared with more established techniques.

Chinese researchers have successfully built an electromagnetic absorbing device for microwave frequencies. The device, made of a thin cylinder comprising 60 concentric rings of metamaterials, is capable of absorbing microwave radiation, and has been compared to an astrophysical black hole (which, in space, soaks up matter and light).

Biorefinery concept shows a way out of a world dominated by petrochemicals. Advances in bio-based materials research show prospects that not only fuel but many other petrochemical derived products can be replaced with industrial materials processed from renewable resources. Researchers continue to make progress in research and development of new technologies that bring down the cost of processing plant matter into value-added products.

Self-propelled motion of synthetic materials can be useful in applications such as bottom-up assembly of structures, pattern formation, drug delivery at specific locations, etc. Researchers have now presented a novel and versatile light-driven catalytic micromotor system, which is the cleanest and simplest of its kind. In it, titanium dioxide is used to convert optical energy to mechanical energy via photocatalysis.

‘Microfireworks’: This video shows the photoactivity of a large titania particle in methanol. The surrounding tracer particles are silica

Nanotechnology researchers build transistor with just seven atoms. Scientists have literally taken a leap into a new era of computing power by making the world’s smallest precision-built transistor – a ‘quantum dot’ of just seven atoms in a single silicon crystal. Despite its incredibly tiny size – a mere four billionths of a meter long – the quantum dot is a functioning electronic device, the world’s first created deliberately by placing individual atoms.

Creating catalysts that can operate efficiently and last a long time is a big barrier to taking fuel-cell technology from the lab bench to the assembly line. The precious metal platinum has been the choice for many researchers, but platinum has two major downsides: It is expensive, and it breaks down over time in fuel-cell reactions. In a new study, chemists have created a unique core and shell nanoparticle that uses far less platinum yet performs more efficiently and lasts longer than commercially available pure-platinum catalysts at the cathode end of fuel-cell reactions.

Graphane is the material of choice for physicists on the cutting edge of materials science. Researchers at Rice University have discovered the strategic extraction of hydrogen atoms from a two-dimensional sheet of graphane naturally opens up spaces of pure graphene that look – and act – like quantum dots. That opens up a new world of possibilities for an ever-shrinking class of nanoelectronics that depend on the highly controllable semiconducting properties of quantum dots, particularly in the realm of advanced optics.

Researchers have discovered thin films of nanotubes created with ink-jet printers offer a new way to make field-effect transistors (FET), the basic element in integrated circuits. While the technique doesn’t exactly scale down to the levels required for modern microprocessors, it could be useful to inventors who wish to print transistors on materials of any kind, especially on flexible substrates.

Jeffrey Long’s lab will soon host a round-the-clock, robotically choreographed hunt for carbon-hungry materials.
The Berkeley Lab chemist leads a diverse team of scientists whose goal is to quickly discover materials that can efficiently strip carbon dioxide from a power plant’s exhaust, before it leaves the smokestack and contributes to climate change. They’re betting on a recently discovered class of materials called metal-organic frameworks that boast a record-shattering internal surface area. A sugar cube-sized piece, if unfolded and flattened, would more than blanket a football field. The crystalline material can also be tweaked to absorb specific molecules. The idea is to engineer this incredibly porous compound into a voracious sponge that gobbles up carbon dioxide.

Imagine creating novel devices with amazing and exotic optical properties not found in Nature – by simply evaporating a droplet of nanoparticles on a surface. By chemically building clusters of nanospheres from a liquid, a team of Harvard researchers, in collaboration with scientists at Rice University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Houston, has developed just that.

UCLA researchers and their collaborators have developed a method that could open the door for investigations into the function of half of all proteins in the human body. The research team has demonstrated nanoscale control over molecules, allowing for the precise study of interactions between proteins and small molecules. Their new technique, in which molecules are used as bait to capture and study large biomolecules, could lead to a new generation of psychiatric medications.

A team of engineers has created the world’s smallest pump. The minute device, similar in size to a human red blood cell, is powered by an electrode made from something that doesn’t usually conduct electricity – glass.

At the scale of the very small, physics can get peculiar. A University of Michigan biomedical engineering professor has discovered a new instance of such a nanoscale phenomenon – one that could lead to faster, less expensive portable diagnostic devices and push back frontiers in building micro-mechanical and “lab on a chip” devices. The team was able to get an electric current to pass nondestructively through a sliver of glass, which isn’t usually a conductor.

Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new nanotechnology-based “microlens” that uses gold to boost the strength of infrared imaging and could lead to a new generation of ultra-powerful satellite cameras and night-vision devices.

Nanoparticle ’sharkskin’ for airplanes, ships and wind energy plants. To lower the fuel consumption of airplanes and ships, it is necessary to reduce their flow resistance, or drag. An innovative paint system makes this possible. This not only lowers costs, it also reduces CO2 emissions.

Physicists develop a nanowire quantum interface between light and atoms. The interface is based on an ultra-thin glass fiber and is suitable for the transmission of quantum information. This is an essential prerequisite for quantum communication which shall be used for secure data transmission via quantum cryptography.

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have managed, with the help of an advanced X-ray flash, to photograph the movement of atoms during photosynthesis. Using the special X-ray camera, researchers can depict the position of atoms in a molecule and obtain a three-dimensional image of something that is smaller than a nanometer.

Further revealing the secrets behind photosynthesis, researchers in the U.S. have recorded the first observation and characterization of a critical physical phenomenon behind photosynthesis known as quantum entanglement. This is the first study to show that entanglement, perhaps the most distinctive property of quantum mechanical systems, is present across an entire light harvesting complex.

In a single day, a solitary grad student at a lab bench can produce more simple logic circuits than the world’s entire output of silicon chips in a month. So says a Duke University engineer, who believes that the next generation of these logic circuits at the heart of computers will be produced inexpensively in almost limitless quantities. The secret is that instead of silicon chips serving as the platform for electric circuits, computer engineers will take advantage of the unique properties of DNA. DNA-based, waffle-like nanostructures will efficiently self-assemble, and when different light-sensitive molecules are added to the mixture, the waffles exhibit unique and “programmable” properties.

MIT researchers find a way to calculate the effects of Casimir forces. Discovered in 1948, Casimir forces are complicated quantum forces that affect only objects that are very, very close together. They’re so subtle that for most of the 60-odd years since their discovery, engineers have safely ignored them. Now, the MIT team have developed a powerful new tool for calculating the effects of Casimir forces, with ramifications for both basic physics and the design of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

Nanotechnology sensor detects type 1 diabetes in breath. Acetone is also found in a healthy person’s breath, but the concentration is only about 900 ppb (particles per billion); in people suffering from type 1 diabetes, however, the concentration is double that; and in the case of a ketoacidosis it can be even higher. That’s why the sensor developed at ETH Zurich works so well: it can detect as few as 20 ppb of acetone and even works at extremely high humidity levels of over 90 percent – like in the human breath.

Physicists at McGill University have developed a system for measuring the energy involved in adding electrons to semi-conductor nanocrystals, also known as quantum dots – a technology that may revolutionize computing and other areas of science. The team has developed a cantilever force sensor that enables individual electrons to be removed and added to a quantum dot and the energy involved in the operation to be measured.

Researchers from Columbia University, Arizona State University, the University of Michigan and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created and programmed robots the size of single molecule that can move independently across a nano-scale track. This development marks an important advancement in the nascent fields of molecular computing and robotics, and could someday lead to molecular robots that can fix individual cells or assemble nanotechnology products.

A team of scientists at UC Santa Barbara that helped pioneer research into the quantum properties of a small defect found in diamonds has now used cutting-edge computational techniques to produce a road map for studying defects in alternative materials. Their new research may enable new applications for semiconductors – materials that are the foundation of today’s information technology. In particular, they may help identify alternative materials to use for building a potential quantum computer.

UCLA researchers report that they have imaged a virus structure at a resolution high enough to effectively “see” atoms, the first published instance of imaging biological complexes at such a resolution. The research team used cryo-electron microscopy to image the structure at 3.3 angstroms. An angstrom is the smallest recognized division of a chemical element and is about the distance between the two hydrogen atoms in a water molecule.

Depiction and manipulation the spin direction of individual atoms. An international team of researchers has built a chain of cobalt atoms and analysed its magnetic properties. Surprisingly, the spin sensitive measurements (”Spins“ = magnetic moments of electrons) show that the observed form of atoms depends on its magnetic orientation.

Electrical currents are invisible to the naked eye – at least they are when they flow through metal cables. In nerve cells, however, scientists are able to make electrical signals visible. Scientists have successfully used a specialized fluorescent protein to visualize electrical activity in neurons of living mice. They are now able to apply the method to watch activity in nerve cells during animal behavior.

Quantum dots may be small. But they usually don’t let anyone push them around. Now, however, researchers have devised a self-adjusting remote-control system that can place a dot 6 nanometers long to within 45 nm of any desired location. That’s the equivalent of picking up golf balls around a living room and putting them on a coffee table – automatically, from 100 miles away.

New metamaterial device may lead to see-through cameras and scanners. Devices that can mimic Superman’s X-ray vision and see through clothing, walls or human flesh are the stuff of comic book fantasy, but a group of scientists at Boston University has taken a step toward making such futuristic devices a reality. The team has developed a new way to detect and control terahertz (THz) radiation using optics and materials science. This type of radiation is made up of electromagnetic waves that can pass through materials safely. Their work may pave the way for safer medical and security scanners, new communication devices, and more sensitive chemical detectors.

Nanotechnology probe taps into algae cell and saps electrical energy. An intriguing novel approach to extract the energy from the photosynthetic conversion process has been demonstrated by researchers at Stanford and Yonsei Universities. They have inserted ultrasharp gold nanoelectrodes into living algae cells and extracted electrons, thereby harnessing an – albeit very tiny – electrical current. This is electricity production that doesn’t release carbon into the atmosphere.

Researchers have found a way to make carbon nanotube membranes that could find wide application as extra-fine air filters and as scaffolds for catalysts that speed chemical reactions. These filters can remove up to 99 percent of particulates with diameters of less than a micrometer.

Though scientists argue that the emerging technology of spintronics may trump conventional electronics for building the next generation of faster, smaller, more efficient computers and high-tech devices, no one has actually seen the spin – a quantum mechanical property of electrons—in individual atoms until now. Now, physicists have presented the first images of spin in action.

Tiny, melanin-covered nanoparticles may protect bone marrow from the harmful effects of radiation therapy. Radiation therapy is used to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. But because radiation also damages normal cells, doctors must limit the dose. Melanin, the naturally occurring pigment that gives skin and hair its color, helps shield the skin from the damaging effects of sunlight and has been shown to protect against radiation.

Three new studies illustrate why graphene should be the nanomaterial of choice to strengthen composite materials used in everything from wind turbines to aircraft wings. Composites infused with graphene are stronger, stiffer, and less prone to failure than composites infused with carbon nanotubes or other nanoparticles, according to the studies. This means graphene, an atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged like a nanoscale chain-link fence, could be a key enabler in the development of next-generation nanocomposite materials.

Scientists have established a revolutionary nanocrystal-making robot called WANDA (Workstation for Automated Nanomaterial Discovery and Analysis), capable of producing nanocrystals with staggering precision. This one-of-a-kind robot provides colloidal nanocrystals with custom-made properties for electronics, biological labeling and luminescent devices.

Watching a living brain in the act of seeing – with single-synapse resolution: Pioneering a novel microscopy method, neuroscientists have shown that individual neurons carry out significant aspects of sensory processing: specifically, in this case, determining which direction an object in the field of view is moving. Their method makes it possible for the first time to observe individual synapses, nerve contact sites that are just one micrometer in size, on a single neuron in a living mammalian brain.

A new biosensor can measure whether neurons are performing correctly when communicating with each other, giving researchers a tool to test the effectiveness of new epilepsy or seizure treatments. The novel sensor exploits conductive carbon nanotubes and is only 2 micrometers in diameter, or about 50 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.

Researchers have developed nano-sized cantilevers for atomic force microscopes whose gentle touch could help discern the workings of living cells and other soft materials in their natural, liquid environment. Used in combination with a revolutionary detection mechanism, this new imaging tool is sensitive enough to investigate soft materials without the limitations present in other cantilevers.

IBM scientists have created a 3D map of the earth so small that 1,000 of them could fit on one grain of salt. The scientists accomplished this by means of a new, breakthrough technique that uses a tiny, silicon tip with a sharp apex — 100,000 times smaller than a sharpened pencil — to create patterns and structures as small as 15 nanometers at greatly reduced cost and complexity. This patterning technique opens new prospects for developing nanosized objects in fields such as electronics, future chip technology, medicine, life sciences, and opto-electronics.

New research demonstrates that a vaccine delivered by a Nanopatch induces a similarly protective immune response as a vaccine delivered by needle and syringe, but uses 100 times less vaccine. This discovery has implications for many vaccination programs in both industrialised and developing nations, which must overcome issues with vaccine shortages and distribution. Being both painless and needle-free, the nanopatch offers hope for those with needle phobia, as well as improving the vaccination experience for young children.

Mimicking the human nervous system for bionic applications could become a reality with the help of a method developed to process carbon nanotubes. While these nanostructures have electrical and other properties that make them attractive to use as artificial neural bundles in prosthetic devices, the challenge has been to make bundles with enough fibers to match that of a real neuron bundle. With current technology, the weight alone of wires required to match the density of receptors at even the fingertips would make it impossible to accommodate. Now, by adapting conventional glass fiber drawing technology to process carbon nanotubes into multichannel assemblies, researchers believe they are on a path that could lead to a breakthrough.

Scientists take first step toward controlling the growth of nanomaterials without catalysts. The question of how one-dimensional crystals grow sometimes without catalysts has been troublesome for scientists and engineers who need to produce large amounts of nanomaterials for specific applications. Working with zinc oxide, a common semiconductor widely used as a nanomaterial, researchers now demonstrated a new understanding of the subject by showing that nanotubes can be formed solely due to the strain energy and screw dislocations that drive their growth.

If you think that building an artificial human brain is science fiction, you are probably right – for now. But don’t think for a moment that researchers are not working hard on laying the foundations for what is called neuromorphic engineering – a new interdisciplinary discipline that includes nanotechnologies and whose goal is to design artificial neural systems with physical architectures similar to biological nervous systems. One of the key components of any neuromorphic effort is the design of artificial synapses. The human brain contains vastly more synapses than neurons – by a factor of about 10,000 – and therefore it is necessary to develop a nanoscale, low power, synapse-like device if scientists want to scale neuromorphic circuits towards the human brain level. New research now suggests that memristor devices are capable of emulating the biological synapses with properly designed CMOS neuron components.

A team of MIT researchers has found a novel way to mimic the process by which plants use the power of sunlight to split water and make chemical fuel to power their growth. In this case, the team used a modified virus as a kind of biological scaffold that can assemble the nanoscale components needed to split a water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

A study released this week suggests that anti-cancer chemotherapies which use nanoparticles to deliver drugs deep inside tumor tissue will be more effective if the particles are positively electrically charged because they are taken up to a greater extent by proliferating cells.

In an electrifying first, Stanford scientists have plugged in to algae cells with an ultrasharp nano-electrode and harnessed a tiny electric current. They found it at the very source of energy production – photosynthesis, a plant’s method of converting sunlight to chemical energy. It may be a first step toward generating “high efficiency” bioelectricity that doesn’t give off carbon dioxide as a byproduct, the researchers say.

Scientists create ‘molecular paper‘ just two molecules thick. Two-dimensional, “sheet-like” nanostructures are commonly employed in biological systems such as cell membranes, and their unique properties have inspired interest in materials such as graphene. Now, Berkeley Lab scientists have made the largest two-dimensional polymer crystal self-assembled in water to date. This entirely new material mirrors the structural complexity of biological systems with the durable architecture needed for membranes or integration into functional devices.

Researchers have found a new method for generating tunable wavelengths, as well as more easily switching back and forth between two wavelengths, employing quantum-dot lasers. Prospective application fields are biomedicine and nanosurgery. Under the EU’s “FAST-DOT” project, the researchers have recently discovered that, under some circumstances, quantum-dot lasers do emit first short-wavelength photons and then long-wavelength photons.

A new fabrication technique, combined with well-developed carbon chemistry, enables the synthesis of solution-processable black graphene quantum dots with uniform size through solution chemistry. These graphene quantum dots can be used as sensitizers for solar cells and brinf all-carbon solar cells a step closer.