Nanomaterials news

Imaging a catalyst one atom at a time

Nov 09, 2009 | 5 / 5 (3) | 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- The catalytic processes that facilitate the production of many chemicals and fuels could become much more environmentally friendly thanks to a breakthrough achieved by researchers from Lehigh ...

New transparent insulating film could enable energy-efficient displays

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Nov 09, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (9) | 0

Johns Hopkins materials scientists have found a new use for a chemical compound that has traditionally been viewed as an electrical conductor, a substance that allows electricity to flow through it. By orienting ...

How Size Matters For Catalysts: Study Links Size, Activity, Electronic Properties

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Nov 05, 2009 | 3.7 / 5 (3) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Utah chemists demonstrated the first conclusive link between the size of catalyst particles on a solid surface, their electronic properties and their ability to speed chemical ...

Nanotechnology: A risky frontier?

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (5) | 0

Inside a cramped back room at Rushford Hypersonic, a start-up headquartered in southeastern Minnesota, sits a cube-like machine that throws a mean atomic fastball. At the push of a button, the reactor hurls atoms toward a ...

Breakthrough in industrial-scale nanotube processing

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Nov 02, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (23) | 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power ...

3-D system based on optical fiber could provide new options for photovoltaics

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Nov 02, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (10) | 0

Converting sunlight to electricity might no longer mean large panels of photovoltaic cells atop flat surfaces like roofs.

Scientists witness nature's complexity unfold in self-assembling quasicrystals

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Oct 31, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (17) | 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Just a few decades ago, scientists believed that all ordered matter consists of self-repeating building blocks -- atoms, ions or molecules. In this view, the ordinary solids of everyday life ...

Researchers find new route to nano self-assembly

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Oct 22, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (9) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- If the promise of nanotechnology is to be fulfilled, nanoparticles will have to be able to make something of themselves. An important advance towards this goal has been achieved by researchers ...

Improved Electric Propulsion Could Boost Satellite Lifetimes

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Oct 21, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (2) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have won a $6.5 million grant to develop improved components that will boost the efficiency of electric propulsion systems used to control ...

Scientists Use Self-Assembly to Make Molecule-Sized Particles With Patches of Charge

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Oct 20, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists, chemists and engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated a novel method for the controlled formation of patchy particles, using charged, self-assembling molecules ...

Researchers Develop Material That Could Boost Data Storage, Save Energy

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Oct 20, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (18) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- North Carolina State University engineers have created a new material that would allow a fingernail-size computer chip to store the equivalent of 20 high-definition DVDs or 250 million pages of text, far ...

INL, ISU team on nanoparticle production breakthrough

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Oct 19, 2009 | 5 / 5 (14) | 1

Every hour, the sun floods Earth with more energy than the entire world consumes in a year. Yet solar power accounts for less than 0.002 percent of all electricity generated in the United States, primarily ...

Carbon nanotubes may cheaply harvest sunlight

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Oct 19, 2009 | 3.4 / 5 (9) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new alternative energy technology relies on the element most associated with climate change: carbon.

Nanosatellites expected to benefit from advanced propulsion technology

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Oct 19, 2009 | 4.1 / 5 (12) | 3

A University of Michigan professor is developing an electric rocket thruster, NanoFET, that uses nanoparticle electric propulsion and enables spacecraft to travel faster and with less propellant than previous ...