Nanotechnology News

Apr 14, 2006 | 4.3 / 5 (129) | 0

The laser, one of the most valuable scientific instruments, is getting smaller and more efficient. Scientists have designed a miniature laser, whose nanoscale dimensions and low optical losses will be instrumental ...

Nano-scale fuel cells may be closer than we think, thanks to an inexpensive new manufacturing method

Mar 12, 2006 | 4.2 / 5 (129) | 0

We live in a world of hand-held devices: iPods, cell phones, PDAs, pagers... the list of essential personal technology keeps expanding, and the natural response is consolidation. It’s rare these days to see ...

Quantum Dots May Lead to Rainbow Solar Cell

Mar 07, 2008 | 4.6 / 5 (118) | 3

For the first time, researchers have created solar cells made of different-sized quantum dots, each tuned to a specific wavelength of light. By arranging these quantum dots in an ordered pattern, the scientists ...

Plastic solar cell efficiency breaks record

Apr 19, 2007 | 4.7 / 5 (116) | 0

The global search for a sustainable energy supply is making significant strides at Wake Forest University as researchers at the university’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials have announced that they have ...

New data storage design likely to increase data capacity

Apr 07, 2006 | 4.3 / 5 (126) | 0

If you always seem to be running out of memory on your computer to store songs or photos, be assured that increasing data storage is a hot topic in nano labs. Scientists have built a patterned magnetic recording ...

Nanoscale 'Coaxial Cables' for Solar Energy Harvesting

Apr 23, 2007 | 4.5 / 5 (119) | 1

Scientists have designed a new type of nanowire – a tiny coaxial cable – that could vastly improve a few key renewable energy technologies, particularly solar cells, and could even impact other cutting-edge, ...

How to Shrink a Carbon Nanotube

Nov 30, 2006 | 4.3 / 5 (125) | 0

A research group has devised a way to control the diameter of a carbon nanotube – down to essentially zero nanometers. This useful new ability, designed by scientists from the University of California at Berkeley ...

New graphene transistor promises life after death of silicon chip (Update)

Feb 28, 2007 | 4.5 / 5 (117) | 0

Researchers have used the world's thinnest material to create the world's smallest transistor – a breakthrough that could spark the development of a new type of super-fast computer chip.

Researchers demonstrate 'avalanche effect' in solar cells

May 26, 2008 | 4.3 / 5 (120) | 9

Researchers at TU Delft (Netherlands) and the FOM Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter have found irrefutable proof that the so-called avalanche effect by electrons occurs in specific, very small ...

Graphene Takes the Heat

Feb 20, 2008 | 4.7 / 5 (111) | 2

Carbon nanotubes are being touted by many scientists and engineers as the material of the future, with the potential to revolutionize electronic technologies. But a new study shows that nanotubes may not be ...

Re-inventing nature for cheaper solar power

Sep 01, 2006 | 4.4 / 5 (117) | 0

A research team in Sydney has created molecules that mimic those in plants which harvest light and power life on Earth.

Scientists confirm role of nano-hairs in self-cleaning lotus leaf

Feb 17, 2006 | 4.2 / 5 (121) | 0

Today, thousands of buildings boast self-cleaning paint and self-cleaning roofs; self-cleaning textiles, glass windows and sprays have already sprung onto the market. German botanist Wilhelm Barthlott has even ...

Nano-Armor: Protecting the Soldiers of Tomorrow

Dec 10, 2005 | 4.4 / 5 (115) | 0

An Israeli company has recently tested one of the most shock-resistant materials known to man. Five times stronger than steel and at least twice as strong as any impact-resistant material currently in use ...

Scientists build world's first single-molecule car