Nanostructure

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A nanostructure is an object of intermediate size between molecular and microscopic (micrometer-sized) structures.

In describing nanostructures it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimensions on the nanoscale. Nanotextured surfaces have one dimension on the nanoscale, i.e., only the thickness of the surface of an object is between 0.1 and 100 nm. Nanotubes have two dimensions on the nanoscale, i.e., the diameter of the tube is between 0.1 and 100 nm; its length could be much greater. Finally, spherical nanoparticles have three dimensions on the nanoscale, i.e., the particle is between 0.1 and 100 nm in each spatial dimension. The terms nanoparticles and ultrafine particles (UFP) often are used synonymously although UFP can reach into the micrometre range.

For more information about Nanostructure, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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News tagged with nanostructure

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Scientists Build Nanostructures out of Single DNA Strands

Scientists Build Nanostructures out of Single DNA Strands

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Sep 08, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 5 feature

(PhysOrg.com) -- With its unique double-helical structure, DNA has the ability to be used as a programmable building material to construct designer nanoscale architectures. Complex DNA architectures could ...


Atom Pinhole Camera Acts as a Shrinking Copy Machine

Atom Pinhole Camera Acts as a Shrinking Copy Machine

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Jun 01, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (20) | comments 8 feature

(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1983, Richard Feynman proposed the idea of a machine that could create smaller scale replicas of itself. Today, such a system is still a challenge, but a machine that can produce nanometer-sized ...


Caltech scientists solve decade-long mystery of nanopillar formations

Scientists solve decade-long mystery of nanopillar formations

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Oct 22, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (23) | comments 2

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have uncovered the physical mechanism by which arrays of nanoscale pillars can be grown on polymer films with very high precision, in potentially limitless ...


Scientists bend nanowires into 2-D and 3-D structures

Scientists bend nanowires into 2-D and 3-D structures

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Oct 21, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (7) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Taking nanomaterials to a new level of structural complexity, scientists have determined how to introduce kinks into arrow-straight nanowires, transforming them into zigzagging two- and three-dimensional ...


Salt and Paper Battery

Salt and Paper Battery May One Day Replace Lithium Batteries

Technology / Energy

created Sep 15, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (17) | comments 6 weblog

(PhysOrg.com) -- Salt and paper battery can be used in many low-power devices, such as medical implants, RFID tags, wireless sensors and smart cards. This battery uses a thin-film which makes it an attractive ...


IBM Scientists Effectively Eliminate Wear at the Nanoscale

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Sep 07, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (14) | comments 8

(PhysOrg.com) -- IBM scientists have demonstrated a promising and practical method that effectively eliminates the mechanical wear in the nanometer-sharp tips used in scanning probe-based techniques. This discovery can potentially ...


Scientists find evidence of iridescence in 40 million-year-old feather fossil

Iridescence found in 40-million-year-old fossil bird feather

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Aug 26, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (8) | comments 3

Known for their wide variety of vibrant plumage, birds have evolved various chemical and physical mechanisms to produce these beautiful colors over millions of years. A team of paleontologists and ornithologists ...


Scientists Use DNA Scaffolding To Build Tiny Circuit Boards

Scientists Use DNA Scaffolding To Build Tiny Circuit Boards

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Aug 18, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- Today, scientists at IBM Research and the California Institute of Technology announced a scientific advancement that could be a major breakthrough in enabling the semiconductor industry to ...


Going platinum: New catalyst could boost cleaner fuel use

Going platinum: New catalyst could boost cleaner fuel use

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created May 14, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (23) | comments 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- Material scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a technique for a bimetallic fuel cell catalyst that is efficient, robust and two to five times more effective than ...


Ancient diatoms lead to new technology for solar energy

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Apr 08, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (13) | comments 1

Engineers at Oregon State University have discovered a way to use an ancient life form to create one of the newest technologies for solar energy, in systems that may be surprisingly simple to build compared to existing silicon-based ...


One Can Act Without Group Support; Even in the Bacterial World

One Can Act Without Group Support; Even in the Bacterial World

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Dec 08, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A single bacterium can act alone, performing the same kinds of actions that a group normally does. The behavior of that bacterium can be manipulated at the cellular level. That’s the intriguing ...


Imaging a catalyst one atom at a time

Imaging a catalyst one atom at a time

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 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 ...


Lasers can lengthen quantum bit memory by 1,000 times

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jun 24, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (10) | comments 1

Physicists have found a way to drastically prolong the shelf life of quantum bits, the 0s and 1s of quantum computers.


Regular light bulbs made super-efficient with ultra-fast laser

Regular Light Bulbs Made Super-Efficient with Ultra-Fast Laser

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created May 29, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (40) | comments 23

(PhysOrg.com) -- An ultra-powerful laser can turn regular incandescent light bulbs into power-sippers, say optics researchers at the University of Rochester. The process could make a light as bright as a 100-watt ...


DNA molecules can detect pathogens, deliver drugs

DNA molecules can detect pathogens, deliver drugs

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created May 20, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- First, Cornell researchers created DNA "bar codes" -- strands of the genetic material that quickly identify the presence of different molecules by fluorescing. Now, they have created new DNA ...