Latest and Breaking Nanotechnology News

EPSRC announces first recipients of Fellowships in Manufacturing
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has today announced its first ever Fellowships in Manufacturing, worth around £1 million each.

Exotic particles, chilled and trapped, form giant matter wave
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(University of California - San Diego) Physicists have trapped and cooled exotic particles called excitons so effectively that they condensed and cohered to form a giant matter wave, a signature of a state called a Bose-Einstein condensate. A first for subatomic particles, rather than whole atoms, the feat will facilitate study of the physical properties of excitons, which exist only fleetingly yet offer promising applications as diverse as efficient solar energy and ultrafast computing.

University of Florida physicists set new record for graphene solar cell efficiency
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(University of Florida) Doping may be a no-no for athletes, but researchers in the University of Florida's physics department say it was key in getting unprecedented power conversion efficiency from a new graphene solar cell created in their lab.

Food, water safety provide new challenges for today's sensors
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Sensors that work flawlessly in laboratory settings may stumble when it comes to performing in real-world conditions, according to researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

A new imaging system produces 3-D models of monuments using unmanned aircraft
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(University of Granada) This system produces a realistic reproduction of architectural models at a low cost.

Forensics ferret out fire beetle secret
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(University of Bonn) Black fire beetles of the genus Melanophila possess unusual infrared sensors. Researchers from the University of Bonn and from the Forschungszentrum Jülich have concluded that the beetles' sensors might even be more sensitive that uncooled infrared sensors designed by humans. Having this natural model opens up new perspectives, such as for early warning systems for forest fires. The results have been published in PLoS ONE.

Sensing the infrared: Researchers improve IR detectors with single-walled carbon nanotubes
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(Optical Society of America) Whether used in telescopes or optoelectronic communications, infrared detectors must be continuously cooled to avoid being overwhelmed by stray thermal radiation. Now, a team of researchers from Peking University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Duke University is harnessing the remarkable properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes to create highly sensitive, "uncooled" photovoltaic infrared detectors.

Taking solar technology up a notch
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(Northwestern University) The limitations of conventional and current solar cells include high production cost, low operating efficiency and durability, and many cells rely on toxic and scarce materials. Northwestern University researchers have developed a solar cell that, in principle, will minimize these limitations. In particular, the new solid-state solar cell is the first to solve the problem of the promising but leaky Grätzel cell. The device -- whose electrolyte starts as a liquid but ends up a solid mass -- is inherently stable.

A milestone in nanoparticle research: Nanoparticle test handbook sets the standards
22 May 2012, 4:00 am
(Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA)) A new handbook has been published under Empa leadership which aims to unify European standards in nanoparticle research. It contains detailed regulations for the manufacture and analysis of specific nanoparticles in the laboratory environment, placing research work in this field on a unified foundation and enabling valid comparisons to be made between studies. The editor, Prof. Harald Krug, is head of Empa's Materials meet Life Department.

Sequence it…and they will come!
22 May 2012, 4:00 am
(Arizona State University) Rapid DNA sequencing may soon become a routine part of each individual's medical record, providing enormous information previously sequestered in the human genome's 3 billion nucleotide bases. This week's Newsfocus section of the journal Science describes recent advances in sequencing technology using a tiny orifice known as a nanopore.