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Category: nanotechnology – Page 57

While researchers have long studied brain dynamics using imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalograms (EEG), advances in neuroscience have only recently provided massive datasets for the brain’s cellular structure. These data opened possibilities for Kovács and his team to apply statistical physics techniques to measure the physical structure of neurons.

For the new study, Kovács and Ansell analyzed publicly available data of 3D brain reconstructions from humans, fruit flies and mice. By examining the brain at nanoscale resolution, the researchers found the samples showcased hallmarks of physical properties associated with criticality.

One such property is the well-known, fractal-like structure of neurons. This nontrivial fractal-dimension is an example of a set of observables, called “critical exponents,” that emerge when a system is close to a phase transition.

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Research groups from the University of Tsukuba and the University of Rennes have discovered a novel phenomenon in which a nested structure of carbon nanotubes enveloped in boron nitride nanotubes facilitates a unique electron escape route when exposed to light. This finding introduces promising avenues for various applications, including the creation of high-speed optical devices, rapid control of electrons and other particles and efficient heat dissipation from devices.

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Researchers from Princeton University, University of California Santa Barbara, University of Basel, and ETH Zurich have discovered new applications for nitrogen vacancy (NV) centre quantum sensors in condensed matter physics. These sensors, which offer nanoscale resolution across a wide range of temperatures, have been used to measure static magnetic fields in condensed matter systems.

NV centres can probe beyond average magnetic fields, enabling high precision noise sensing in diverse systems. They offer several advantages over other nanoscale probes, including the ability to probe both static and dynamic properties in a momentum and frequency-resolved way.

Condensed matter physics is a field that studies the physical properties of condensed phases of matter, such as solids and liquids. Recently, researchers from Princeton University, University of California Santa Barbara, University of Basel, and ETH Zurich have discovered new opportunities in this field for nanoscale quantum sensors, specifically nitrogen vacancy (NV) centre quantum sensors. These sensors offer unique advantages in studying condensed matter systems due to their quantitative, noninvasive, physically robust nature, and their ability to offer nanoscale resolution across a wide range of temperatures.

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(Nanowerk News) Advanced technologies enable the controlled release of medicine to specific cells in the body. Scientists argue these same technologies must be applied to agriculture if growers are to meet increasing global food demands.

In a new Nature Nanotechnology journal review paper (“Towards realizing nano-enabled precision delivery in plants”), scientists from UC Riverside and Carnegie Mellon University highlight some of the best-known strategies for improving agriculture with nanotechnology.

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Chemists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University (SBU), and their collaborators have uncovered new details of the reversible assembly and disassembly of a platinum catalyst. The new understanding may offer clues to the catalyst’s stability and recyclability.

The work, described in a paper published in the journal Nanoscale (“Unravelling the origin of reaction-driven aggregation and fragmentation of atomically dispersed Pt catalyst on ceria support”), reveals how single platinum atoms on a cerium oxide support aggregate under reaction conditions to form active catalytic nanoparticles — and then, surprisingly, fragment once the reaction is stopped.

Fragmentation may sound shattering, but the scientists say it could be a plus.

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A collaborative study by researchers at Lancaster and Radboud universities has pioneered a method to generate and control spin waves at the nanoscale, offering a new, energy-efficient approach to quantum computing.

Researchers at Lancaster University and Radboud University Nijmegen have successfully produced propagating spin waves on the nanoscale, unveiling a new method to modulate and amplify these waves.

Their discovery, published in Nature, could pave the way for the development of dissipation-free quantum information technologies. As the spin waves do not involve electric currents these chips will be free from associated losses of energy.

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An Israeli startup has developed a way to make lead acid batteries last four times longer, disrupting a multi-billion-dollar industry and potentially making them the rechargeable – and recyclable – energy storage method of choice around the world.

Lead acid is the second most common battery technology worldwide and the power cells are currently used as the starter batteries in cars, trucks and motorcycles.

The batteries have a positive plate made of lead dioxide on one end, and a spongy lead negative plate on the other end, with sulfuric acid flowing between them both to conduct the electricity.

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Nanoscale materials offer remarkable chemical and physical properties that transform theoretical applications, like single-molecule sensing and minimally invasive photothermal therapy, into practical realities.

The unparalleled features of nanoparticles make them promising for various research and industrial uses. However, effectively using these materials is challenging due to the absence of a rapid and consistent method to transfer a uniform monolayer of nanoparticles, a crucial step in device manufacturing.

One potential solution to this challenge lies in electrostatic assembly processes, where oppositely charged nanoparticles adhere to a surface, forming a monolayer that repels other similarly charged particles from attaching further. While effective, this process is often slow. Nature provides an innovative model to address this limitation through underwater adhesion strategies, which have evolved to circumvent similar problems.

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