Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Engineering: Nanotechnology Physics: General Physics: Optics
Published

3D-printed plasmonic plastic enables large-scale optical sensor production      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed plasmonic plastic -- a type of composite material with unique optical properties that can be 3D-printed. This research has now resulted in 3D-printed optical hydrogen sensors that could play an important role in the transition to green energy and industry.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

Toxic formaldehyde's dual nature to be probed with new chemical tool      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Newly developed ompounds aim to reveal the dual nature of formaldehyde, a chemical that is known to cause cancer but is also believed to play important roles in our biology.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

Tiny CRISPR tool could help shred viruses      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists mapped out the three-dimensional structure of one of the smallest known CRISPR-Cas13 systems then used that knowledge to modify its structure and improve its accuracy.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Engineering: Nanotechnology Offbeat: General
Published

Strength is in this glass's DNA      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists were able to fabricate a pure form of glass and coat specialized pieces of DNA with it to create a material that was not only stronger than steel, but incredibly lightweight.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Chemistry: Thermodynamics
Published

Separating molecules requires lots of energy. This new, heat-resistant membrane could change that      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A research team has created a new, heat-resistant membrane that can withstand harsh environments -- high temperatures, high pressure and complex chemical solvents -- associated with industrial separation processes. It could eventually be used as a less energy intensive alternative to distillation and other industrial processes that separate molecules that ultimately serve as ingredients in medicine, chemicals and other products.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Alternative Fuels Environmental: General Geoscience: Geochemistry Physics: Optics
Published

How organic solar cells could become significantly more efficient      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The sun sends enormous amounts of energy to the earth. Nevertheless, some of it is lost in solar cells. This is an obstacle in the use of organic solar cells, especially for those viable in innovative applications. A key factor in increasing their performance: Improved transport of the solar energy stored within the material. Now a research group has shown that certain organic dyes can help build virtual highways for the energy.

Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Engineering: Nanotechnology
Published

Crystallization as the driving force      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have successfully developed nanomaterials using a so-called bottom-up approach. They exploit the fact that crystals often grow in a specific direction during crystallization. These resulting nanostructures, which appear as 'worm-like and decorated rods,' could be used in various technological applications.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Computer Science: General Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR) Mathematics: Modeling
Published

Drug discovery on an unprecedented scale      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Boosting virtual screening with machine learning allowed for a 10-fold time reduction in the processing of 1.56 billion drug-like molecules. Researchers teamed up with industry and supercomputers to carry out one of the world's largest virtual drug screens.

Energy: Technology Engineering: Nanotechnology Environmental: General Environmental: Water Physics: General
Published

Nanofluidic device generates power with saltwater      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

There is a largely untapped energy source along the world's coastlines: the difference in salinity between seawater and freshwater. A new nanodevice can harness this difference to generate power.

Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Fossil Fuels Engineering: Graphene
Published

Efficient fuel-molecule sieving using graphene      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A research team has successfully developed a new method that can prevent the crossover of large fuel molecules and suppress the degradation of electrodes in advanced fuel cell technology using methanol or formic acid. The successful sieving of the fuel molecules is achieved via selective proton transfers due to steric hindrance on holey graphene sheets that have chemical functionalization and act as proton-exchange membranes.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Engineering: Nanotechnology Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Nanoparticles made from plant viruses could be farmers' new ally in pest control      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Engineers have devised a new solution to control a major agricultural menace, root-damaging nematodes. Using plant viruses, the researchers created nanoparticles that can deliver pesticide molecules to previously inaccessible depths in the soil. This 'precision farming' approach could potentially minimize environmental toxicity and cut costs for farmers.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Engineering: Nanotechnology
Published

Scaling up the power of nanotechnology      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers created a proof of concept of a nanocapsule -- a microscopic container -- capable of delivering a specific 'payload' to a targeted location. While beyond the scope of this study, the discovery could one day impact how drugs, nutrients and other types of chemical compounds are delivered within humans or plants.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

Split gene-editing tool offers greater precision      (via sciencedaily.com) 

To make a gene-editing tool more precise and easier to control, engineers split it into two pieces that only come back together when a third molecule is added.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Technology
Published

Researchers reveal the origins of zirconium nitride's superior performance      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A group of researchers have unraveled the mysteries behind a recently identified material -- zirconium nitride (ZrN) -- that helps power clean energy reactions. Their proposed framework will help future designs for transition metal nitrides, paving a path for generating cleaner energy.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Engineering: Graphene Engineering: Nanotechnology
Published

Making contact: Researchers wire up individual graphene nanoribbons      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have developed a method of 'wiring up' graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), a class of one-dimensional materials that are of interest in the scaling of microelectronic devices. Using a direct-write scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) based process, the nanometer-scale metal contacts were fabricated on individual GNRs and could control the electronic character of the GNRs. The researchers say that this is the first demonstration of making metal contacts to specific GNRs with certainty and that those contacts induce device functionality needed for transistor function.

Engineering: Nanotechnology Physics: General
Published

Stabilizing precipitate growth at grain boundaries in alloys      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Materials are often considered to be one phase, but many engineering materials contain two or more phases, improving their properties and performance. These two-phase materials have inclusions, called precipitates, embedded in the microstructure. Alloys, a combination of two or more types of metals, are used in many applications, like turbines for jet engines and light-weight alloys for automotive applications, because they have very good mechanical properties due to those embedded precipitates. The average precipitate size, however, tends to increase over time-in a process called coarsening-which results in a degradation of performance for microstructures with nanoscale precipitates.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Technology Engineering: Nanotechnology Environmental: General
Published

Efficient next-generation solar panels on horizon following breakthrough      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A scientific breakthrough brings mass production of the next generation of cheaper and lighter perovskite solar cells one step closer.

Chemistry: Thermodynamics Energy: Alternative Fuels Engineering: Nanotechnology Physics: Optics
Published

Chameleon-inspired coating could cool and warm buildings through the seasons      (via sciencedaily.com) 

As summer turns to fall, many people will be turning off the air conditioning and firing up heaters instead. But traditional heating and cooling systems are energy intensive, and because they typically run on fossil fuels, they aren't sustainable. Now, by mimicking a desert-dwelling chameleon, a team has developed an energy-efficient, cost-effective coating. The material could keep buildings cool in the summers -- or warm in the winters -- without additional energy.