Research is underway on new equipment that will allow solar power to be gathered in space and transferred back to earth through microwaves or lasers, providing renewable energy for the future and providing power to disaster areas or outlying areas that are difficult to reach by traditional means. Solar power gathered in space could be [...]

By using an “aluminum-doped zinc oxide,” or AZO, Purdue researchers have shown how to create metamaterials without using silver or gold. The new metamaterial consists of 16 layers alternating between AZO and zinc oxide and has enhanced performance that is compatible with semiconductors. West Lafayette, Indiana – Researchers have taken a step toward overcoming a [...]

Scientists at the Berkeley Lab have developed a way to generate power using harmless viruses that convert mechanical energy into electricity. Their generator is the first of its kind to produce electricity by harnessing the piezoelectric properties of a biological material and could lead to devices that harness electrical energy from the vibrations of everyday [...]

New silicon battery technology is a major step forward in creating smaller, lighter and longer-lasting batteries. The new design contains a double-walled silicon nanotube coated with a thin layer of silicon oxide and can operate for more than 6,000 cycles with 85 percent capacity remaining. For more than a decade, scientists have tried to improve [...]

The future might smell better thanks to scientists at the USDA that are investigating new antimicrobial treatments for clothing. Using an environmentally friendly method to produce silver nanoparticles, researchers are prompting the silver nanoparticles to form directly on cotton fibers, eliminating the handling and storage of the antimicrobial agents prior to application. Socks, T-shirts and [...]

Scientists at the University of Washington are using nanotechnology manufacturing techniques to build and refine portable diagnostics that have surfaces with tiny posts of varying height and spacing. When shaken, the surface moves drops along certain paths to conduct medical or environmental tests. As medical researchers and engineers try to shrink diagnostics to fit in [...]

Focusing on balance between her family, religion and work with carbon nanomaterials, Jing Kong has found a home at MIT and has pioneered a new method of producing large sheets of graphene. A life in academia was a natural career path for Jing Kong, the daughter of two Chinese academics at Tianjin Finance and Economics [...]

Thanks to new to ceramics nanotechnology, scientists now working with a device that can test you for biomarkers when you blow into it. Using a sensor chip that is able to detect minute amounts of chemical compounds in the breath, the Single Breath Disease Diagnostics Breathalyzer instantly measures your exhaled breath, giving you a green [...]

Newly published research from Yale University engineers describes a technique that may be influential in developing and understanding new methods for rapidly creating battery electrodes with nanometer level precision. Yale engineers have developed a novel automated system for generating strong, flexible, transparent coatings with promising uses in lithium-ion battery and fuel cell production, among other [...]

Viewing nanoparticles in three dimensions may soon be possible in labs all around the world. Instead of relying on traditional nanocrystallography techniques and the powerful machines needed to make them possible, a team of scientists have shown that atomic pair distribution function analysis, which requires a transmission electron microscope, can be used. Upton, New York [...]

If an effort to target bacteria that has become increasingly resistant to existing drugs, engineers specializing in nanomedicine and biomaterials have developed a nanoparticle that is designed to evade the immune system and target infection sites, unleash a focused antibiotic attack. Over the past several decades, scientists have faced challenges in developing new antibiotics even [...]

Future communication devices may get a big boost in efficiency from terahertz waves and graphene. In a newly published study, scientists at the University of Notre Dame have shown that it is possible to manipulate THz electromagnetic waves with thin layers of graphene. People use electromagnetic energy every day … watching television, listening to the [...]