#Environmentally friendly lignin nanoparticle'greens'silver nanobullet to battle bacteria North carolina State university researchers have developed an effective
and environmentally benign method to combat bacteria by engineering nanoscale particles that add the antimicrobial potency of silver to a core of lignin,
greener and safer nanotechnology and could lead to enhanced efficiency of antimicrobial products used in agriculture and personal care.
In a study published in Nature Nanotechnology("An environmentally benign antimicrobial nanoparticle based on a silver-infused lignin core),
"NC State engineer Orlin Velev and colleagues show that silver-ion infused lignin nanoparticles, which are coated with a charged polymer layer that helps them adhere to the target microbes,
As the nanoparticles wipe out the targeted bacteria, they become depleted of silver. The remaining particles degrade easily after disposal because of their biocompatible lignin core,
People have been interested in using silver nanoparticles for antimicrobial purposes, but there are lingering concerns about their environmental impact due to the long-term effects of the used metal nanoparticles released in the environment,
said Velev, INVISTA Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering at NC State and the papers corresponding author.
The researchers used the nanoparticles to attack E coli a bacterium that causes food poisoning; Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common disease-causing bacterium;
The nanoparticles were effective against all the bacteria. The method allows researchers the flexibility to change the nanoparticle recipe in order to target specific microbes.
Alexander Richter, the papers first author and an NC State Ph d. candidate who won a 2015 Lemelson-MIT prize,
#Nanoscale light-emitting device has big profile University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers have created a nanoscale device that can emit light as powerfully as an object 10,000 times its size.
In a paper published July 10 in the journal Physical Review Letters("Extraordinarily large optical cross section for localized single nanoresonator"),Zongfu Yu, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering,
and his collaborators describe a nanoscale device that drastically surpasses previous technology in its ability to scatter light.
They showed how a single nanoresonator can manipulate light to cast a very large"reflection."
"The nanoresonator's capacity to absorb and emit light energy is such that it can make itself--and, in applications,
Given the nanoresonator's capacity to absorb large amounts of light energy, the technology also has potential in applications that harvest the sun's energy with high efficiency.
Because the nanoresonator has a large optical cross-section--that is, an ability to emit light that dramatically exceeds its physical size--it can shed a lot of heat energy,
The device is composed of a film of organic molecules 100 nanometres thick, confined between two nearly perfect mirrors.
The device is composed of a film of organic molecules 100 nanometres thick confined between two nearly perfect mirrors.
that uses gold nanoparticles and paper has been devised by researchers from the A*STAR Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology("Trapping cells in paper for white blood cell count").
Hong Wu and Jackie Y. Ying from the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore have developed a compact,
The technique employs gold nanoparticles coated with an antibody that interacts with white blood cells. The antibody causes the nanoparticles to attach themselves to white blood cells in a blood sample,
which can be obtained by simply pricking a finger. The blood sample is filtered passively through a small test paper.
A dark spot then forms on the paper surface due to the gold nanoparticles on the white blood cells.
such as sickle-cell detection and platelet count, explains Ying. e are also planning to measure different types of white blood cells by introducing gold nanoparticles coated with different antibodies. a
or silica creating a thin liquid layer that smooths out nanoscale'valleys'in the platinum
"Innovative substrate engineering for high quality 2d nanomaterials")'Not only can we make millimetre-sized graphene flakes in minutes
This invention adds to the growing patent portfolio of nanomaterials and their production technologies from Professor Nicole Grobert's Nanomaterials By design Group.
and sell her range of specialty nanomaterials as part of a new business venture e
#Scientists hijack light-loving bacteria to make high-value products (Nanowerk News) Scientists have directed a common bacterium to produce more of a valuable fatty acid, lauric acid,
#Novel method creates nanowires with new useful properties (Nanowerk News) Harvard scientists have developed a first-of-its-kind method of creating a class of nanowires that one day could have applications in areas ranging from consumer electronics to solar panels.
The technique is described in a paper recently published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology("Plateaurayleigh crystal growth of periodic shells on one-dimensional substrates"A new,
but researchers for years have recognized a similar phenomenon in nanowires. When heated to extreme temperatures
Day and Mankin heated traditionally grown nanowires to just below that transformation point in a vacuum chamber,
when nanowires break down at high temperatures. Unlike with the droplets, though, the process can be controlled tightly.
Along with duplicating the process in nanowires between 20 and 100 nanometers in diameter, researchers demonstrated the process using several combinations of materials,
In addition to being able to tune the distance between the lobes on nanowires, Mankin said tests showed they were also able to tune the cross-section of the wires.
As you shrink the spacing down to distances smaller than about 400 nanometers, it creates
What that means is that you could absorb the same amount of infrared light with these nanowires as you could with traditional silicon materials that are 100 times thicker.
if you wanted to use nanowires for photo-detection of green and blue light, youd need two wires,
#Sticky-flare nanotechnology exposes RNA misregulation in living cells (Nanowerk News) RNA is a fundamental ingredient in all known forms of life
A new technology--called"Sticky-flares"--developed by nanomedicine experts at Northwestern University offers the first real-time method to track
"said Chad A. Mirkin, a nanomedicine expert and corresponding author of the study.""We hope that many more researchers will be able to use this platform to increase our understanding of RNA function inside cells."
Sticky-flares are tiny spherical nucleic acid gold nanoparticle conjugates that can enter living cells and target and transfer a fluorescent reporter or"tracking device"to RNA transcripts.
#Degrading BPA with visible light and a new hybrid nanoparticle photocatalyst Over the course of the last half century, BPA has gone from miracle to menace.
The photocatalytic nanomaterial can be used to treat water using visible light. How the New Catalyst Works Their new material breaks down BPA through photocatalytic oxidation, a process in
When light strikes a photocatalyst like titanium dioxide (Tio2) nanoparticles the jolt of energy can kick one of its electrons up to an excited state
In order to turn Tio2 nanoparticles into a better photocatalyst, the researchers made several modifications. First, they added silver to the surface of the nanoparticles,
a common technique to enhance the charge separation. When light strikes Tio2 and excites one of its electrons
Then, they wrapped the Ag/Tio2 nanoparticles in sheets of reduced graphene oxide (RGO), a thin layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern.
It also reduced the nanoparticles'bandgap, decreasing the amount of energy necessary to activate the photocatalyst.
When the researchers mixed the hybrid nanoparticles with BPA solution under an artificial visible light source
Furthermore, the RGO-Ag-Tio2 nanoparticles outperformed those where RGO or Ag alone were added to the Tio2,
suggesting that both modifications played a role in the enhanced catalytic activity under visible light. Eventually, the team hopes to use their findings to help break down BPA and other contaminants in water supplies."
"We strongly feel the developed nano-photocatalyst could be one of the nanomaterials that can sustainably address said problem,
#New study shows how nanoparticles can clean up environmental pollutants Many human-made pollutants in the environment resist degradation through natural processes,
In a new paper published this week in Nature Communications("Nanoparticles with photoinduced precipitation for the extraction of pollutants from water and soil),
"researchers from MIT and the Federal University of Goiás in Brazil demonstrate a novel method for using nanoparticles
Nanoparticles that lose their stability upon irradiation with light have been designed to extract endocrine disruptors, pesticides,
The system exploits the large surface-to-volume ratio of nanoparticles, while the photoinduced precipitation ensures nanomaterials are released not in the environment.
Ferdinand Brandl and Nicolas Bertrand, the two lead authors, are former postdocs in the laboratory of Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT Koch Institute
They initially sought to develop nanoparticles that could be used to deliver drugs to cancer cells. Brandl had synthesized previously polymers that could be cleaved apart by exposure to UV LIGHT.
Nanoparticles made from these polymers have a hydrophobic core and a hydrophilic shell. Due to molecular-scale forces
in a solution hydrophobic pollutant molecules move toward the hydrophobic nanoparticles, and adsorb onto their surface,
If left alone, these nanomaterials would remain suspended and dispersed evenly in water. But when exposed to UV LIGHT,
The fundamental breakthrough, according to the researchers, was confirming that small molecules do indeed adsorb passively onto the surface of nanoparticles. o the best of our knowledge,
it is the first time that the interactions of small molecules with preformed nanoparticles can be measured directly,
we showed in a system that the adsorption of small molecules on the surface of the nanoparticles can be used for extraction of any kind,
as another example of a persistent pollutant that could potentially be remediated using these nanomaterials. nd for analytical applications where you don need as much volume to purify or concentrate,
The study also suggests the broader potential for adapting nanoscale drug-delivery techniques developed for use in environmental remediation. hat we can apply some of the highly sophisticated,
and an expert in nanoengineering for health care and medical applications. hen you think about field deployment,
#A'nanomachine'for surgery with no incision (Nanowerk News) A surgical operation has long been considered one of the first options in cancer treatment;
The University of Tokyo (concurrently serving as the Director of the Innovation Center of Nanomedicine,
and Professor Nobuhiro Nishiyama, Chemical Resources Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of technology, has developed successfully a nano crystal aggregate (nanomachine) technology to deliver a gadolinium complex (Gd-DTPA
The research team has clarified that selective accumulation of the developed nanomachine in a cancer tumor enables contrast imaging of a solid cancer.
Moreover, when the Team applied the nanomachine to cancer neutron capture therapy, they confirmed a remarkable curative effect.
This nanomachine therapy enables an imaging-guided thermal neutron irradiation treatment; thus it can be expected to lead to a reliable cancer treatment with no missed cancer cells.
The realization of surgery with no incision (chemical surgery) by nanomachine allows us to anticipate outpatient treatment with no need of hospitalization n
#3d'printouts'at the nanoscale using self-assembling DNA structures A novel way of making 3d nanostructures from DNA is described in a study published in the renowned journal Nature("DNA rendering of polyhedral meshes
at the nanoscale"."The study was led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet who collaborated with a group at Finland's Aalto University.
which opens the way for completely new biological applications of DNA NANOTECHNOLOGY. The design process is automated also highly,
which enables the creation of synthetic DNA NANOSTRUCTURES of remarkable complexity. Bjrn Hgberg and Erik Benson The team behind the study likens the new approach to a 3d printer for nanoscale structures.
The user draws the desired structure in the form of a polygon object, in 3d software normally used for computer-aided design or animation.
One of the big advantages of building nanostructures out of DNA is that the bases bind to each other through base-paring in a predictable fashion.
This new method makes it very easy to design DNA NANOSTRUCTURES and gives more design freedom,
we print it in DNA at the nanoscale. Using this technique, the team has built a ball, spiral, rod and bottle-shaped structure,
physiological salt concentrations that are more suitable for biological applications of DNA NANOSTRUCTURES, explains Dr Hgberg.
Advanced computing methods are likely to be a key enabler in the scaling of DNA NANOTECHNOLOGY from fundamental studies towards groundbreaking applications,
DNA NANOSTRUCTURES have also been used to make targeted capsules able to deliver cancer drugs direct to tumour cells,
"said Anand Bhattacharya, a physicist in Argonne's Materials science Division and the Center for Nanoscale Materials (a DOE Office of Science user facility),
TEM Nanocube A nanoscale view of the new superfast fluorescent system using a transmission electron microscope.
The silver cube is just 75-nanometers wide. The quantum dots (red) are sandwiched between the silver cube and a thin gold foil.
The study was published online on July 27 in Nature Communications("Ultrafast Spontaneous Emission Source Using Plasmonic Nanoantennas"."
When a laser shines on the surface of a silver cube just 75 nanometers wide,
Energy trapped on the surface of the nanocube in this fashion is called a plasmon. The plasmon creates an intense electromagnetic field between the silver nanocube
and a thin sheet of gold placed a mere 20 atoms away. This field interacts with quantum dots--spheres of semiconducting material just six nanometers wide--that are sandwiched in between the nanocube and the gold.
The quantum dots in turn, produce a directional, efficient emission of photons that can be turned on and off at more than 90 gigahertz."
"The group is now working to use the plasmonic structure to create a single photon source--a necessity for extremely secure quantum communications--by sandwiching a single quantum dot in the gap between the silver nanocube and gold foil.
including popular lab-on-a-chip devices. Capillary action draws water and other liquids into confined spaces such as tubes, straws, wicks and paper towels,
"This insight has implications for optimal design of microfluidic and lab-on-a-chip devices based on stimuli-responsive smart polymers
consisting of a gold layer on glass that is only 150 nanometers thick and an organic material
#Making polymer nanostructures from a greenhouse gas (Nanowerk News) A future where power plants feed their carbon dioxide directly into an adjacent production facility instead of spewing it up a chimney
In the journal Angewandte Chemie("Construction of Versatile and Functional Nanostructures Derived from CO2-based Polycarbonates),
and can aggregate into nanoparticles or micelles. Versatile nanostructures made from CO2 based polycarbonates. Wiley-VCH) CO2 and epoxides (highly reactive compounds with a three-membered ring made of two carbon atoms
and one oxygen atom) can be polymerized to form polycarbonates in reactions that use special catalysts.
and Vladimir M. Shalaev, scientific director of nanophotonics at Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center and a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering."
which inhibits catalytic activity. Materials that repel water, as shown at right, where droplets form sharp,
steep boundaries, are more conducive to catalytic activity, as shown by the reactions among small orange molecules.
for applications requiring high catalytic activity, the team found, a key requirement is that the surface be hydrophobic,
it has a higher affinity for catalytic activity. Shao-Horn notes that this is an initial finding,
at a nanoscale resolution. The inventors'long-term goal is to make the resource available to the scientific community in the form of a national brain observatory.
"We show how these crystals can be built up into complex structures by attaching particles as nanocrystals, clusters,
They can be small molecules, clusters, droplets, or nanocrystals. All of these particles are unstable and begin to combine with each other and with nearby crystals and other surfaces.
For example, nanocrystals prefer to become oriented along the same direction as the larger crystal before attaching,
#Blown-up brains reveal nanoscale details Microscopes make living cells and tissues appear bigger. But what if we could actually make the things bigger?
In 1873, German physicist Ernst Abbe deduced that conventional optical microscopes cannot distinguish objects that are closer together than about 200 nanometres roughly half the shortest wavelength of visible light.
Professor of Chemistry, an international team of researchers has developed a method of fabricating nanoscale electronic scaffolds that can be injected via syringe.
The research is described in a June 8 paper in Nature Nanotechnology. Contributors to the work include Jia Liu, Tian-Ming Fu, Zengguang Cheng, Guosong Hong, Tao Zhou, Lihua Jin, Madhavi Duvvuri, Zhe Jiang, Peter
researchers lay out a mesh of nanowires sandwiched in layers of organic polymer. The first layer is dissolved then, leaving the flexible mesh,
However, scientists at the Swedish Medical Nanoscience Centre (SMNC) at Karolinska Institutet Department of Neuroscience in collaboration with colleagues at Linköping University, have created now an organic bioelectronic device that is capable of receiving chemical signals,
An oscilloscope placed on the skin alongside the laser senses these nanoscale bubbles when they start popping,
#Infrared light speeds up healing by turbocharging our cells A near infrared laser beam makes it easier for a nanoscale probe to pass through water (Image:
which has a wavelength of 670 nanometres, was reported first 40 years ago. The light causes mitochondria, the cell's powerhouses, to produce more ATP, a compound that provides the cell's energy.
#Development of Single-Molecule Diode Revolutionizes Nanotechnology A paper published on May 25 in Nature Nanotechnology titled ingle-Molecule Diodes with High On-Off Ratios through Environmental Controlreports the first ever attempt for the development of single
which would revolutionize nanoscale devices. Venkataraman proudly stated that the new device represents the ultimate in functional miniaturisation that can be achieved for an electronic device.
He added that constructing a device where the active elements are only a single molecule has long been a tantalizing dream in nanoscience.
This simple new technique can be applied easily to all nanoscale devices of all types, including those that are made with graphene electrodes a
The computer working involves using droplets of water soaked with magnetic nanoparticles, the computer then uses electromagnetic field to pump the droplets around gates to perform logical operations.
For more information, visit www1. lehigh. edu. Harsh Environments No Match for New Fiber Sensor Nanofiber Fabrication Boosts Quantum computing Sulfur Copolymers Boost IR Optics
The research was published in Nature Nanotechnology (doi: 10.1038/nnano. 2015.118. For more information, visit engineering. columbia. edu. Corning to Acquire Fiber optics Business from Samsung Camera Powered by the Light It Captures Microscope Takes 3-D Images From Inside Moving Subjects Technique
New Digital Conference Explores Biophotonics Imaging Fluorescent, Magnetic nanoparticles Aid Bioimaging System Combines Optical Microscopy, MRI Bioimaging Technique Isolates Moving Tissu i
This technology promises to take the future of data storage down to nanometers in coming years,
but if you want to work in nanotechnology it is a very different environment, Lutz said. ur idea is that the chemistry can provide something that's easier to synthesize and cheaper than DNA. a
and diamond nanoparticles are also incredibly slippery, which can be useful if you want to reduce friction in a moving machine.
When the diamond nanoparticles came in contact with the thin sheets of graphene (carbon that's only an atom thick) the graphene rolled up around the diamond nanoparticles,
but researchers hope that they can expand the property to other materials in the future. he knowledge gained from this study will be crucial in finding ways to reduce friction in everything from engines or turbines to computer hard disks and microelectromechanical systems,"nanoscientist Ani Sumant,
The nanoscale world is not slippery when wet; instead, water actually increases friction instead of decreasing it
When they tested one conductive gel with the nanotubes and one without, they were able to create a 3d electrical circuit.
By filling a metallic waffle-like nanostructure with liquid crystal, and sandwiching it between layers of plastic,
or absorbed by the nanostructure. The team at the University of Central Florida created a 1mm-sized"Afghan Girl"image
The laser is modulated by a synthetic nanosheet, a multi-segmented, layered material that can emit in red, green,
The wavelength spans 191 nanometers, which the study claims is reported the largest for a laser of this kind.
Recently published in leading micro/nanoscience journal Small the research was supported by the Australian Research Council.
such as interference, manifest in the conductance properties of molecular junctions. onstructing a device where the active elements are only a single molecule has long been a tantalizing dream in nanoscience,
Their results, reported in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, achieved rectification ratios as high as 250: 50 times higher than earlier designs.
it can be applied to all nanodevices of all types, including those that are made with graphene electrodes
#Gold Nano-Spirals Could Protect Against Identity Theft Most other investigators who have studied the remarkable properties of microscopic spirals have done so by arranging discrete nanoparticles in a spiral pattern:
The next steps for Méndez and her team will be modifying the commercial screen-printed electrodes with nanoparticles to make the sensors respond more clearly,
or infiltrated by chemotherapy drugs, they find a way to return. The ability of many brain tumors to regenerate can be traced to cancer stem cells that evade treatment and spur the growth of new tumor cells.
MOF thin films of a few hundred nanometers in thickness can be used for flexible solar cells or for the coating of clothing material or deformable components.
"What's different about black silicon solar cells is that their surfaces are covered in tiny, nanoscale ridges,
and added a thin film to their nanostructures, as well as a thick coating to the back of the cells,
Publishing in Nature Nanotechnology, the researchers report that their resulting cells are the most efficient black silicon solar cells to date, capable of turning 22.1 percent of available light into electricity."
and while participants in the trial received flu-like side effects after the first few injections, this was far preferable to the side effects that come with chemotherapy drugs.
They then dissolved this nanocellulose and freeze-dried it, so that the moisture evaporates without the material ever going through a liquid state.
the team carefully engineered a 3d supercapacitor with carbon nanotube electrodes, and a hybrid battery. Both of them were fully functional even at 75 percent compression,
#Physicists have observed virtually frictionless motion at the nanoscale For the first time, researchers in the US have made friction almost completely vanish between two surfaces at the nanoscale.
The discovery paves the way for engineering surfaces that can slide past each other with virtually no resistance,
and could hugely advance the development of nanomachines. Ordinarily, friction exists wherever two surfaces meet
The most direct application of this research is the creation of longer-lasting nanomachines made out of single molecules,
because it one of the limiting factors for nanomachines, but there has been relatively little progress in actually controlling friction at any scale,
for the first time on the atomic scale, we can see this transition from friction to superlubricity. o do this, the team simulated friction at the nanoscale by engineering two special surfaces:
This knowledge could help them to engineer nanomachines that aren worn constantly down by friction, and could also help them to control proteins and other biological components.
and motor proteins, said Schaetz. ust imagine a nanomachine where we could control friction to enhance contact for traction,
but although it was easy enough to work out how to control water droplets-by infusing them with magnetic nanoparticles
a group of international researchers led by Professor Charles Lieber of Harvard university have developed a method for injecting nanoscale electronic scaffolds into animal bodies.
His work has just been published in Nature Nanotechnology. Once injected, the miniature scaffolding is able to unfurl itself
Lab-on-a-chip devices are already being used around the world to help provide on-the-spot diagnoses for diseases such as HIV and Ebola,
but by tweaking his the lab-on-a-chip technology, he predicts hel be able to do the same thing for a substantially reduced cost.
Even better, theye also been able to show that the therapeutic cells their lab-on-a-chip creates are highly viable
And in the meantime, find out more about the technique behind Pawell lab-on-a-chip device in this UNSW video from last year:
#Here's how to make carbon nanoparticles with honey and a microwave Carbon nanoparticles can be incredibly useful in the treatment of many types of disease,
as they can evade our natural immune defences and deliver medicine to wherever it's most needed in the body.
but so far creating these nanoparticles has been a long and expensive process. Now researchers at the University of Illinois in the US have found a much easier way to create a certain type of nanoparticle:
using a process that involves plain old honey and a microwave. The resulting particles are less than 8 nanometres thick (a human hair is around 80,000-100,000 nanometres)
so your body's immune system won't try and interfere with them as they deliver their medicine."
but that is nanoparticles with high luminescence. This is one of the simplest systems that we can think of.
the microwave-produced nanoparticles are effective in delivering the drugs where they're needed, and vibrational spectroscopic techniques were used to monitor how the polymers gradually released their payload.
Different polymer coatings were tested too as the team works towards getting these'homemade'carbon nanoparticles ready for clinical use."
All this power is made possible by transistors that are just 7 nanometres in size (7 billionths of a metre),
the secret to these new prototype solar cells are gallium phosphide nanowires, which can split water into its hydrogen
So the researchers tried producing a grid of tiny gallium phosphide nanowires measuring 90 nanometres thick and 500 nanometers long,
"For the nanowires we needed 10,000 less precious Gap material than in cells with a flat surface.
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