At present researchers usually rely on X-ray crystallography to investigate protein structures. This requires growing crystals consisting of billions of identical molecules.
Crystallizing proteins is challenging and sometimes impossible researchers say. If the ETH physicists achieve their goal a single molecule would in principle suffice for determining the structure.
#Tiniest particles melt and then turn into Jell-o New york University rightoriginal Studyposted by James Devitt-NYU on October 20 2014the fact that microscopic particles known as polymers
The new solid is a substance like Jell-o with the polymers adhering to the colloids
The study focuses on polymers and colloids#particles as small as one-billionth and one-millionth of a meter in size respectively.
For instance colloidal dispersions comprise such everyday items as paint milk gelatin glass and porcelain and for advanced engineering such as steering light in photonics.
By better understanding polymer and colloidal formation scientists have the potential to harness these particles
In the Nature Materials study the researchers examined polymers and larger colloidal crystals at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 85 degrees C. At room temperature the polymers act as a gas bumping against the larger particles
and applying a pressure that forces them together once the distance between the particles is too small to admit a polymer.
In fact the colloids form a crystal using this process known as the depletion interaction#an attractive entropic force
which is a dynamic that results from maximizing the random motion of the polymers and the range of space they have the freedom to explore.
As usual the crystals melt on heating but unexpectedly on heating further they re-solidify. The solid is much softer more pliable
and more open than the crystal. This result the researchers observe reflects enthalpic attraction#the adhesive energy generated by the higher temperatures and stimulating bonding between the particles.
By contrast at the mid-level temperatures conditions were too warm to accommodate entropic force yet too cool to bring about enthalpic attraction.
and a Raman gain in silica despite increasing loss. ight intensity is a very important parameter in optical systems
The experimental system that the researchers used consists of two tiny directly coupled silica microtoroid (doughnut-shaped) resonators each coupled to a different fiber-taper coupler that aids in guiding light from a laser diode to photodetectors;
Loss is delivered to one of the microresonators by a tiny device a chromium-coated silica nanotip
and piezotronic effect adds new functionalities to these two-dimensional materialssays Zhong Lin Wang a professor in Georgia Tech s School of Materials science and engineering
For the Nature study Hone s team placed thin flakes of Mos2 on flexible plastic substrates
In fact Mos2 is just one of a group of 2d semiconducting materials known as transition metal dichalcogenides all of
and his colleagues 2d materials can be stretched much farther than conventional materials particularly traditional ceramic piezoelectrics
and polymers that exist today. rom a fundamental-science point of view our discovery is intriguing because the threads we formed have a structure that has never been seen beforeays study leader John V. Badding a professor of chemistry at Penn State.
so that when we release the pressure very slowly an orderly polymerization reaction happens that forms the diamond-core nanothread.
#3, 600 crystals in wearable skin monitor health 24/7 A new wearable medical device that uses up to 3600 liquid crystals can quickly let you know
When skin is dehydrated the thermal conductivity property changes. The device is an array of up to 3600 liquid crystals each half a millimeter square laid out on a thin soft and stretchable substrate.
and professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois. his technology significantly expands the range of functionality in skin-mounted devices beyond that possible with electronics alone. ith its 3600 liquid crystals the photonic device has 3600 temperature
Biochar can be produced from waste wood manure or leaves and its popularity among DIY types
The biochar used in the experiments derived from Texas mesquite wood was prepared to exacting standards in the lab of Rice geochemist Caroline Masiello a study coauthor to ensure comparable results across soil types. ot all biochar
Metals are not suitable and initially the ETH team was had unaware it found the material that others had been looking for. e observed something strange in our measurements with the graphene sandwich construction that we were not able to explainsays Varlet.
To produce the sandwich construction Varlet enclosed the double layer of graphene in two layers of boron nitride a material otherwise used for lubrication
#New polymer makes solar cells more efficient Solar cells made from polymers have the potential to be cheap and lightweight
A polymer is a type of large molecule that forms plastics and other familiar materials. he field is rather immature it s in the infancy stagesays Luping Yu a professor in chemistry at the University of Chicago.
Now a team of researchers led by Yu has identified a new polymer that allows electrical charges to move more easily through the cell boosting electricity production. olymer solar cells have great potential to provide low-cost lightweight
The active regions of such solar cells are composed of a mixture of polymers that give and receive electrons to generate electrical current
The new polymer developed by Yu s group called PID2 improves the efficiency of electrical power generation by 15 percent
when added to a standard polymer-fullerene mixture. ullerene a small carbon molecule is one of the standard materials used in polymer solar cellslu says. asically in polymer solar cells we have a polymer as electron donor
and fullerene as electron acceptor to allow charge separation. n their work the researchers added another polymer into the device resulting in solar cells with two polymers and one fullerene.
when an optimal amount of PID2 was added the highest ever for solar cells made up of two types of polymers with fullerene
The group which includes researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory is now working to push efficiencies toward 10 percent a benchmark necessary for polymer solar cells to be viable for commercial application.
The standard mechanism for improving efficiency with a third polymer is by increasing the absorption of light in the device.
when PID2 was added charges were transported more easily between polymers and throughout the cell. In order for a current to be generated by the solar cell electrons must be transferred from polymer to fullerene within the device.
But the difference between electron energy levels for the standard polymer-fullerene is large enough that electron transfer between them is difficult.
PID2 has energy levels in between the other two and acts as an intermediary in the process. t s like a stepyu says. hen it s too high it s hard to climb up
but if you put in the middle another step then you can easily walk up. he addition of PID2 caused the polymer blend to form fibers
To reveal this structure Wei Chen of the Materials science Division at Argonne National Laboratory and the Institute for Molecular Engineering performed X-ray scattering studies using the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne
and tightly binds the nanotubes together says Martã an assistant professor of chemistry and bioengineering and of materials science and nanoengineering.
and for displaying patterns on large polymer sheets. For example Halas and colleagues published a study in Advanced Materials in August about an aluminum-based CMOS-compatible photodetector technology for color sensing.
In addition University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign co-principal investigator John Rogers and colleagues published a proof-of-concept study in PNAS in August about new methods for creating flexible black-and-white polymer displays
#These LEGO-inspired ceramics won t shatter California Institute of technology rightoriginal Studyposted by Brian Bell-Caltech on September 12 2014scientists are on the way to developing the perfect ceramic material:
In a paper published in the journal Science the researchers explain how they used the method to produce a ceramic (e g. a piece of chalk
and brittlesays Greer a professor of materials science and mechanics. e re showing that in fact they don t have to be
You can create materials by design. he researchers use a direct laser writing method called two-photon lithography to ritea three-dimensional pattern in a polymer by allowing a laser beam to crosslink
and harden the polymer wherever it is focused. The parts of the polymer that were exposed to the laser remain intact
while the rest is dissolved away revealing a three-dimensional scaffold. That structure can then be coated with a thin layer of just about any kind of material#a metal an alloy a glass a semiconductor etc.
Then the researchers use another method to etch out the polymer from within the structure leaving a hollow architecture.
The applications of this technique are practically limitless Greer says. Since pretty much any material can be deposited on the scaffolds the method could be particularly useful for applications in optics energy efficiency and biomedicine.
After the patterning step they coated the polymer scaffold with a ceramic called alumina (i e. aluminum oxide) producing hollow-tube alumina structures with walls ranging in thickness from 5 to 60 nanometers and tubes from 450 to 1380 nanometers in diameter.
That was not surprising given that ceramics especially those that are porous are brittle. However compressing lattices with a lower ratio of wall thickness to tube diameter#where the wall thickness was only 10 nanometers#produced a very different result. ou deform it
and they could still recover. o understand why consider that most brittle materials such as ceramics silicon
#This smartphone case is 3x harder than steel Yale university Posted by Jim Shelton-Yale on September 5 2014a new smartphone case is lightweight thin harder than steel
and materials science at Yale university developed the technology for the cases in his lab and wants to bring the product into mass production. his material is 50 times harder than plastic nearly 10 times harder than aluminum
With this technique which Schroers calls thermoplastic forming BMGS can be shaped like plastics. As a consequence thermoplastic forming BMGS don t require massive amounts of energy.
From there Schroers focused on producing BMGS in sheets. That form he reasoned is the most conducive to practical manufacturing applications. eveloping a fabrication method for BMG sheets has been extremely difficult
which can be carried out as easily as the process for blow-molding plastics. Seeing the commercial potential for his technique Schroers launched his own company Supercool Metals.
The company has exclusive licensing rights to the technology which is owned by Yale. e re taking a great scientific idea and making it viable in the larger worldsays Tobias Noesekabel Supercool Metals intern and an MBA candidate at the Yale School of management.
Until now Schroers has focused on smaller-scale specialty production items including watch components and sensors. Smartphone cases were a natural
He and his team produce the cases by blow-molding BMG sheets into brass molds to precise specifications.
Microtubules are string-like protein polymers that together with kinesin transport cargo around the cells.
and DNA the assembly of nanotechnological components or small organic polymers or the chemical alteration of carbon nanotubes. e need to continue to optimize the system
in order to achieve the goal of pouring sugar into a stainless steel vat of bioengineered yeast and skimming off specific opioids at the end of the process.
professor at Stanford university. his is the first time anyone has used non-precious metal catalysts to split water at a voltage that low.
It s quite remarkable because normally you need expensive metals like platinum or iridium to achieve that voltage. n addition to producing hydrogen the new water splitter could be used to make chlorine gas and sodium hydroxide an important industrial chemical according to Dai.
and long durabilitydai says. hen we found out that a nickel-based catalyst is as effective as platinum it came as a complete surprise. tanford graduate student Ming Gong co-lead author of the study made the discovery. ing discovered a nickel-metal
and materials science at Michigan State university. t makes for a very colorful environment like working in a disco.
The lowinginfrared light is guided to the edge of the plastic where it is converted to electricity by thin strips of photovoltaic solar cells. ecause the materials do not absorb
The setup adds a printed pinhole screen sandwiched between two layers of clear plastic to an ipod display to enhance image sharpness.
and it s the only metal shown to be able to reduce CO2 to useful hydrocarbonssays senior author Tayhas Palmore professor of engineering at Brown University. here was some indication that
which has been developed only in the last few years provided the surface roughness that Palmore and her colleagues were looking for.
Instead some of the light from the laser scatters and the path length increases because of this multiple scattering#something scientists refer to as the aman effect. his scattered light is emitted then from the powder in a strong diffuse form that is visually similar to a bright LED light.
To overcome this challenge the team developed a special blend of polyurethane and an adhesive.
The liquid polymer filled the mold but as it cured the material shrunk slightly. This allowed the pillars to release easily.
The team demonstrated the nanopillars could stick to plastics fabric paper and metal and they anticipate that the arrays will also transfer easily to glass and leather.
This work is reported in Advanced Materials. The university is pursuing patent protection for the intellectual property
and hydrogel#a water-based polymer gel that provides structural support #thus learingthe tissue but leaving its three-dimensional architecture intact for study.
which Yakobson says keeps them from slipping into a less-stable Peierls distortion. eierls said one-dimensional metals are unstable and must become semiconductors
and the metal state. akobson explains that ZPV is a manifestation of quantum uncertainty which says atoms are always in motion. t s more a blur than a vibrationhe says. e can say carbyne represents the uncertainty principle in action
and may apply equally to other one-dimensional chains subject to Peierls distortions including conducting polymers and charge/spin density-wave materials.
and compactsays Zhang who is also director of the Materials science Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
By coupling electromagnetic waves with surface plasmons the oscillating electrons found at the surface of metals researchers were able to squeeze light into nanosized spaces
Lead researcher Bayden Wood, an associate professor at Monash University, says to reduce mortality and prevent the overuse of antimalarial drugs,
Wood says. here are some excellent tests that diagnose malaria. However, the sensitivity is limited and the best methods require hours of input from skilled microscopists,
and pigments that does the photosynthetic heavy lifting. It also the only known natural enzyme that uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
which uses no metals or toxic materials, for use in power plants, where it could make the energy grid more resilient and efficient by creating a large-scale way to store energy for use as needed. he batteries last for about 5,
While previous battery designs have used metals or toxic chemicals, Narayan and Prakash wanted to find an organic compound that could be dissolved in water.
much better than other carbon fibers, says Mauricio Terrones, professor of physics, chemistry and materials science and engineering,
and wavelength, says Andrew Barron, professor of chemistry and of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice university.
Barron and graduate student Yen-Tien Lu, the study lead author, replaced a two-step process that involved metal deposition
and turns the neat trick of converting gaseous carbon dioxide into solid polymer chains that nestle in the pores. obody s ever seen a mechanism like thistour says. ou ve got to have that nucleophile (the sulfur
or nitrogen atoms) to start the polymerization reaction. This would never work on simple activated carbon; the key is that the polymer forms
and provides continuous selectivity for carbon dioxide. ethane ethane and propane molecules that make up natural gas may try to stick to the carbon
but the growing polymer chains simply push them off he says. The researchers treated their carbon source with potassium hydroxide at 600 degrees Celsius to produce the powders with either sulfur
After heating it to 600 degrees C for the one-step synthesis from inexpensive industrial polymers the final carbon material has a surface area of 2500 square meters per gram
#Scientists are first to detect exciton in metals University of Pittsburgh rightoriginal Studyposted by Joe Miksch-Pittsburgh on June 2 2014humans have used reflection of light from a metal mirror on a daily basis for thousands of years
For the first time researchers have detected the exciton a fundamental particle of light-matter interaction in metals. Physicists describe physical phenomena in terms of interactions between fields
and matter interact at the surface of a silver crystal. They observe for the first time an exciton in a metal.
Excitons particles of light-matter interaction where light photons become transiently entangled with electrons in molecules
The optical and electronic properties of metals cause excitons to last no longer than approximately 100 attoseconds (0. 1 quadrillionth of a second.
Such short lifetimes make it difficult for scientists to study excitons in metals but it also enables reflected light to be a nearly perfect replica of the incoming light.
and Petek and his team experimentally discovered that the surface electrons of silver crystals can maintain the excitonic state more than 100 times longer than the bulk metal enabling the excitons in metals to be captured experimentally by a newly developed multidimensional coherent spectroscopic technique.
The ability to detect excitons in metals sheds light on how light is converted to electrical
and chemical energy in plants and solar cells and in the future it may enable metals to function as active elements in optical communications.
In other words it may be possible to control how light is reflected from a metal. The paper appears online in Nature Physics.
The transducer is made of a mixture of a spongy plastic called polydimethylsiloxane, or PDMS, and carbon nanotubes.
Though ultrasound detectors existncluding those used in medical imaginghe researchers made their own sensitive one in the form of a microscopic plastic ring known as a microring resonator.
and refining release tremendous amounts of low-grade heat to ambient temperaturessays Yi Cui an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford university. ur new battery technology is designed to take advantage of this temperature gradient at the industrial scale. he new system
Sandwiched between the two electrodes is a polymer film that acts as a reservoir of charged ions similar to the role of the electrolyte paste in a battery.
When the electrodes are pressed together the polymer oozes into the tiny pores in much the same way that melted cheese soaks into the nooks and crannies of the bread in a panini.
When the polymer cools and solidifies it forms an extremely strong mechanical bond. he biggest problem with designing load-bearing supercaps is preventing them from delaminatingsays Westover. ombining nanoporous material with the polymer electrolyte bonds the layers together tighter than superglue. he use
of silicon in structural supercapacitors is suited best for consumer electronics and solar cells but Pint and Westover are confident that the rules that govern the load-bearing character of their design will carry over to other materials such as carbon nanotubes and lightweight porous metals like aluminum.
The intensity of interest in ultifunctionaldevices of this sort is clear: The US Department of energy s Advanced Research Project Agency for Energy is investing $8. 7 million in research projects that focus specifically on incorporating energy storage into structural materials.
Materials fabrication took place in part at the Center for Nanophase Materials sciences at Oak ridge National Laboratory
They have filed also a patent for this technology due to its commercial potential. e use a simple polymer-based film to remove the impurities
associate professor in the department of chemical engineering. t is all polymer and we are able to get performances comparable to really expensive materials such as mixed matrix membranes
The membrane that Grunlan and Wilhite have developed is a layer-by-layer polymer coating that is comprised of alternating individual layers of common, low-cost polyelectrolytes.
says Grunlan. xcept for a sheet of metal, nothing has higher selectivity than our coating.
IBM OLDEN GATECHIP One of these efforts is IBM Synapse Projecthort for Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics.
#Renewable cellulose crystals are as stiff as steel The same tiny cellulose crystals that give trees
Calculations using precise models based on the atomic structure of cellulose show the crystals have a stiffness of 206 gigapascals
which is comparable to steel says Pablo D. Zavattieri a Purdue University assistant professor of civil engineering. his is a material that is showing really amazing propertieshe says. t is abundant renewable and produced as waste in the paper industry. indings
are detailed in the journal Cellulose. t is very difficult to measure the properties of these crystals experimentally
and predict the behavior of individual crystals the interaction between them and their interaction with other materialszavattieri says. his is important for the design of novel cellulose-based materials as other research groups are considering them for a huge variety of applications ranging from electronics
and medical devices to structural components for the automotive civil and aerospace industries. he cellulose nanocrystals represent a potential green alternative to carbon nanotubes for reinforcing materials such as polymers and concrete.
Cellulose biomaterials might be used to create biodegradable plastic bags textiles and wound dressings; flexible batteries made from electrically conductive paper;
another process to use the leftover cellulose to make a composite materialmoon says. he cellulose crystals are more difficult to break down into sugars to make liquid fuel.
so that it binds strongly with a reinforcing polymer to make a new type of tough composite material
and sensor applicationssays Zhong Lin Wang a professor in the School of Materials science and engineering. his opens up a source of energy by harvesting power from activities of all kinds. n its simplest form the triboelectric generator
They have learned to increase the power output by applying micron-scale patterns to the polymer sheets.
and even distilled waterâ##and a patterned polymer surface. Their latest paper published in the journal ACS Nano described harvesting energy from the touch pad of a laptop computer.
They are now using a wide range of materials including polymers fabrics and even papers.
The generators can be made from nearly transparent polymers allowing their use in touch pads and screens.
and there is much more we can do with this. he US Department of energy National Science Foundation National Institute for Materials science in Japan Samsung
#Car paint with graphene gets ice off radar domes Rice university rightoriginal Studyposted by Mike Williams-Rice on December 18 2013ribbons of ultrathin graphene combined with polyurethane paint meant for cars can keep ice off of sensitive military
He found the solution in a Houston auto parts store. bought some polyurethane car paint
and GNRS and coated our samples it had all the properties we needed. ab samples up to two square feet were assembled using a flexible polymer substrate polyimide
which was spray-coated with polyurethane paint and allowed to dry The coated substrate was then put on a hotplate to soften the paint
Tour says the researchers have tried also putting GNRS under the polyurethane paint with good results.
Volman suggests the material would make a compelling competitor to recently touted nanotube-based aerogels for deicing airplanes in the winter. e have the technology;
It consists of plastic for the housing a conductive coil and a magnet. The challenge is coming up with a design
and biomolecular engineering to come up with a viscous blend of strontium ferrite. It s not the first time a consumer electronic device was printed in Lipson s lab. Back in 2009 Malone
Light from the cosmic microwave background is polarized mainly due to the scattering of photons off of electrons in the early universe through the same process by
B modes can t be generated by simple scattering instead pointing to a more complex processâ##hence scientists interest in measuring them.
and produce very small quantities says James Tour chair in chemistry and professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and of computer science at Rice university.
which allows it to hold its shape like a small dome known as the liquid's surface tension.
or mechanical structures that allow researchers to conduct their work on the micro/nanoscopic levelsays Jae Kwon associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Missouri. il-based materials or low-surface tension liquids
and spread very easily pose challenges to researchers who need to control those tiny oil droplets on microdevices. il-based compounds are referred to as low-surface tension liquids
and his group demonstrated invisible irtual wallsthat block spreading of low-surface tension liquids at the boundary line with microscopic features already created in the device. ur newly developed surface helped keep oil
and virtual walls for low-surface tension liquids also have immense potential for many lab-on-a-chip devices
#DNA helps nanoparticle crystals self-assemble Northwestern University rightoriginal Studyposted by Megan Fellman-Northwestern on December 2 2013using the same structure found in nature researchers have built the first near-perfect single crystals
and DNA. ingle crystals are the backbone of many things we rely onâ##diamonds for beauty as well as industrial applications sapphires for lasers
and silicon for electronicssays nanoscientist Chad A. Mirkin. he precise placement of atoms within a well-defined lattice defines these high-quality crystals. ow we can do the same with nanomaterials
research group developed the ecipefor using nanomaterials as atoms DNA as bonds and a little heat to form tiny crystals.
This single-crystal recipe builds on superlattice techniques Mirkin s lab has been developing for nearly two decades.
and professor of materials science and engineering in the Mccormick School of engineering and Applied science to evaluate the new technique
and shape of crystals they can build. The team worked with gold nanoparticles but the recipe can be applied to a variety of materials with potential applications in the fields of materials science photonics electronics
and catalysis. A single crystal has order: its crystal lattice is continuous and unbroken throughout. The absence of defects in the material can give these crystals unique mechanical optical and electrical properties making them very desirable.
In the study strands of COMPLEMENTARY DNA act as bonds between disordered gold nanoparticles transforming them into an orderly crystal.
The researchers determined that the ratio of the DNA linker s length to the size of the nanoparticle is critical. f you get the right ratio it makes a perfect crystalâ##isn t that fun?
We are learning so many rules for calculating things that other people cannot compute in atoms in atomic crystals. he ratio affects the energy of the faces of the crystals
and result in a sphere not a faceted crystal she explained. With the correct ratio the energies fluctuate less
and result in a crystal every time. magine having a million balls of two colors some red some blue in a container
and link togetherhe says. hey beautifully assemble into a three-dimensional crystal that we predicted computationally
and realized experimentally. o achieve a self-assembling single crystal in the lab the research team reports taking two sets of gold nanoparticles outfitted with COMPLEMENTARY DNA
Working with approximately 1 million nanoparticles in water they heated the solution to a temperature just above the DNA linkers melting point
The very slow cooling process encouraged the single stranded-dna DNA to find its complement resulting in a high-quality single crystal approximately three microns wide. he process gives the system enough time
There s no reason we can t grow extraordinarily large single crystals in the future using modifications of our techniquesays Mirkin who also is a professor of medicine chemical and biological engineering biomedical engineering and materials science and engineering and director of the university s International Institute for Nanotechnology.
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