Recent Comments

    Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Self-Growing Materials that Strengthen in Response to Force

    February 2, 2019, Categories  Chemistry/Nanotechnology, Physics, Technology/Electronics

    A double-network hydrogel (i). After stretching (ii), brittle sections break, allowing a generation of mechanoradicals, indicated by color change (iii).
    Credit: Gong J. P. et al., Mechanoresponsive self-growing hydrogels inspired by muscle training, Science, February 1, 2019

    A strategy inspired by the process responsible for muscle growth could lead to the development of stronger, longer-lasting materials. Hokkaido University researchers have developed a strategy to fabricate materials that become stronger in response to mechanical stress – mimicking skeletal muscle growth. Their findings, published in the journal Science, could pave the way for long-lasting materials that can adapt and strengthen based on surrounding conditions.

    The strategy was inspired by the process that makes ...

    Read More

    New 3D Printer Shapes Objects with Rays of Light

    February 1, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    UC Berkeley researchers used new 3D printing technology to create a model of Rodin’s ‘The Thinker.’
    Credit: UC Berkeley photo by Stephen McNally

    The technology has potential to transform how products from prosthetics to eyeglass lenses are designed and manufactured. A new 3D printer uses light to transform gooey liquids into complex solid objects in only a matter of minutes. Nicknamed the “replicator” by the inventors – after the Star Trek device that can materialize any object on demand – the 3D-printer can create objects that are smoother, more flexible and more complex than what is possible with traditional 3D-printers...

    Read More

    ‘Metallic Wood’ has the Strength of Titanium and the Density of Water

    January 31, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    A microscopic sample of the researchers’ “metallic wood.” Its porous structure is responsible for its high strength-to-weight ratio, and makes it more akin to natural materials, like wood.

    High-performance golf clubs and airplane wings are made out of titanium, which is as strong as steel but about twice as light. These properties depend on the way a metal’s atoms are stacked, but random defects that arise in the manufacturing process mean that these materials are only a fraction as strong as they could theoretically be. An architect, working on the scale of individual atoms, could design and build new materials that have even better strength-to-weight ratios.

    In a new study published in Nature Scientific Reports, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Enginee...

    Read More

    Self-Assembling Nanomaterial offers pathway to more Efficient, Affordable harnessing of Solar Power

    January 28, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Self-assembling nanomaterial offers pathway to more efficient, affordable harnessing of solar power

    In this illustration, DPP and rylene dye molecules come together to create a self-assembled superstructure. Electrons within the structure absorb and become excited by light photons, and then couple with neighboring electrons to share energy and create additional excited electrons that can be harvested to create solar cells. Credit: Andrew Levine

    Current methods of harvesting solar charges are expensive and inefficient—with a theoretical efficiency limit of 33%. New nanomaterials developed by researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York (CUNY) could provide a pathway to more efficient and potentially affordable harvesting of solar energy.

    The materials, created by scientists with the ASRC’s Nanoscience Initiative...

    Read More