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    Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Bio-inspired Energy Storage: A new light for solar power

    April 1, 2017, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    1. The breakthrough electrode prototype (right) can be combined with a solar cell (left) for on-chip energy harvesting and storage. 2. A western swordfern leaf magnified 400 times, showing the self-repeating fractal pattern of its veins.

    1. The breakthrough electrode prototype (right) can be combined with a solar cell (left) for on-chip energy harvesting and storage.
    2. A western swordfern leaf magnified 400 times, showing the self-repeating fractal pattern of its veins.

    Graphene-based electrode prototype, inspired by fern leaves, could be the answer to solar energy storage challenge. Inspired by an American fern, researchers have developed a groundbreaking prototype that could be the answer to the storage challenge still holding solar back as a total energy solution. The new type of electrode created by researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, could boost the capacity of existing integrable storage technologies by 3000%.

    But the graphene-based prototype also opens a new path to the development of flexible ...

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    Watching the Passage of Knotted DNA Slip through Nanopores

    March 29, 2017, Categories  Chemistry/Nanotechnology, Biology/Biotechnology

    How can long DNA filaments, which have convoluted and highly knotted structure, manage to pass through the tiny pores of various biological systems? This is the fascinating question addressed by Antonio Suma and Cristian Micheletti, researchers at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste who used computer simulations to investigate the options available to the genetic material in such situations. The study has just been published in PNAS, the journal of the National Academy of Sciences of the Unites States. Credit: Antonio Suma, SISSA

    How can long DNA filaments, which have convoluted and highly knotted structure, manage to pass through the tiny pores of various biological systems? This is the fascinating question addressed by Antonio Suma and Cristian Micheletti, researchers at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste who used computer simulations to investigate the options available to the genetic material in such situations. The study has just been published in PNAS, the journal of the National Academy of Sciences of the Unites States. Credit: Antonio Suma, SISSA

    How can long DNA filaments, which have convoluted and highly knotted structure, manage to pass through the tiny pores of various biological systems? This is the fascinating question addressed by Antonio Suma and Cristian Micheletti, re...

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    Heated Pavement tech to clear Ice and Snow tested at Des moines International Airport

    March 29, 2017, Categories  Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology, Environment/Geology

    1. Iowa State engineers don't need a plow to clear snow from the heated test slabs they installed at the Des Moines International Airport. Larger photo. Photos courtesy of Halil Ceylan. 2. A thermal image of the heated airport pavements.

    1. Iowa State engineers don’t need a plow to clear snow from the heated test slabs they installed at the Des Moines International Airport. Larger photo. Photos courtesy of Halil Ceylan.
    2. A thermal image of the heated airport pavements.

    Engineers have installed 2 test slabs of electrically conductive concrete and the pavement has effectively cleared ice and snow. Iowa State University’s Halil Ceylan picked up his smartphone, opened up an app and called up the remote controls for the first full-scale test slabs. When a winter storm approaches, Ceylan can use that app to turn on the heated pavement system and, thanks to real-time video capability, watch as snow and ice melts away.

    Late last fall Prof...

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    Secret of Nanomaterial that makes Harvesting Sunlight easier

    March 28, 2017, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Scheme of the local surface chemistry modification and AuNPs tracking approach.

    Scheme of the local surface chemistry modification and AuNPs tracking approach. (a) Ag nanoantennas were modified overnight with 1 mM ethanolic solution of 4-NTP. Several ethanol/water washing steps were performed on each sample. (b) 4-NTP-coated antennas were immersed in 0.1 M HCl solution and illuminated for different times at their LSPR wavelength (633 nm) with a power density of 1 W cm−2. Samples were rinsed with water and immediately dipped in the activated AuNP suspension. (c) AuNPs (15 nm) coated with 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA) as a capping layer were suspended in HEPES buffer and mixed with 1 mM EDC and 1 mM NHS, and left to react for 30 min followed by two purification centrifugation steps...

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