Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

Concept of electrocuring adhesive.

Inspired by limitations of biomimetic glues in wet environments Voltaglue has many apps incl:
– gluing metal panels under water eg underwater pipe repairs;
– Replacing sutures when there is a need to join body tissues together during surgery;
– Tailoring the properties of the adhesive to be more gel-like or rubber-like which would work well in vibrating or damp environments

In future, surgeons could use biocompatible glue patches to join 2 pieces of internal body tissue together in 1-2 minutes, instead of sutures which often require 15 to 20 minutes of careful stitching. Assistant Professor Terry Steele said it took them over a year to develop an adhesive that could work under wet conditions such as in the human body or underwater.

Diazirine electrochemis...

Artificial photosynthesis used to produce renewable molecular hydrogen for synthesizing carbon dioxide into methane. Credit: Berkeley Lab

Researchers using a bioinorganic hybrid approach to artificial photosynthesis have combined semiconducting nanowires with select microbes to create a system that produces renewable H2 and uses it to synthesize CO2 into methane, the primary constituent of natural gas.

“By generating renewable hydrogen and feeding it to microbes for the production of methane, we can now expect an electrical-to-chemical efficiency of better than 50% and a solar-to-chemical energy conversion efficiency of 10% if our system is coupled with state-of-art solar panel and electrolyzer.”

The concept in the 2 studies is essentially the same – a membrane of semiconductor nanowires t...

Transmission electron microscopy images of Cu nanoparticles (left), Cu2O nanoparticles (middle), and CuS nanoplates (right)… The biocomposites consist of copper and cystine, with either copper nanoparticles (CNPs) or copper sulfate contributing the metallic component. Credit: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00216-009-3203-0

1st time discovery of a new nanocomposite via copper and biological component self-assembly under physiological conditions could be used in targeted drug delivery for fighting diseases such as cancer.

The Louisiana Tech team has also discovered a way for this synthesis to be carried out in liquid form. This would allow for controlling the scale of the synthesis up or down, and to grow structures...

Graphene drives potential for Next-gen Green Fuel-Efficient Cars

>>converting heat into electricity. Graphene’s range of superlative properties and small size causes the transfer of heat through the material to slow leading to the desired lower operating temperatures. Harvesting heat produced by a car’s engine which would otherwise be wasted and using it to recharge the car’s batteries or powering the air-conditioning system could be a significant feature in the next generation of hybrid cars.

The average car currently loses around 70% of energy generated through fuel consumption to heat. Utilising that lost energy requires a thermoelectric material which can generate an electrical current from the application of heat...