Category Technology/Electronics

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...

From the spinning disc of a computer’s hard drive to varying current in a transformer, many technological devices work by merging electricity and magnetism. Enter multiferroics, which combine 2 or more primary ferroic properties. Northwestern University’s James Rondinelli and his research team are interested in combining ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity, which rarely coexist in one material at room temperature.

In order for ferroelectricity to exist, the material must be insulating. So nearly every approach to date has focused on searching for multiferroics in insulating magnetic oxides. Rondinelli’s team started with a different approach...

One of the unsung workhorses of modern technology is the humble interconnect. This is essentially a wire or set of wires that link one part of an electronic system to another. In ordinary silicon chips, interconnect can take up most of the area of a chip; and the speed and efficiency with which information can travel along these interconnects, is a major limiting factor in computing performance.

A separate entanglement stage is used to preserve the original entanglement needed as part of normal operations—demonstrating a way to connect 2 photonic chips...

Density functional-based tight-binding modelling. Credit: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150820/ncomms9029/full/ncomms9029.html

>>inherent defects give rise to a surprising mechanical property caused by an unusual mechanochemical reaction.What they discovered could potentially unlock the secret to successfully scaling up graphene oxide. “Our team discovered that graphene oxide exhibits remarkable plastic deformation before breaking,” said Espinosa. “Graphene is very strong, but it can break suddenly. We found that graphene oxide, however, will deform first before eventually breaking.”

Huang compares the difference in the materials’ properties to common objects. “Ceramic is strong,” he says, “but if you break it, it will shatter...