Feb 02, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A new drive system for flapping wing autonomous robots has been developed by a University of Bristol team, using a new method of electromechanical zipping that does away with the need for conventional motors and gears. This new advance, published in the journal Science Robotics...
Novel nanomaterial-based light sails for low-power spacecraft propulsion in Earth orbit and interplanetary travel
Feb 02, 2022 (Nanowerk Spotlight) The fastest human-made spacecraft so far is NASA's Parker Solar Probe. After its launch in 2018, in November 2021 it skimmed the Sun's atmosphere and used the Sun's gravity to reach a maximum velocity of 586,864 km/h (364,660 mph). That might appear to be blazingly...
The path to renewable fuel just got easier
Feb 02, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The holy grail of bio-fuel researchers is to develop a self-sustaining process that converts waste from sewage, food crops, algae and other renewable carbon sources into fuels, while keeping waste carbon out of our atmosphere and water. Much progress has been made in converting such...
‘Quantum friction’ slows water flow through carbon nanotubes, resolving long-standing fluid dynamics mystery
Feb 02, 2022 (Nanowerk News) For 15 years, scientists have been baffled by the mysterious way water flows through the tiny passages of carbon nanotubes — pipes with walls that can be just one atom thick. The streams have confounded all theories of fluid dynamics; paradoxically, fluid passes more easily...
Quick COVID breathalyzer could allow mass screening in public places
Feb 02, 2022 (Nanowerk News) According to experts, bringing an end to the pandemic will require rapid screening of people attending large gatherings, such as conferences and weddings. Even those who are asymptomatic can still transmit COVID-19 to others, making it important to identify and isolate them until they are...
Researchers develop multifunctional carbon nanotube fiber technology
Feb 02, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The research team led by Dr. Kim Tae-hoon of the Department of Functional Composites of the Composites Research Division at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT, succeeded in developing the world's first multifunctional...
Cooling matter from a distance
Feb 02, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Researchers from the University of Basel have succeeded in forming a control loop consisting of two quantum systems separated by a distance of one meter. Within this loop, one quantum system — a vibrating membrane — is cooled by the other — a cloud of...
A new way to store sustainable energy: ‘Information batteries’
Feb 02, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A future powered by sustainable energy sources could save the world from devastating climate change and reduce energy bills. But renewable energy has an intermittency problem — the sun provides no power at night, while winds can stop suddenly. In addition, power grids must keep...
On the spot drug delivery with light-controlled organic microswimmers
Feb 01, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Science Fiction novelists couldn’t have come up with a crazier plot: microrobots streaming through blood or through other fluids in our body which are driven by light, can carry drugs to cancer cells and drop off the medication on the spot. What sounds like a...
Analysis and containment of defect formation in Zn3P2 crystals: a nanoscale approach
Feb 01, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Zinc phosphide (Zn3P2) is a semiconductor whose properties, including the abundance on our planet of its components, a direct bandgap and a high capacity to absorb light in the visible range, make it an attractive candidate for use in solar cells as an absorber –i.e....