May 20, 2026 Lower release forces let LCD resin printers move faster, bringing low-cost systems closer to ultrahigh-speed 3D printing. (Nanowerk Spotlight) Low-cost resin 3D printers have a frustrating bottleneck. Their screens can project an entire layer at once, their resins can harden in seconds, and their pixels can define...
Electric fields give optical tweezers a sharper grip for nanowire calligraphy
May 20, 2026 By aligning nanowires upright with an AC field before optical trapping, a hybrid method halves the laser power needed and boosts both trap success and speed. (Nanowerk News) Optical tweezers use focused laser beams to trap and move tiny particles, but they struggle with high-aspect-ratio nanowires. The...
Sub-100 femtosecond all-optical modulation beyond electron-phonon limits
May 20, 2026 A silver silicon nanodisk antenna performs all-optical modulation in 37 femtoseconds, bypassing the electron-phonon bottleneck that limits plasmonic devices. (Nanowerk News) Researchers at Xiamen University and Hangzhou Dianzi University have measured all-optical modulation times of 37 femtoseconds in a plasmonic device, breaking a speed limit set by...
Gold antennas thinned to the atomic scale intensify light in 2D materials
May 20, 2026 Sub-5-nm gold antennas match the scale of 2D semiconductors, concentrating light where atomically thin materials can convert and detect it. (Nanowerk Spotlight) Atomically thin materials pose a simple optical problem: they can do useful things with light, but light barely has any material to interact with. A...
Researchers measure giant light-conversion effect in chiral carbon nanotubes
May 20, 2026 Study confirms decadeslong prediction, may advance electronic and photonic technologies. (Nanowerk News) Researchers at Rice University have created large, highly ordered films of chiral carbon nanotubes (CNTs), hollow cylinders of carbon atoms with either a left- or a right-handed twist. Measurements showed the crystalline films can convert...
Controlling chemical reactions more efficiently and sustainably
May 20, 2026 New synthesis method enables targeted modifications to hard-to-reach sites on molecules. (Nanowerk News) A team at the University of Vienna, led by chemist Nuno Maulide, has developed a groundbreaking method for controlling chemical reactions in a more targeted and efficient manner. At the heart of this is...
Scientists may have solved puzzle about why life favors one mirror-image molecule over another
May 19, 2026 Electrons move differently through mirror-image chiral molecules, revealing magnetic asymmetries that may help explain life's molecular handedness. (Nanowerk News) Imagine looking at yourself in the mirror, only to find that your reflection is governed by different laws than you are: Identical movements produce different outcomes, and what...
Scalable manufacturing of perovskite photovoltaics
May 19, 2026 High-throughput process produces uniform layers on textured silicon cells. Fast, solvent-free vacuum process for tandem solar cells with efficiencies of up to 24.3 percent. (Nanowerk News) Solar energy is a cornerstone of the energy transition. Tandem solar cells made of perovskite and silicon can achieve higher efficiencies...
Ceramic motor-driven linear actuator combines sub-nanometer precision with high force
May 19, 2026 Breaking with traditional linear actuator principles - advantages for nanopositioning in optics, astronomy, aerospace, semiconductor technologies. (Nanowerk News) PI, a global leader in precision motion control and nanopositioning solutions, provides a large selection of piezo ceramic linear actuators for different size, speed, and force applications. At the...
The shaping of surface clusters
May 19, 2026 A new study describes how active and passive exchange of cellular material controls the formation of membrane clusters. (Nanowerk News) Cellular membranes do not only constitute a barrier, but they accommodate also a plethora of different molecules for sensing and to ensure cellular function. These molecules often...