Apr 17, 2026 OpenProtein.AI is helping biologists stay on the cutting edge of AI with a no-code platform for protein engineering. (Nanowerk News) Artificial intelligence is already proving it can accelerate drug development and improve our understanding of disease. But to turn AI into novel treatments we need to get...
Turning plant waste into nanocellulose and biocomposites for sustainable space missions
Apr 17, 2026 The completed BioSTEP project demonstrated how plant biomass and packaging waste can be converted into nanocellulose and biocomposites for future Moon and Mars missions. (Nanowerk News) Long-term space missions to the Moon and Mars require sustainable resource utilization to overcome logistical challenges and reduce dependence on Earth...
Humid air makes this 3D-printed nanogenerator work better, not worse
Apr 17, 2026 A printable polymer that traps water molecules flips humidity from a performance-killer into a performance-booster for motion-powered generators, enabling wireless charging of implantable electronics through tissue. (Nanowerk Spotlight) Static electricity is fragile. A charged surface in dry air can hold its charge for minutes, but moisture in...
Flexible capacitive pressure sensor gains sensitivity under increasing load
Apr 17, 2026 A 3D cage-like flexible capacitive pressure sensor increases its sensitivity as pressure rises, offering tunable performance for wearable, structural, and environmental monitoring. (Nanowerk News) Researchers at Zhejiang University have developed a flexible capacitive pressure sensor whose sensitivity increases rather than decreases as pressure builds. Published in Microsystems...
An ultrathin solid electrolyte keeps lithium metal batteries from catching fire
Apr 17, 2026 An ultrathin composite solid electrolyte uses MOF-encapsulated flame retardant that releases only during thermal abuse, enabling safe, high-energy lithium metal batteries. (Nanowerk Spotlight) Packaging a reactive substance inside a protective shell and releasing it only at the right moment is a powerful design strategy across many fields...
A silicon-compatible path toward scalable quantum systems
Apr 15, 2026 Researchers built superconducting quantum devices using a new material and a technique adapted from electronics manufacturing processes. (Nanowerk News) Beginning in the 1950s, silicon transformed the electronics industry by enabling smaller and faster devices that could be reliably manufactured at scale. More than six decades later, silicon-based...
3D Printing accelerates the future of lithium batteries
Apr 15, 2026 Researchers are investigating how 3D printers could achieve unprecedented levels of precision when creating batteries, opening the door for new innovations. (Nanowerk News) Recent progress in advanced energy manufacturing has opened a new path for lithium battery design. A joint research team led by Associate Professor Eric...
A single measurement sorts chiral molecules by type, handedness, and ratio
Apr 16, 2026 A terahertz platform built on an achiral gradient metasurface resolves the components, handedness, and mixing ratios of chiral biomolecule mixtures in a single broadband measurement. (Nanowerk Spotlight) Many molecules come in two versions that are perfect mirror images of one another, like a left and a right...
Understanding material degradation in solar cells
Apr 16, 2026 A new measurement method for photoelectrochemical cells enables real-time observation of material aging. (Nanowerk News) A research team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon has demonstrated how a classic technique can be repurposed to measure the material degradation of photoelectrodes in real time. This new method enables continuous and...
AI-powered biochip detects genetic markers in 20 minutes
Apr 16, 2026 Scientists have developed a new biochip that, when paired with Artificial Intelligence (AI), can detect quickly and accurately extremely small amounts of microRNAs, which are tiny genetic markers linked to diseases such as heart disease. (Nanowerk News) Published in the scientific journal Advanced Materials ("Broadband Nanocavity Imaging...