Science

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Cheap Method to Measure Medications in Contaminated Water

Iranian researchers from University of Tabriz, in association with a researcher from South Korea, designed a chemical fluorescent method for the measurement of medications in biological or medical samples by using quantum dots.

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Moving sector walls on the nano scale

Most magnetic materials have a structure that is somewhat more complicated than a commercially available domestic magnet: they not only have a north and south pole, but a variety of sectors, often only a few nanometres in size, in each of which the magnetic axis points in a different direction. These sectors are referred to as domains. Over the past few years, Manfred Fiebig, Professor for Multifunctional Ferroics at ETH Zurich, has been studying the walls between adjoining domains in certain materials. "The inner workings of a material and its domains are one area of interest," says Fiebig. "However, fascinating things also take place at the boundaries of these domains."

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Strontium manganite is a multiferroic, here present in a thin crystal layer. This magnified image shows the individual domains, which are only about 100 nanometres wide.

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Silica Nanoparticles Applied in Production of Drug Nanocarriers

Iranian researchers used new cheap materials through a simple method to synthesize biodegradable and biocompatible nanocarriers which control the rate and amount of drug release.

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World's smallest spirals could guard against identity theft

Take gold spirals about the size of a dime...and shrink them down about six million times. The result is the world's smallest continuous spirals: "nano-spirals" with unique optical properties that would be almost impossible to counterfeit if they were added to identity cards, currency and other important objects.

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This is a scanning electron microscope image of a single Archimedean nanospiral.

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Graphene: the wonder material of the 21st century

Bendable and transparent smart phones, lighter air planes... All this and much more could soon become reality thanks to graphene. On 2 June, MEPs discussed with experts the potential of using the wonder material in various sectors, from electronics to health. Nobel Prize laureate Konstantin Novoselov, who co-discovered graphene, said: “Science is the easy part. To develop a technology, you should know what products you are aiming at, and this should be coming from the industry."

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How natural channel proteins move in artificial membranes

Natural channel proteins are integrated into artificial membranes to facilitate the transport of ions and molecules. Researchers at the University of Basel have now been able to measure the movement of these channel proteins for the first time. They move up to ten times slower than in their natural environment, namely the cell membrane. As reported, the results may prove useful to the ongoing development of new applications such as nanoreactors and artificial organelles.

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Natural channel proteins move sideways in a thick artificial membrane that condenses around the channel proteins.

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QLEDs meet wearable devices: Korean scientists develop ultra-thin deformable QLEDs in the wearable platform

The scientific team, from the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and Seoul National University, has developed an ultra-thin wearable quantum dot light emitting diodes (QLEDs). The electronic tattoo is based on current quantum dot light emitting diode (QLED) technology. Colloidal quantum dot (QLED's) have attracted great attention as next generation displays. The quantum dots (QDs) have unique properties such as the color tunability, photo/air stability, and are printability on various substrates. The device is paper thin and can be applied to human skin like a sticker.

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Chemical Solutions Replaced with Herbal Extracts in Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles

Iranian researchers suggested the extract of stevia plant as a replacement for chemical solvents and reducers in the synthesis of gold nanoparticles.

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New sensing tech could help detect diseases, fraudulent art, chemical weapons

From airport security detecting explosives to art historians authenticating paintings, society's thirst for powerful sensors is growing.

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The technology (depicted above) consists of a thin film of silver or aluminum that acts as a mirror, and a dielectric layer of silica or alumina. The dielectric separates the mirror with tiny metal nanoparticles randomly spaced at the top of the substrate.

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Thin coating on condensers could make power plants more efficient: Graphene layer one atom thick could quadruple rate of condensation heat transfer in generating plants

ost of the world's electricity-producing power plants -- whether powered by coal, natural gas, or nuclear fission -- make electricity by generating steam that turns a turbine. That steam then is condensed back to water, and the cycle begins again.

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An uncoated copper condenser tube (top left) is shown next to a similar tube coated with graphene (top right). When exposed to water vapor at 100 degrees Celsius, the uncoated tube produces an inefficient water film (bottom left), while the coated shows the more desirable dropwise condensation (bottom right).

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