Science

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Atomic switcheroo explains origins of thin-film solar cell mystery

Treating cadmium-telluride (CdTe) solar cell materials with cadmium-chloride improves their efficiency, but researchers have not fully understood why. Now, an atomic-scale examination of the thin-film solar cells led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has answered this decades-long debate about the materials' photovoltaic efficiency increase after treatment.

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Cross-sectional electron beam-induced current maps show the difference in cadmium telluride solar cells before (pictured above) and after (below) cadmium chloride treatment. The increased brightness after treatment indicates higher current collection at the grain boundaries.

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Berkeley Lab Researchers Demonstrate First Size-based Chromatography Technique for the Study of Living Cells

Using nanodot technology, Berkeley Lab researchers have demonstrated the first size-based form of chromatography that can be used to study the membranes of living cells. This unique physical approach to probing cellular membrane structures can reveal information critical to whether a cell lives or dies, remains normal or turns cancerous, that can't be obtained through conventional microscopy.

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With size-based chromatography, a hexagonally ordered array of gold nanoparticles is fabricated onto a hybrid live cell-supported membrane. Membrane components move freely through the array provided they don’t exceed its physical dimensions. This reveals organizational aspects of the membrane environment unobservable by other techniques.

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Nanoreporters tell 'sour' oil from 'sweet': Rice University's hydrogen sulfide nanoreporters gather intel on oil before pumping

Scientists at Rice University have created a nanoscale detector that checks for and reports on the presence of hydrogen sulfide in crude oil and natural gas while they're still in the ground.

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Fluorescent nanoreporters created at Rice University can tell oil producers how "sour" a reservoir is based on its hydrogen sulfide content.

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Amino-functionalized carbon nanotubes act as a carrier for nerve growth factor

In recent years, there are growing studies concerning the use of different carrier materials for sustained-release and controlled-release of nerve growth factor in neuroscience research.

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Under inverted fluorescence microscope, the multi-walled carbon nanotubes-ethylenediamine-nerve growth factor complexes significantly induce PC12 cell differentiation, and the growing protuberances are long, dense, and woven into meshes (× 200).

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Progress made in developing nanoscale electronics: New research directs charges through single molecules

Scientists are facing a number of barriers as they try to develop circuits that are microscopic in size, including how to reliably control the current that flows through a circuit that is the width of a single molecule.

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A single layer of organic molecules connects the positive and negative electrodes in a molecular-junction OLED.

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Iranian Researchers Produce New Anti-Cancer Drug from Turmeric

Iranian researchers from Tarbiat Modarres University produced a new drug capable of detecting and removing cancer cells using turmeric.

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Innovative strategy to facilitate organ repair

A significant breakthrough could revolutionize surgical practice and regenerative medicine. A team led by Ludwik Leibler from the Laboratoire Matière Molle et Chimie (CNRS/ESPCI Paris Tech) and Didier Letourneur from the Laboratoire Recherche Vasculaire Translationnelle (INSERM/Universités Paris Diderot and Paris 13), has just demonstrated that the principle of adhesion by aqueous solutions of nanoparticles can be used in vivo to repair soft-tissue organs and tissues. This easy-to-use gluing method has been tested on rats. When applied to skin, it closes deep wounds in a few seconds and provides aesthetic, high quality healing. It has also been shown to successfully repair organs that are difficult to suture, such as the liver. Finally, this solution has made it possible to attach a medical device to a beating heart, demonstrating the method's potential for delivering drugs and strengthening tissues.

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Phase 1 Skin injury, Phase 2 Application of the solution, Phase 3 Using pressure to hold the edges together, Phase 4 Skin closure. Illustration of the first experiment conducted by the researchers on rats: a deep wound is repaired by applying the aqueous nanoparticle solution. The wound closes in thirty seconds.

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'Exotic' material is like a switch when super thin

Researchers from Cornell University and Brookhaven National Laboratory have shown how to switch a particular transition metal oxide, a lanthanum nickelate (LaNiO3), from a metal to an insulator by making the material less than a nanometer thick.

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Bright Points in Sun's Atmosphere Mark Patterns Deep In Its Interior

Like a balloon bobbing along in the air while tied to a child's hand, a tracer has been found in the sun's atmosphere to help track the flow of material coursing underneath the sun's surface.

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Brightpoints in the sun's atmosphere, left, correspond to magnetic parcels on the sun's surface, seen in the processed data on the right. Green spots show smaller parcels, red and yellow much bigger ones. Images based on data from NASA's SDO captured at 8 p.m. EDT on May 15, 2010.

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NASA Completes LADEE Mission with Planned Impact on Moon's Surface

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An artist's concept of NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft seen orbiting near the surface of the moon.