| Using straightforward chemistry and a mix-and-match, modular strategy, researchers have developed a simple approach that could produce over 65,000 different types of complex nanoparticles, each containing up to six different materials and eight segments, with interfaces that could be exploited in electrical or optical applications. These rod-shaped nanoparticles are about 55 nanometers long and 20 nanometers wide–by comparison a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers thick–and many are considered to be among the most complex ever made. | |
| A paper describing the research, by a team of Penn State chemists, appears in the journal Science (“Rational construction of a scalable heterostructured nanorod megalibrary”). |
“There is a lot of interest in the world of nanoscience in making nanoparticles that combine several different materials–semiconductors, catalysts, magnets, electronic materials,” said Raymond E. Schaak, DuPont Professor of Materials Chemistry at Penn State and the leader of the research team. “You can think about having different semiconductors linked together to control how electrons move through a material, or arranging materials in different ways to modify their optical, catalytic, or magnetic properties. We can use computers and chemical knowledge to predict a lot of this, but the bottleneck has been in actually making the particles, especially at a large-enough scale so that you can actually use them.”
Image Credit: Schaak Laboratory, Penn State
News This Week
Powerful antibiotic discovered using machine learning for first time
A powerful antibiotic that kills some of the most dangerous drug-resistant bacteria in the world has been discovered using artificial intelligence. The drug works in a different way to existing antibacterials and is the [...]
“Bigger than DNA” — how AI is transforming the pharma industry
Artificial intelligence hit a big milestone in January — the first drug designed entirely using artificial intelligence entered human clinical trials. The compound, created by Oxford-based biotech company Exscientia, is aimed at treating obsessive-compulsive [...]
Achilles’ heel of ALL viruses? Scientists discover holy grail which could lead to UNIVERSAL vaccine
Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in the US have uncovered the ‘Achilles’ heel’ of most viruses which plague mankind, and could soon develop a universal vaccine. Vaccine research, development and testing takes [...]
Small world: atom-scale materials are the next tech frontier
Every age in the history of human civilisation has a signature material, from the Stone Age, to the Bronze and Iron Ages. We might even call today’s information-driven society the Silicon Age. Since the [...]
Human textiles to repair blood vessels
What if we could replace a patient's damaged blood vessels with brand new ones produced in a laboratory? This is the challenge set by Inserm researcher Nicolas L'Heureux, who is working on the human [...]
CRISPR cancer trial finds that gene-edited immune cells are safe
CRISPR gene-edited immune cells have been injected into three people with advanced cancer without any serious side effects, the first trial of its kind in the US. It is also the first CRISPR cancer [...]
Updated – Worldwide Press for “Human Brain/Cloud Interface”
“We’ll have nanobots that… connect our neocortex to a synthetic neocortex in the cloud. Our thinking will be a…. biological and non-biological hybrid.” Ray Kurzweil, TED 2014 UPDATE - February 9 2020 Since [...]
NanoApps Athletics Inc. Established
Frank Boehm (NanoApps Medical Inc. founder) and Amanda Scott (NA CEO) join NanoApps Athletics Inc. NanoApps Athletics Inc proposes a unique synergistic biochemical/nanomedical strategy for the expedited repair and healing of Achilles tendon micro [...]
Jamilee Baroud Podcast – Frank Boehm (NA Founder) Interview
In her inaugural podcast, Jamilee interviews Frank Boehm of NanoApps Medical Inc and NanoApps Athletics Inc. From Jamilee's podcast: Welcome to the first episode of "In a Click". On todays show I chat with [...]
A megalibrary of nanoparticles
Using straightforward chemistry and a mix-and-match, modular strategy, researchers have developed a simple approach that could produce over 65,000 different types of complex nanoparticles, each containing up to six different materials and eight segments, [...]
Nano-thin flexible touchscreens could be printed like newspaper
Researchers have developed an ultra-thin and ultra-flexible electronic material that could be printed and rolled out like newspaper, for the touchscreens of the future. The touch-responsive technology is 100 times thinner than existing touchscreen [...]
The strange link between the human mind and quantum physics
Nobody understands what consciousness is or how it works. Nobody understands quantum mechanics either. Could that be more than coincidence? "It is hard to avoid the implication that consciousness and quantum mechanics are [...]
The University of Queensland confident it can develop a vaccine for coronavirus
The University of Queensland (UQ) is confident it can develop a vaccine for the potentially deadly coronavirus in as few as 16 weeks are two more people in Brisbane are monitored for the virus. [...]
Walking with atoms
Ever since it was proposed that atoms are building blocks of the world, scientists have been trying to understand how and why they bond to each other. Be it a molecule (which is a [...]
3D printing with applications in the pharmaceutical industry
University of Seville researchers, in collaboration with the University of Nottingham, have managed to create the first image of nanoparticles of stabilised gold with biodegradable and biocompatible systems that have been obtained with 3D-printng [...]
Fighting drug-resistant superbugs with bacteria-shredding nanoparticles
Researchers have used liquid metals to develop new bacteria-destroying technology that could be the answer to the deadly problem of antibiotic resistance. The technology uses nano-sized particles of magnetic liquid metal to shred bacteria [...]
