| 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 1960s, silicon nanostructures, the building-blocks of microchips, have supercharged the development of electronics, communications, manufacturing, medicine, and more. | |
| How small are these nanostructures? Very, very small – you could fit at least 3,000 silicon transistors onto the tip of a human hair. But there is a limit: below about 5 nanometres (5 millionths of a millimetre), it is hard to improve the performance of silicon devices any further. | |
| So if we are about to exhaust the potential of silicon nanomaterials, what will be our next signature material? That’s where “atomaterials” come in. | |
What are atomaterials? |
|
| “Atomaterials” is short for “atomic materials”, so called because their properties depend on the precise configuration of their atoms. It is a new but rapidly developing field. | |
| One example is graphene, which is made of carbon atoms. Unlike diamond, in which the carbon atoms form a rigid three-dimensional structure, graphene is made of single layer of carbon atoms, bonded together in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. | |
| Diamond’s rigid structure is the reason for its celebrated hardness and longevity, making it the perfect material for high-end drill bits and expensive jewellery. In contrast, the two-dimensional form of carbon atoms in graphene allows electron travelling frictionless at a high speed giving ultrahigh conductivity and the outstanding in plane mechanical strength. Thus, graphene has broad applications in medicines, electronics, energy storage, light processing, and water filtration. | |
| Using lasers, we can fashion these atomic structures into miniaturised devices with exceptional performance. |
Image Credit: Swinburne
News This Week
Nasal Alzheimer’s Vaccine To Start Human Trials for the First Time
Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston Massachusetts will soon begin Phase I trials of a nasal vaccine designed to prevent or slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a press release said. This is the [...]
Innovations in Nanocomposites: A Future Outlook
Nanocomposites are a class of nanomaterials, where one or more nanostructured materials (organic/inorganic) are incorporated in metal, polymer, or ceramic to obtain a new material with many unique properties. Nanocomposites are applied in various [...]
Pfizer – updated version of vaccine ‘ready in 100 days’ if the new Omicron resistant to its current vaccine
Pfizer said it will be able to manufacture and distribute an updated version of its COVID-19 vaccine within 100 days if the new variant Omicron is found to be resistant to its current vaccine. [...]
B.1.1.529 – What do we know about the new ‘worst ever’ Covid variant?
UK places South Africa on red travel list over B.1.1.529 variant picked up by scientists in country. What is the new variant and why is it a concern? Scientists have detected a new Covid-19 [...]
Scientists warn of new Covid variant with high number of mutations
The B.1.1.529 variant was first spotted in Botswana and six cases have been found in South Africa. Scientists have said a new Covid variant that carries an “extremely high number” of mutations may drive [...]
New microscope uses photonics to gain insights into superbugs
Scientists are building a new super-resolution microscope that uses laser light to study the inner workings and behaviours of superbugs to gain new insights into how they cause disease. The microscope will allow scientists [...]
Researchers make ultra-sensitive cancer detector from 2D materials
Cells can produce unique electrical signals. These signals can be linked to various cancers, such as the breast, lung, liver, brain, pancreas and prostate cancers, meaning that they can be used as indicators for [...]
New sensor detects ever smaller nanoparticles
Conventional microscopes produce enlarged images of small structures or objects with the help of light. Nanoparticles, however, are so small that they hardly absorb or scatter light and, hence, remain invisible. Optical resonators increase [...]
How Will the COVID Pills Change the Pandemic?
From a new article By Dhruv Khullar in the New York Times: New antiviral drugs are startlingly effective against the coronavirus—if they’re taken in time. n March, 2020, researchers at Emory University published a paper about a [...]
Is Delta the last Covid ‘super variant’?
Every week, a group of epidemiologists across the north-east of the United States joins a Zoom call entirely devoted to discussing the latest hints of new Covid-19 variants being reported around the world. “It’s like the [...]
Cancer cells use ‘tiny tentacles’ to suppress the immune system
To grow and spread, cancer cells must evade the immune system. Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital and MIT used the power of nanotechnology to discover a new way that cancer can disarm its [...]
Cancer cells use ‘tiny tentacles’ to suppress the immune system
To grow and spread, cancer cells must evade the immune system. Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital and MIT used the power of nanotechnology to discover a new way that cancer can disarm its [...]
3D printing approaches atomic dimensions
A new 3D printing technology makes the production of complex metallic objects at the nanoscale possible. A team of chemists led by a scientist from the University of Oldenburg has developed an electrochemical technique [...]
Nanoscale ‘computer’ controls function of protein, influences cell behavior
The creation of nanoscale computers for use in precision health care has long been a dream of many scientists and health care providers. Now, for the first time, researchers at Penn State have produced [...]
Could liposomes be the unsung heroes of the pandemic?
Liposomes may be the unsung heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without the protection of these microscopic vesicles, the delicate strands of messenger RNA (mRNA) that lie at the heart of the Pfizer and Moderna [...]
Pfizer agrees to let other companies make its COVID-19 pill
London: Drugmaker Pfizer has signed a deal with a UN-backed group to allow other manufacturers to make its experimental COVID-19 pill, a move that could make the treatment available to more than half of the [...]
