26-04-2013

When a team of University of Illinois engineers set out to grow nanowires of a compound semiconductor on top of a sheet of graphene, they did not expect to discover a new paradigm of epitaxy. The self-assembled wires have a core of one composition and an outer layer of another, a desired ...

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25-04-2013

“When designing next generation solar energy conversion systems, we must first develop ways to more efficiently utilize the solar spectrum,” explained Lane Martin, whose research group has done just that. “This is a fundamentally new way of approaching these matters,” said Martin, who is an ...

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A diamond tip lives forever

15-11-2012

One of the most promising innovations of nanotechnology has been the ability to perform rapid nanofabrication using nanometer-scale tips. The fabrication speed can be dramatically increased by using heat. High speed and high temperature have been known to degrade the tip… until now. "Thermal ...

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21-09-2012

A new study of the sense of smell lends support to a controversial theory of olfaction: Our noses can distinguish both the shape and the vibrational characteristics of odorant molecules.The study, in the journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, demonstrates the feasibility of the theory – ...

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Heated nanoprobes perform thermo-mechanical measurements using magnetic actuation

16-01-2012

Polymer nano-films and nano-composites are used in a wide variety of applications from food packaging to sports equipment to automotive and aerospace applications. Thermal analysis is routinely used to analyze materials for these applications, but the growing trend to use nanostructured ...

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26-07-2011

In an advance that could open new avenues for solar cells, lasers, metamaterials and more, researchers at the University of Illinois have demonstrated the first optoelectronically active 3-D photonic crystal."We've discovered a way to change the three-dimensional structure of a ...

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20-01-2011

To obtain hydrogen as an energy-rich and environmentally "clean" fuel by an inexpensive, simple method without using expensive metal catalysts preoccupies scientists around the world. Hydrogenases, enzymes employed by organisms to yield hydrogen under anaerobic conditions, are being studied ...

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22-10-2010

University of Illinois chemists have developed a simple sensor to detect an explosive used in shoe bombs. It could lead to inexpensive, easy-to-use devices for luggage and passenger screening at airports and elsewhere. Triacetone triperoxide (TATP) is a high-powered explosive that in recent ...

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14-10-2010

University of Illinois chemistry professor Alexander Scheeline wants to see high school students using their cell phones in class. Not for texting or surfing the Web, but as an analytical chemistry instrument. Scheeline developed a method using a few basic, inexpensive supplies and a digital ...

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03-03-2010

Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the University of Illinois — Urbana Champaign recently reported a new technique for directly writing composites of nanoparticles and polymers. Recent years have seen significant advances in the properties achieved by both these materials, ...

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