Liquid method: pure graphene production

Research could yield novel composites, touch-screen displays

02-Jun-2010 - In a development that could lead to novel carbon composites and touch-screen displays, researchers from Rice University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology unveiled a new method for producing bulk quantities of one-atom-thick sheets of carbon called graphene. When stacked together, ...

NIST scientists gain new 'core' understanding of nanoparticles

01-Jun-2010 - While attempting to solve one mystery about iron oxide-based nanoparticles, a research team working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) stumbled upon another one. But once its implications are understood, their discovery may give nanotechnologists a new and useful ...

Optical Legos: Building nanoshell structures

Self-assembly method yields materials with unique optical properties

01-Jun-2010 - Scientists from four U.S. universities have created a way to use Rice University's light-activated nanoshells as building blocks for 2-D and 3-D structures that could find use in chemical sensors, nanolasers and bizarre light-absorbing metamaterials. Much as a child might use Lego blocks to build ...

The search for improved carbon sponges picks up speed

01-Jun-2010 - Jeffrey Long's lab will soon host a round-the-clock, robotically choreographed hunt for carbon-hungry materials. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory chemist leads a diverse team of scientists whose goal is to quickly discover materials that can efficiently strip carbon dioxide from a power ...

Secrets of a chiral gold nanocluster unveiled

31-May-2010 - Researchers at the Department of Chemistry and Nanoscience Center (NSC) of the University of Jyväskylä (Dr Olga Lopez-Acevedo and Professor Hannu Häkkinen) have resolved the structural, electronic and optical properties of a chiral gold nanocluster that remained a mystery for ten years. The ...

K-State researchers patent a new multipurpose gel material with wide commercial applications

28-May-2010 - A team of Kansas State University researchers has patented a new, more cost effective way to make a gel that can be used in fuel cells, water filtration systems, or perhaps as a net to capture fine cometary dust. K-State physics professor Christopher Sorensen was the lead researcher for carbon ...

First the orbit, then the spin

28-May-2010 - Novel storage materials of the future will be made out of magnetic films. Researchers at HZB are the first to find out just how fast magnetic particles can be controlled. Christian Stamm and his colleagues at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Mate-rialien und Energie (HZB) can look back on six ...

Better animal-free test for chemicals that can cause contact dermatitis

28-May-2010 - Scientists are reporting development of a fast, simple, inexpensive method for determining whether chemicals in consumer products and workplaces may cause skin allergies in people -- a method that does not involve use of animals. Their study appears in ACS' Chemical Research in Toxicology. Itai ...

Giving credit to the right Dr. Wong: Seeking a unique ID for scientists

27-May-2010 - Which D. K. Wong gets credit for the next miracle cure? Is it Daniel Keith Wong, Danny Karl Wong, or Danellia Kay Wong? Scientists and publishers are trying to develop a new identity system — similar to a social security number — that would eliminate the alphabet soup of uncertainty that exists ...

Brown chemists report promising advance in fuel-cell technology

27-May-2010 - Creating catalysts that can operate efficiently and last a long time is a big barrier to taking fuel-cell technology from the lab bench to the assembly line. The precious metal platinum has been the choice for many researchers, but platinum has two major downsides: It is expensive, and it breaks ...