https://phys.org/nanotech-news/nano-physics en-us The latest science news on nanophysics, nanotechnology, nanotech and nanoscience. From houses to hearing aids, three-dimensional (3D) printing is revolutionizing how we create complex structures at scale. Zooming down to the micro and nano levels, a process known as two-photon polymerization lithography (TPL) allows scientists and engineers to construct objects with microscopic precision, which has wide-reaching implications for industries ranging from medicine to manufacturing. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-3d-printed-materials-precisely.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 30 Nov 2023 10:43:04 EST news620563381 Hafnia ferroelectrics are based on their technical promise and remarkable behaviors, where the peculiarities stem from an active extrinsic mechanism that contributes to their properties from a growing number of new intrinsic features. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-theoretical-approach-ferroelectricity-hafnia-related-materials.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 30 Nov 2023 10:00:01 EST news620560660 Optoelectronics detect or emit light and are used in a variety of devices in many different industries. These devices have historically relied on thin transistors, which are small semiconductors that control the movement of electrons and photons made out of graphene and other two-dimensional materials. However, graphene and these other materials often have problems with band gap opening and other shortcomings that have researchers searching for an alternative. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-semiconductor-principles-optoelectronic-devices.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Wed, 29 Nov 2023 11:36:03 EST news620480161 Graphene, a material which consists of a single layer of carbon atoms, has been celebrated by many as the "next big thing" in material science. But according to Purdue University researchers, its thermal properties may not be as revolutionary as previously thought. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-graphene-conductor-four-phonon.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 28 Nov 2023 11:14:23 EST news620392460 Recent advances in the development of devices made of 2D materials are paving the way for new technological capabilities, especially in the field of quantum technology. So far, however, little research has been carried out into energy losses in strongly interacting systems. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-fine-tuning-properties-magic-graphene.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:42:03 EST news620390521 A new kind of "wire" for moving excitons, developed at the University of Michigan, could help enable a new class of devices, perhaps including room temperature quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-next-gen-hard-to-move-quasiparticles-glide-pyramid.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 28 Nov 2023 08:53:04 EST news620383981 National University of Singapore (NUS) physicists have developed a concept to induce and directly quantify spin splitting in two-dimensional materials. By using this concept, they have experimentally achieved large tunability and a high degree of spin-polarization in graphene. This research achievement can potentially advance the field of two-dimensional (2D) spintronics, with applications for low-power electronics. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-advances-magnetic-graphene-low-power-electronics.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 27 Nov 2023 10:23:04 EST news620302982 Optothermal nanotweezers are an innovative optical design method that has revolutionized classical optical techniques to capture a broad range of nanoparticles. While the optothermal temperature field can be employed for in situ regulation of nanoparticles, challenges remain in identifying their potential for regulating bionanoparticles. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-crispr-powered-optothermal-nanotweezers.html Bio & Medicine Nanophysics Mon, 27 Nov 2023 09:59:01 EST news620301538 Active matter systems feature unique behaviors that include collective self-assembly structures and collective migration. However, the efforts to realize collective entities in spaces without wall-adhered support, in order to conduct three-dimensional locomotion without dispersion, are challenging. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-bioinspired-self-assembled-colloidal.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 23 Nov 2023 11:00:01 EST news619696437 By using a special combination of laser beams as a very fast stirrer, RIKEN physicists have created multiple vortices in a quantum photonic system and tracked their evolution. This system could be used to explore exotic new physics related to the emergence of quantum states from vortex matter. The research is published in the journal Nano Letters. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-vortices-superfluid.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 21 Nov 2023 10:03:03 EST news619783382 MIT researchers and colleagues have demonstrated a way to precisely control the size, composition, and other properties of nanoparticles key to the reactions involved in a variety of clean energy and environmental technologies. They did so by leveraging ion irradiation, a technique in which beams of charged particles bombard a material. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-nanoparticles-ion-irradiation-advance-energy.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Wed, 15 Nov 2023 11:28:06 EST news619270081 Research into artificial intelligence (AI) network computing has made significant progress in recent years but has so far been held back by the limitations of logic gates in conventional computer chips. Through new research published in The European Physical Journal D, a team led by Aijin Zhu at Guilin University of Electronic Technology, China, introduced a graphene-based optical logic gate, which addresses many of these challenges. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-optical-logic-gates-graphene-nanoribbons.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Wed, 15 Nov 2023 10:53:47 EST news619268025 Nanoparticles range in size from 1 to 100 nanometers, and compared with usual particles, they are known to have unique features that are increasingly used for diagnosing cancer, developing small electronic devices and solar batteries, as well as in many other spheres. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-results-fine-tune-catalytic-properties-bimetallic.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 14 Nov 2023 11:39:03 EST news619184341 It can take years of focused laboratory work to determine how to make the highest quality materials for use in electronic and photonic devices. Researchers have now developed an autonomous system that can identify how to synthesize "best-in-class" materials for specific applications in hours or days. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-autonomous-lab-best-in-class-quantum-dot.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 13 Nov 2023 11:46:51 EST news619098407 Vanderbilt mechanical engineering professors Deyu Li and Josh Caldwell are part of a team of researchers who have discovered a new heat dissipation channel using phonon polaritons that could have extensive implications for novel cooling technologies in devices like smart phones and other modern electronics. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-breakthrough-thermal-enable-cooling-strategies.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 13 Nov 2023 11:11:03 EST news619096261 The way light interacts with naturally occurring materials is well-understood in physics and materials science. But in recent decades, researchers have fabricated metamaterials that interact with light in new ways that go beyond the physical limits imposed on naturally occurring materials. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-atomic-sheets-materials.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Fri, 10 Nov 2023 09:29:03 EST news618830941 Materials scientists have extensively studied fast ion permeation in nanofluidic channels in the past decades due to their potential within filtration technologies and osmotic energy harvesting. While the mechanisms underlying ion transport have yet to be understood, the process can be achieved in nanochannels developed in a carefully regulated manner. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-surface-diffusion-ion-two-dimensional-channels.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 09 Nov 2023 10:30:01 EST news618747758 When you think of empty space, you almost certainly imagine a vacuum in which nothing interesting can ever happen. However, if we zoom in to tiny length scales where quantum effects start to become important, it turns out that what you thought was empty is actually filled at all times with a seething mass of electromagnetic activity, as virtual photons flicker in and out of existence. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-nanoscale-hybrid-vacuum-fluctuation-field.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 06 Nov 2023 11:02:03 EST news618490921 There are many creatures on our planet with more advanced senses than humans. Turtles can sense Earth's magnetic field. Mantis shrimp can detect polarized light. Elephants can hear much lower frequencies than humans can. Butterflies can perceive a broader range of colors, including ultraviolet (UV) light. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-unseen-butterflies-scientists-cancer.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Fri, 03 Nov 2023 16:11:55 EDT news618246705 Researchers at Delft University of Technology, led by assistant professor Richard Norte, have unveiled a remarkable new material with potential to impact the world of material science: amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC). Beyond its exceptional strength, this material demonstrates mechanical properties crucial for vibration isolation on a microchip. Amorphous silicon carbide is therefore particularly suitable for making ultra-sensitive microchip sensors. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-ultra-strong-material-microchip-sensors.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 02 Nov 2023 11:01:03 EDT news618141662 For the first time, a physical neural network has successfully been shown to learn and remember "on the fly," in a way inspired by and similar to how the brain's neurons work. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-nanowire-brain-network-fly.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Wed, 01 Nov 2023 06:00:01 EDT news617977015 A collaborative research team has successfully engineered a dual metalens capable of switching between different imaging modes using a single lens. The research findings have been featured in ACS Nano. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-team-dual-metalens-modes-based.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 31 Oct 2023 16:54:20 EDT news617990058 A research group led by Prof. Yang Hui at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has proposed an ultrasensitive MXene-enhanced plasmonic biosensor for real-time and label-free detection of microRNAs (miRNAs). https://phys.org/news/2023-10-mxene-enhanced-plasmonic-ultrasensitive-label-free-mirna.html Bio & Medicine Nanophysics Tue, 31 Oct 2023 10:19:36 EDT news617966373 Researchers at IMDEA Nanociencia have developed an analytical method to explain the formation of a quasi-perfect 1D moiré pattern in twisted bilayer graphene. The pattern, naturally occurring in piled 2D materials when a strain force is applied, represents a set of channels for electrons. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-strain-graphene-1d-moirs.html Nanophysics Mon, 30 Oct 2023 11:25:36 EDT news617883931 MIT physicists and colleagues have metaphorically turned graphite, or pencil lead, into gold by isolating five ultrathin flakes stacked in a specific order. The resulting material can then be tuned to exhibit three important properties never before seen in natural graphite. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-physicists-pencil-metaphorical-gold.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 30 Oct 2023 11:25:06 EDT news617883902 A collaborative team of researchers led by Prof. Cees Dekker at Delft University of Technology, in partnership with international colleagues, have introduced a pioneering breakthrough in the world of nanomotors—the DNA origami nanoturbine. This nanoscale device could represent a paradigm shift, harnessing power from ion gradients or electrical potential across a solid-state nanopore to drive the turbine into mechanical rotations. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-dna-origami-nanoturbine-horizon-nanomotors.html Bio & Medicine Nanophysics Fri, 27 Oct 2023 10:32:29 EDT news617621546 The bright plumage of birds is often a feast for the eyes, but it has been a headache for scientists who have struggled to recreate the photonic nanostructures that generate those colors in the lab. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-tiny-networks-intertwine-mimic-bird.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 26 Oct 2023 12:19:18 EDT news617541555 Graphene is well-known for its high electrical conductivity, mechanical strength, and flexibility. Stacking two layers of graphene with atomic layer thickness produces bilayer graphene, which possesses excellent electrical, mechanical, and optical properties. As such, bilayer graphene has attracted significant attention and is being utilized in a host of next-generation devices, including quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-high-speed-electrical-readout-method-graphene.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Fri, 20 Oct 2023 09:17:55 EDT news617012271 Researchers have shown how the principles of rogue waves—huge 30-meter waves that arise unexpectedly in the ocean—can be applied on a nano scale, with dozens of applications from medicine to manufacturing. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-rogue-scientists-giant-mechanics-nanometric.html Nanophysics Wed, 18 Oct 2023 16:00:00 EDT news616863596 Particle accelerators are crucial tools in a wide variety of areas in industry, research and the medical sector. The space these machines require ranges from a few square meters to large research centers. Using lasers to accelerate electrons within a photonic nanostructure constitutes a microscopic alternative with the potential of generating significantly lower costs and making devices considerably less bulky. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-physics-milestone-miniature-particle.html Nanophysics Wed, 18 Oct 2023 12:26:07 EDT news616850762