Nanomaterials

OSU group studies aging of Li-ion batteries

By / November 4, 2010

Ohio State University’s Center for Automotive Research is studying why batteries lose their ability to hold a charge as they age. In collaboration with ORNL and NIST, the group is…

Read More

Lux: Existing nanotech could slash energy use by 12% in U.S., Germany and Japan

By / November 2, 2010

R50 vacuum insulation panel, 30x48x1 inch. Credit: ThermalVisions. Nano R&D is opening up new energy-conservation vistas, but a new report from Lux Research claims that the adoption of existing nano-enabled…

Read More

Pore-enhanced silicon used to increase capacity of Li-ion batteries

By / October 27, 2010

Top and side view of etched silicon battery material. (Credit: Rice Univ.) According to a press release, a team of Rice University and Lockheed Martin scientists has discovered a way…

Read More

Studying wurtzite under pressure could lead to new class of durable materials

By / October 20, 2010

Wang and colleagues used small angle X-ray diffraction and wide-angle X-ray diffraction to observe changes in the molecular structure of wurtzite crystal under pressure. It may come as a bit…

Read More

3D nanostructures created using capillary action

By / October 19, 2010

University of Michigan engineers are using a new manufacturing process called “capillary forming” to make carbon nanotubes in shapes that span the scope of the imagination. According to a press…

Read More

Monday material fun: Water on a superhydrophobic carbon nanotube array

By / October 18, 2010

Truly amazing! OSU Materials blog has shared this slow motion film of water droplets falling on a superhydrophobic carbon nanotube array. The video was filmed by Adrianus Aria and Morteza…

Read More

Materials stories that may also be of interest

By / October 15, 2010

At the end of each week, I end up with a list of a bunch of stories I started to write about, or started to investigate or didn’t even get…

Read More

Paper-grown ZnO nanorods, nanoneedles

By / October 6, 2010

a) FESEM image of aligned ZnO nanorods. b) TEM image of a single nanorod. c) HRTEM image takenfrom the edge of the ZnO nanorod. Inset: Corresponding SAED pattern.(Credit: Nanowerk.com. Reprinted…

Read More

Silicon nanomesh demonstrated as thermal conductivity barrier for improving thermoelectrics

By / October 5, 2010

Top: A scanning electron microscope image shows the grid of tiny holes in the nanomesh material. Bottom: In this drawing, each sphere represents a silicon atom in the nanomesh. The…

Read More

5 new research sites to be built with $50M in NIST grants

By / October 5, 2010

Architect’s drawing of the planned Western Institute of Nanotechnology on Green Engineering anMetrology at UCLA. Credit: Stenfors Associates Architects. NIST waded through over 100 proposals over the past few months…

Read More