[Images above] Credit: NIST
NANOMATERIALS
Fish-inspired material changes color using nanocolumns
Inspired by the flashing colors of neon tetra fish, North Carolina State University researchers developed a technique for changing the color of a material by manipulating the orientation of nanostructured columns in the material. The color-changing material consists of a silicon substrate coated with a polymer that has been embedded with iron oxide nanoparticles.
Gold soaks up boron, spits out borophene
Scientists from Rice University, Argonne National Laboratory, and Northwestern University showed borophene could be grown on a gold surface. With sufficient heat in a high vacuum, boron atoms put into a furnace sink into gold. Upon cooling, boron atoms reappear and form islands of borophene on the surface.
ENERGY
Ultrathin graphene film offers new concept for solar energy
Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology, University of Sydney, and Australian National University developed a solar absorbing, ultrathin graphene-based film with unique properties that has great potential for use in solar thermal energy harvesting.
Light from an exotic crystal semiconductor could lead to better solar cells
Researchers from Rutgers University, University of Minnesota, and University of Texas at Dallas found the intensity of light emitted by a hybrid perovskite crystal can be increased by up to 100 times simply by adjusting voltage applied to an electrode on the crystal surface.
BIOMATERIALS
UCF researchers developing sensor to detect brain disorders in seconds
Using cerium oxide nanoparticles, University of Central Florida researchers developed the first rapid detector for dopamine, a chemical believed to play a role in neurological disorders. Current detection methods are a time consuming, rigorous process, while this device only requires a few drops of blood on a palm-sized, rectangular chip.
ENVIRONMENT
Breakthrough in air purification with a catalyst that works at room temperature
Tokyo Metropolitan University researchers showed a catalyst made of gold nanoparticles on a niobium oxide framework breaks down ammonia impurities in air, with nearly all conversion to harmless nitrogen gas and water and no nitrogen oxide byproducts.
Creating green housing materials
Researchers from Washington State University partnered with a nonprofit recycling center in Port Angeles to combine recycled carbon fiber from airplanes with thermally-modified timber to construct better housing materials.
OTHER STORIES
Grooved surface accelerates dew harvesting
Researchers at Superior School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry (ESPCI) in Paris made a grooved surface out of silicon dioxide that collects water by encouraging large dew droplets to form rapidly and then trickle away. The team believes their technique could provide people in arid regions with a reliable source of fresh water.