Tag: physical sciences
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Rice, NIST to Partner on Nanoscale Carbon Materials Research
Rice University in Houston and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland will collaborate in research on nanoscale carbon particles interacting with other materials at the molecular and atomic levels. The five-year, $2.7 million cooperative research agreement is funded by NIST and expected to benefit the emerging field of advanced nanomaterials manufacturing.…
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Consortium to Develop Northeast U.S. Biofuels Supply Chains
Pennsylvania State University in University Park will lead a consortium of institutions, national labs, and companies to develop biofuel production and supply chain demonstration projects in the U.S. Northeast. The $10 million, five-year project is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. The Northeast Woody/Warm-season Biomass Consortium, or NEWBio, will…
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Graphene Layers Used to Build Nanoscale Power Transformer
Researchers from the U.K., Netherlands, U.S., Russia, and Japan created a nanoscale electric power transformer from one-atom layers of graphene and other materials. The work led by Leonid Ponomarenko and Andre Geim at University of Manchester is described online in the journal Nature Physics (paid subscription required). The process developed by Ponomarenko, Geim, and colleagues…
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University Spin-Off Developing Super-Porous Nanomaterials
A spin-off company from Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland is commercializing research on highly porous nanoscale materials, using a simple, safe process for synthesizing these materials developed at the university. The research by Queens chemistry professor Stuart James on these materials, known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), has led to the founding of the company…
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NSF Grant Funds Research on CO2 as Fossil Fuel Substitute
Brown University in Providence received a $1.75 million grant for research on substituting carbon dioxide for fossil fuels in industrial chemicals. The funding from National Science Foundation’s Centers for Chemical Innovation program will support a joint chemical innovation program at Brown and Yale universities, headed by principal investigator Tayhas Palmore (pictured left), a materials scientist…
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Solar Cells Built to Power Portable Devices in Low Light
Chemistry researchers at University of Warwick in the U.K. and Molecular Solar Ltd., a Warwick spin-off company in nearby Coventry, created an organic solar cell that generates enough power to recharge a lithium-ion battery directly and can work in various levels of light, including partial shade. The team led by Warwick professor Tim Jones (pictured…
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University/Company Team Develops Nanomaterial Analytic Tools
Engineering researchers from University of Illinois in Urbana and Anasys Instruments Inc. in Santa Barbara, California developed analytical tools to measure and analyze nanoscale manufactured products, such as those used in electronic devices, solar cells, and medical diagnostics. The findings from the team led by Illinois engineering professor William King (pictured right) appear in the…
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University Licenses Taste-Masking Technology to Pharma
New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark agreed to license its discoveries that can mask the taste of drug particles to Catalent Pharma Solutions, a drug manufacturer in Somerset, New Jersey. Catalent funded the research by NJIT engineering professor Rajesh Dave (pictured left) that led to the development of this technology. Dave’s research at NJIT…
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Simple, Hand-Drawn Carbon Nanotube Sensor System Devised
Chemistry researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge developed a safer method of building hazardous gas sensors from carbon nanotubes that is literally as easy as drawing by hand. The system designed by MIT postdoctoral fellow Katherine Mirica and colleagues is described online in the journal Angewandte Chemie (paid subscription required). Harmful gases in…
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Resourceful Robot for High-Level Tasks in Development
A research team at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta is building a robot with the ability to use objects in its environment to accomplish high-level tasks. The three-year project, being led by computer scientist Mike Stilman, is funded by a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research. “We want to understand the…