Tag: nanotechnology
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Nanotech Solution Boosts Lithium-Ion Battery Performance
Engineers at Northwestern University in Illinois have created an electrode for lithium-ion batteries that can hold 10 times the charge and recharge 10 times faster than current batteries. A paper describing the research was published last month in the journal Advanced Energy Materials (paid subscription required), and funded by the Energy Frontier Research Centers program…
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Electronic Film Implant Designed to Monitor Brain Functions
Medical and engineering researchers from the U.S., Korea, and China have developed a thin, flexible electronic film that can monitor brain activity without the use of penetrating electrodes. The team’s findings appear online in the journal Nature Neuroscience (paid subscription required). The film (illustrated left), about one-quarter the thickness of a human hair, contains 720…
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Patent Filed for Nanocomposite Polymer-Based Film
A materials scientist at University of Cincinnati has developed a transparent and electrically conductive polymer-based film with potential solar and fuel cell applications. Jude Iroh (pictured right), who is also an engineering professor at UC, recently filed a provisional patent for the discovery. The nanocomposite film is transparent and electrically conductive, says Iroh, as well…
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Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada Fund TB Diagnostic
A device called an Electronic Nose that can detect tuberculosis in the breath of a patient, has received a $950,000 grant from Grand Challenges Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The funding will support further development and testing of the technology, developed by the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in…
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European Project to Advance Organic Solar Cells
The Belgian research institute Imec will lead a consortium of 17 European organizations and companies to develop a more commercially-viable organic photovoltaic technology. The X10D project, funded by the European Commission, aims to improve the efficiency of organic solar cells while retaining their low manufacturing costs. Organic solar cells are made from low-cost polymers that…
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EADS to Share Nanotech Patents with Russian Agency
The European aerospace consortium EADS and the Russian nanotechnology corporation RUSNANO have agreed to collaborate on research and development of nanotechnology-related products. The first stage of the partnership is to identify relevant patents in the EADS portfolio suited for new development by Russian industry. The EADS Group includes the Airbus, Astrium, Cassidian, and Eurocopter organizations,…
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Stretchable Sensory Material Created with Carbon Nanotubes
Stanford University chemical engineers have developed a stretchable, transparent skin-like sensor that can be stretched to more than twice its original length and return to its original shape. The material — that can sense pressure from a firm pinch to thousands of pounds — is described online in the 23 October issue of the journal…
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Contract Awarded for Magnets Made Without Rare Earth Metals
Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond has received a $2.9 million contract from Department of Energy to develop a new class of permanent magnets for energy-efficient electric car motors and generators. The project is funded through the department’s Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies program (REACT) under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. The REACT program aims…
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Roche to License University DNA Sequencing Technology
The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche has agreed to license DNA sequencing technology developed at Arizona State and Columbia universities to help build a new type of DNA sequencing system. One goal of the system will be to quickly decode a person’s complete genome for less than $1,000. The licensed technologies are based on research conducted…
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Graphene Electronic Properties Configured for Computer Chips
A team of physicists from the U.K., Russia, and Japan has proposed a method for using the light weight and conductivity of graphene in computer chips. The researchers, including Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov at University of Manchester in the U.K. who won the Nobel Prize in 2010 for their discovery of graphene, published their…