Nanotech

Today’s generation of body-armour systems can provide protection at various levels designed to defeat most common low- and medium-energy handgun rounds. However, currently the highest-threat-level ballistic needs in the market are fulfilled by special, high performance ceramics that tend to be very costly, fragile for standard handling, extremely heavy and …

The Defense Sciences Office (DSO) at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting innovative research proposals in the area of autonomous molecular design to accelerate the discovery, validation and optimization of new, high-performance molecules for Department of Defense (DoD) needs. DARPA Accelerated Molecular Discovery (AMD) program,  aims to …

The phonon is the physical particle representing mechanical vibration and is responsible for the transmission of everyday sound and heat. Understanding and controlling the phononic properties of materials provides opportunities to thermally insulate buildings, reduce environmental noise, transform waste heat into electricity and develop earthquake protection.   The concept of …

In the wake of increasing electronic gadget sales, the overheating problem for battery chargers has become an increasingly common safety issue. Overheating of chargers certainly can be caused by substandard chargers, faulty batteries, or by misuse of the chargers. In worst-case scenarios the devices melt or catch fire. Unsurprisingly, this …

Graphene is a 1-atom-thick layer of tightly bonded carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. Graphene the world’s first 2D nanomaterial, is widely regarded as the “wonder material” of the 21st century due to the combination of its extraordinary properties. As a single layer of graphite, it is the thinnest …

The modern world is filled with macroscopic machines that perform work that we either find demanding or function in places or on length scales in which we cannot act. To date however, we have yet to develop a functional nanotechnology that operates on the scale of molecules or assemblies of …

Terahertz (THz) waves lie in the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and infrared radiation. They are invisible to the human eye. Since they are low in energy, there is no need for be concerned with their impact on human. Today, they play a role in medical and communications technology, but also …

Aerogels are among the lightest materials in the world and are highly porous with strong absorption capacity and low thermal conductivity which make them highly suitable for applications oil-spill cleaning, personal care products like diapers and heat, and sound insulation.   “Aerogel is what NASA uses to insulate the space …

Magnetic nanoparticles are nanomaterials consist of magnetic elements, such as iron, nickel, cobalt, chromium, manganese, gadolinium, and their chemical compounds. In most cases, the magnetic nanoparticles range from 1 to 100 nm in size and can display superparamagnetism.  Magnetic nanoparticles have unique properties such as extremely large surface area per …

Nanomaterials are chemical substances or materials that are manufactured and used at a very small scale. Nanomaterial  is defined as a, ‘material with any external dimension in the nanoscale (size range from approximately 1 – 100 nm) or having internal structure or surface structure in the nanoscale’.  Nanomaterials are developed …