Items Tagged With Nanowires

Materials on the nanoscale don’t always have the same properties they would in bulk; for one thing, nanomaterials are often a lot harder. Unlike most bulk materials, a crystal that is small enough can be perfect, free of defects, capable of achieving strength near its ideal theoretical limit.

When Yuri Gorby discovered that a microbe which transforms toxic metals can sprout electrically conductive nanowires from its cell membrane, he reasoned this anatomical oddity and its metal-changing physiology must be related.

Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have engineered nanoscale materials that are blood compatible using heparin, an anticoagulant. The heparin biomaterials have potential for use as medical devices and in medical treatments such as kidney dialysis.

A novel approach to synthesising nanowires (NWs) allows their direct integration with microelectronic systems for the first time, as well as their ability to act as highly sensitive biomolecule detectors that could revolutionise biological diagnostic applications, according to a report in Nature.

Jorden van Dam, researcher at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, has succeeded in largely controlling the transportation of electrons in semiconductor nanowires. Van Dam moreover discovered how to observe a divergent type of supercurrent in these wires. Nanowires have superior electronic properties which in time could improve the quality of our electronics. On Tuesday, June 13, Van Dam will receive his PhD degree at Delft University of Technology based on this research.