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Category: nanotechnology

New sensor measures strain, strain rate and temperature with single material layer

Researchers from the Institute of Metal Research (IMR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed an innovative flexible sensor that can simultaneously detect strain, strain rate, and temperature using a single active material layer, representing a significant advance in multimodal sensing technology.

The study, published in Nature Communications, addresses the longstanding challenge of conventional sensors requiring complex multilayer designs that integrate different materials for distinct sensing functions. These traditional approaches often involve complicated signal acquisition and external power supplies, limiting their reliability in continuous monitoring applications.

Led by Prof. Tai Kaiping, the researchers designed the sensor based on a specially designed network of tilted tellurium nanowires (Te-NWs). Through material and structural engineering, they overcame a fundamental limitation where thermoelectric and piezoelectric signals could not be collected in the same direction within conventional materials. In this unique architecture, both signals are simultaneously detected and output in the out-of-plane direction.

Science history: Richard Feynman gives a fun little lecture — and dreams up an entirely new field of physics — Dec. 29, 1959

In a short talk at Caltech, physicist Richard Feynman laid out a vision of manipulating and controlling atoms at the tiniest scale. It would precede the field of nanotechnology by decades.

Deterministic Formation of Single Organic Color Centers in Single-Walled Carbon NanotubesClick to copy article linkArticle link copied!

Quantum light sources using single-walled carbon nanotubes show promise for quantum technologies but face challenges in achieving precise control over color center formation. Here, we present a novel technique for deterministic creation of single organic color centers in carbon nanotubes using in situ photochemical reaction. By monitoring discrete intensity changes in photoluminescence spectra, we achieve precise control over the formation of individual color centers. Furthermore, our method allows for position-controlled formation of color centers as validated through photoluminescence imaging. We also demonstrate photon antibunching from a color center, confirming the quantum nature of the defects formed. This technique represents a significant step forward in the precise engineering of atomically defined quantum emitters in carbon nanotubes, facilitating their integration into advanced quantum photonic devices and systems.

Fabricating single-photon light sources from carbon nanotubes

Tiny tubes of carbon that emit single photons from just one point along their length have been made in a deterministic manner by RIKEN researchers. Such carbon nanotubes could form the basis of future quantum technologies based on light.

Light is currently used to freight data over long distances via optical fibers. But harnessing its quantum nature could offer several benefits, including unprecedented security since any inception by a third party can be detected.

Such quantum communication technology requires light sources that emit one photon at a time. Several systems are capable of realizing that, but of them carbon nanotubes are the most promising.

How sustainability is driving innovation in functionalized graphene materials

Graphene is often described as a wonder material. It is strong, electrically conductive, thermally efficient, and remarkably versatile. Yet despite more than a decade of excitement, many graphene-based technologies still struggle to move beyond the laboratory.

One of the key challenges is that graphene does not readily dissolve in common solvents, forcing researchers to rely on harsh, multi-step functionalization/modification processes to make it usable.

As a researcher working at the intersection of green chemistry and nanomaterials, I have often found myself asking a simple question: Can we design advanced materials without relying on environmentally costly processes?

Production of hydrogen and carbon nanotubes from methane using a multi-pass floating catalyst chemical vapour deposition reactor with process gas recycling

Methane pyrolysis produces hydrogen and carbon materials, but some approaches based on chemical vapour deposition actually consume hydrogen to mitigate unwanted side reactions. Here Peden et al. use gas recycling in a multi-pass floating catalyst chemical vapour deposition reactor to produce hydrogen alongside carbon nanotube aerogels.

Single Injection Transforms the Immune System Into a Cancer-Killing Machine

Despite risks, results from both trials highlight the promise of one-and-done CAR T therapy for deadly blood cancers. But it’s still early days. Scientists need to carefully follow patients over years to understand how long upgraded T cells remain in the body and their effect on cancers.

And not all viral carriers are made the same. Lentiviruses, used in both studies, can tunnel into the human genome, causing DNA typos that potentially trigger secondary cancers. The durability of the therapy, its longevity, and immune side effects also need to be studied.

Kelonia is adding more patients to their trial, amid an increasingly competitive landscape. AstraZeneca has acquired EsoBiotec to bring its technology to market. AbbVie, a drug company in Illinois, is testing the delivery of gene-editing tools to T cells via fatty nanoparticles in clinical trials. And Kelonia is planning a second clinical trial with an initial 20 patients and 20 more in an expansion phase, none of whom responded to at least three previous treatments.

New reactor produces clean energy and carbon nanotubes from natural gas

Scientists from the University of Cambridge have developed a new reactor that converts natural gas (a common energy source primarily composed of methane) into two highly valuable resources: clean hydrogen fuel and carbon nanotubes, which are ultralight and much stronger than steel.

Hydrogen is a promising green fuel because it burns completely, producing only water vapor and zero carbon dioxide. However, the way we make hydrogen today typically involves using high-pressure steam to break apart gas molecules, which releases significant amounts of CO2 as a byproduct.

To avoid this, the Cambridge team wanted to perfect a technique called methane pyrolysis, which converts methane into hydrogen and solid carbon without producing carbon dioxide. However, until now, no one has been able to perform this process efficiently enough for large-scale use because traditional reactors waste too much gas.

New nanoparticles stimulate the immune system to attack ovarian tumors

A team, including researchers in MIT ChemE, designed new nanoparticles that can deliver an immune-stimulating molecule called IL-12 directly to ovarian tumors. When given along with immunotherapy drugs called checkpoint inhibitors, IL-12 helps the immune system launch an attack on cancer cells.

“What’s really exciting is that we’re able to deliver IL-12 directly in the tumor space. And because of the way that this nanomaterial is designed to allow IL-12 to be borne on the surfaces of the cancer cells, we have essentially tricked the cancer into stimulating immune cells to arm themselves against that cancer,” says MIT ChemE Professor Paula Hammond, a senior author of the study.

📸: Courtesy of the researchers.

MIT researchers designed nanoparticles that can deliver an immune-stimulating molecule called IL-12 directly to ovarian tumors. When given to mice along with checkpoint inhibitors, the treatment eliminated metastatic tumors more than 80 percent of the time.

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