Researchers uncover mystery of optical wave trapped in three-dimensional micro or nanoparticles.
Category: nanotechnology – Page 22
Smartphone and nanotechnology enable rapid neonatal jaundice detection
A research team led by Prof. Jiang Changlong from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed an innovative dual-mode sensing platform using upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs). This platform integrates fluorescence and colorimetric methods, offering a highly sensitive and low-detection-limit solution for bilirubin detection in complex biological samples.
The findings, published in Analytical Chemistry, offer a new technological approach for the early diagnosis of jaundice.
Jaundice is a critical health issue in neonates, affecting 60% of newborns and contributing to early neonatal mortality. Elevated free bilirubin levels indicate jaundice, with healthy levels ranging from 1.7 μM to 10.2 μM in healthy individuals. Concentrations below 32 μM typically don’t show classic symptoms. Rapid and accurate detection of bilirubin in neonates is critical.
Simplified method for observing electron motion in solids unveiled
The ultrafast dynamics and interactions of electrons in molecules and solids have long remained hidden from direct observation. For some time now, it has been possible to study these quantum-physical processes—for example, during chemical reactions, the conversion of sunlight into electricity in solar cells and elementary processes in quantum computers—in real time with a temporal resolution of a few femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second) using two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES).
However, this technique is highly complex. Consequently, it has only been employed by a handful of research groups worldwide to date. Now a German-Italian team led by Prof. Dr. Christoph Lienau from the University of Oldenburg has discovered a way to significantly simplify the experimental implementation of this procedure. “We hope that 2DES will go from being a methodology for experts to a tool that can be widely used,” explains Lienau.
Two doctoral students from Lienau’s Ultrafast Nano-Optics research group, Daniel Timmer and Daniel Lünemann, played a key role in the discovery of the new method. The team has now published a paper in Optica describing the procedure.
Topological insulator nanowires reveal superconducting effect, bringing topological quantum computing closer to reality
Physicists at the University of Cologne have taken an important step forward in the pursuit of topological quantum computing by demonstrating the first-ever observation of Crossed Andreev Reflection (CAR) in topological insulator (TI) nanowires.
This finding, published under the title “Long-range crossed Andreev reflection in topological insulator nanowires proximitized by a superconductor” in Nature Physics, deepens our understanding of superconducting effects in these materials, which is essential for realizing robust quantum bits (qubits) based on Majorana zero-modes in the TI platform—a major goal of the Cluster of Excellence Matter and Light for Quantum Computing (ML4Q).
Quantum computing promises to revolutionize information processing, but current qubit technologies struggle with maintaining stability and error correction. One of the most promising approaches to overcoming these limitations is the use of topological superconductors, which can host special quantum states called Majorana zero-modes.
Untangling quantum entanglement with new calculation formulas
Once described by Einstein as “spooky action at a distance,” quantum entanglement may now seem less intimidating in light of new research findings.
Osaka Metropolitan University physicists have developed new, simpler formulas to quantify quantum entanglement in strongly correlated electron systems and applied them to study several nanoscale materials. Their results offer fresh perspectives into quantum behaviors in materials with different physical characteristics, contributing to advances in quantum technologies.
The study is published in Physical Review B.
Carbon nanotube sensor efficiently measures oxygen in gas mixtures under light
Oxygen is essential for life and a reactive player in many chemical processes. Accordingly, methods that accurately measure oxygen are relevant for numerous industrial and medical applications: They analyze exhaust gases from combustion processes, enable the oxygen-free processing of food and medicines, monitor the oxygen content of the air we breathe or the oxygen saturation in blood.
Oxygen analysis is also playing an increasingly important role in environmental monitoring.
“However, such measurements usually require bulky, power-hungry, and expensive devices that are hardly suitable for mobile applications or continuous outdoor use,” says Máté Bezdek, Professor of Functional Coordination Chemistry at ETH Zurich. His group uses molecular design methods to find new sensors for environmental gases.
Carbon nanotubes and machine learning: A new way to spot subtle immune cell differences
Early diagnosis is crucial in disease prevention and treatment. Many diseases can be identified not just through physical signs and symptoms but also through changes at the cellular and molecular levels.
When it comes to a majority of chronic conditions, early detection, particularly at the cellular level, gives patients a better chance for successful treatment. Detection of early changes at the cellular level can also dramatically improve cancer outcomes.
It’s against this backdrop that a University of Rhode Island professor and a former Ph.D. graduate student looked at understanding the smallest changes between two similar cells.
Experiments aboard the International Space Station may offer promising advancements in fighting cancer
Getting seven experiments on the International Space Station requires a really good idea. Like a brand new way to attack tumors—one that you can only make in space.
Space has unique advantages for making medicines. Its very low gravity makes it possible to grow molecules in shapes and uniformity that are difficult to create on Earth. If they can be reliably and affordably produced, such molecules could have all kinds of novel uses in industry and medicine.
University of Connecticut engineer Yupeng Chen has been growing one such unusually rod-shaped nanoparticle, called a Janus base nanotube, on the International Space Station (ISS).
Rapid single-particle chemical imaging of nanoplastics by SRS microscopy
The shape is another important morphological feature that matters as a critical aspect of nanotoxicity. Studies have shown that shape plays a role in determining the cellular uptake of micro-nano particles (65, 66). SRS images of plastic particles confirmed the existence of shape diversity for micro-nano plastics in bottled water. To account for the shape of plastic particles in a statistical manner, we measure the aspect ratio of individual particles above the diffraction limit (Fig. 6 H). The aspect ratio is widely acknowledged in nanotoxicology studies (67, 68). The aspect ratio of the plastic particles detected ranges from 1 to 6, and the average aspect ratio for particles is around 1.7. Fig. 6 I–M provides a pictorial view of how the aspect ratio is related to the particle shape. Particles with an aspect ratio of above 3 are most likely to be fibrous in shape, while particles with an aspect ratio of below 1.4 will be largely spherical. Shape variation on plastic particles has been found in all polymers detected, confirming the widely recognized idea that real-world micro-nano plastics have diverse morphological prosperities. This dimension is hard to be resembled by engineered polymer nanoparticles commonly studied in research laboratories, and the toxicological consequences pertaining to real-life plastic particle exposures and their differing physicochemical properties (i.e., size, shape) have yet to be determined.
When Fighting Cancer From Space, Form is Function
Getting seven experiments on the International Space Station requires a really good idea. Like a brand new way to attack tumors—one that you can only make in space.
Space has unique advantages for making medicines. Its very low gravity makes it possible to grow molecules in shapes and uniformity that are difficult to create on Earth. If they can be reliably and affordably produced, such molecules could have all kinds of novel uses in industry and medicine.
University of Connecticut engineer Yupeng Chen has been growing one such unusually rod-shaped nanoparticle, called a Janus base nanotube, on the International Space Station (ISS). The success of Chen’s last five experiments has led to this latest $1.9 million award from the Center for Advancement of Science in Space and NASA’s Division of Biological and Physical Sciences. With it, Chen and his colleagues will use the space station’s unique environment to grow pharmaceuticals whose shape is their secret weapon.#
Experiments aboard the International Space Station may offer promising advancements in fighting cancer.