News by Subject Technology & Engineering

Using machine learning methods, researchers at TU Graz can predict the structure formation of functionalized molecules at the interfaces of hybrid materials. Now they have also succeeded in looking behind the driving forces of this structure formation.

MicroMESH is a new nanomedicine device capable to conform around the surface of tumor masses and efficiently deliver drugs. It is made of micrometric thick polymeric fibers which are very flexible and are arranged to form regular openings, which are also micrometric, just like the size of cancer cells. The new biomedical implant has been validated in preclinical studies that demonstrate its effectiveness for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme. Published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Someday, scientists believe, tiny DNA-based robots and other nanodevices will deliver medicine inside our bodies, detect the presence of deadly pathogens, and help manufacture increasingly smaller electronics. Researchers took a big step toward that future by developing a new tool that can design much more complex DNA robots and nanodevices than were ever possible before in a fraction of the time.

The project was kickstarted in 2017 when a delegation of YTC America (subsidiary of Yazaki Corporation) visited Kazan Federal University. During the talks, YTC suggested that KFU participate in developing effective methods of separating single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) into metallic and semiconducting specimens. This was to be done on Tuball tubes produced by OCSiAl, since they are the only ones currently available in industrial quantities.

Researchers discovered, while exploring the photomechanical properties of diarylethene, that under irradiation with UV light the crystal of the compound peels off into micrometer-sized crystals at a world's fastest speed of 260 microseconds. As the material returns to its former molecular structure when exposed to visible light, the exfoliation method positions itself as a candidate for photoactuator manufacturing.

Professor Junsuk Rho's research team at POSTECH develops wearable gas sensors that display instantaneous visual holographic alarm.

What are the most effective ways to leverage and augment smartphone capabilities? Helpful guidelines are provided in a critical review of emerging smartphone-based imaging systems recently published in the Journal of Biomedical Optics (JBO).

Researchers in Sweden have developed a more eco-friendly way to remove heavy metals, dyes and other pollutants from water. The answer lies in filtering wastewater with a gel material taken from plant cellulose and spiked with small carbon dots produced in a microwave oven.

Removing salt is only one step in creating clean water from ocean or brackish water. Toxic compounds, from metals to human-made carcinogens, must be removed by subsequent processing. UC Berkeley chemists have invented a technique to remove salt and toxic ions in one step. They create porous nanoparticles, PAFs, with added functional groups that selectively absorb ionic compounds, like metals, or neutral species, like boron, then add them to the polymer membranes used in electrodialysis.