Batteries based on silicon can theoretically hold up to ten times as much charge as the ones currently used in laptops and mobile phones, but scientists have been unable to realise this potential. A new technique allowing researchers to follow the chemical reactions happening inside a battery in real time offers the hope that a […]
Using stiffness measurements as a biological indicator The first thing most people do if they are feeling unwell is to take their temperature. From a raised body temperature alone we cannot deduce what exactly is happening in the body, but it is a definite sign to pay attention and maybe see a doctor. Measuring the […]
How Supramolecular Chemistry can control aggregation The formation of clump-like ordered structures in proteins has been associated with several diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and type II diabetes, and is now thought to be a general feature of protein aggregation. There is considerable interest within the pharmaceutical industry in maintaining the integrity of protein-based drugs […]
DNA makes a wonderful material for creating structures at the nanoscale. It can be folded and shaped into three dimensions mimicking the traditional Japanese art of paper origami but at scales one million times smaller. Nano DNA shapes made in this way mimic the intricate 3D structures of biological proteins and have a large range of […]
Creating new optical properties from self-stacking nanostructures So what is a Metamaterial?! Metamaterials are artificial materials engineered to have properties not readily available in nature. These materials gain their properties from structure rather than composition. Potential applications of optical metamaterials include superlenses and cloaking devices that hide their contents, unachievable with normal materials. In my […]
Plastic semiconductors as an alternative to silicon When we think of electronics, what usually springs to mind is a black box of metal and silicon. The advent of the laptop and more recently the tablet computer has reduced the size of these boxes, but they remain the same in most respects. Over the last few […]