Powering everyday technology with solar cells Sunlight is the most abundant source of energy on the planet. Photovoltaics – the science behind turning sunlight directly into electricity – has been studied for over 70 years and the result is the now familiar solar panels we see on roofs and in new ‘solar farms’ everywhere around […]
Development of tiny LED-like light sources can allow perfectly secure communications The semiconductor Gallium Nitride (GaN) has become famous in recent years for its applications in LED lighting. Its material properties allow for high efficiency, long lasting and nicely coloured bulbs to be created. The success of these LEDs relies on very small structures (several […]
Nanoparticle catalysis is used in every day, such as in catalytic converters, or large-scale industrial processes which for instance aim to connect carbon atoms together. The point of catalysis is to reduce the energy requirements of a reaction to make it faster and less expensive. The use of nanoparticle catalysts is beneficial due to the […]
Graphene is a two-dimensional material consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb structure. It is now at the centre of an ever growing research effort owing to its unique properties which are interesting for both fundamental science and applications. Graphene development could impact products in many industries, from flexible, wearable […]
Controlling the assembly of individual molecules has always been an important goal of nanotechnology. In this work, metal ions are held within molecular scaffolds designed for the formation of nanometre-sized, hollow, cubic architectures. Our modular design scheme allows for the use of interchangeable metals and chemical functionalities, which might one day be as diverse as […]
Compressing Hard drives into the Size of a Sugar Cube! Utilizing the Third Dimension of Data Storage For the past few decades, electronics has been a cornerstone of modern technology. However, because of recent initiatives of reducing our carbon footprint, advanced materials and architectures followed by cost-effective manufacturing procedures are currently being investigated for the development […]
Understanding how natural biocatalysts extracted from bacteria can be used for solar driven water splitting and optimising them for utilising hydrogen generation as the future fuel. Sunlight provides us with a practically inexhaustible flow of energy, and the photochemical conversion of solar to chemical energy (e.g. hydrogen) attracts much interest. Direct conversion of solar energy […]
Miniaturisation of barcoding technology brings us one step closer to home diagnostics Rising rates of later age illness including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes have burdened society in the past decades and has rasied critical demands for more efficient, affordable healthcare. Novel medical diagnostic technologies seek to identify disease biomarkers at the earliest […]
Bone-like nanoparticle drug carriers: does aggregation make them dangerous? If you’ve heard much about Nanotechnology then you may also have heard about the huge impact Nanotech can make on medicine in the near future. One area that may be particularly affected is drug delivery: nano-sized “capsules” of drugs could potentially lead to much more efficient, […]