Oct 5, 2014

This week in Nano (Week 40: 29th-05th September/October)


It was a week dominated by Ebola updates on twitter: So to start with this week’s blog a piece about the ongoing work by researchers at Bostons University College - an easily transportable nanodevice that has the potential to diagnose Ebola quickly and cheaply. The device is effectively antibodies bound to a silicon chip upon which the patient’s blood is distributed. By shining light on the chip the resulting light spectrum that bounces from the chip will have a different spectra for patients with and without Ebola. More here .

The wonderful world of Graphene: Research from MIT show that crumpling pieces of graphene ‘paper’ can yield a versatile material with properties useful for creating stretchable superconductors and store energy for flexible electronics More here in Science Reports
 
Nanopinion: What European Country knows the most about NanoTech? Check out the latest results from a questionnaire (sample size 8330) by Nanopinion http://results.nanopinion.eu/).

Photon Shuttling: Researchers have developed a nanoscale device that can capture, measure and transport particles of light (photons). More information here

NanoEcotoxicology: New research from Duke University have shown the tendency of CNT to accumulate in sediment. This was tested not in the laboratory setting but in an experimental wetland setting- they suggest these results show that CNT could indirectly impact the aquatic food chain. Read the paper here.

Silver Nanoparticles: Are always in the spotlight- a new study on their impact on Haemolysis, Platelet function and Coagulation has just been published in Nanobiomedicine. The study demonstrates that Ag NP do induce haemolysis and increase platelet adhesion. No observed effect concentration was reported to be 5Ug/ml. More here.  


To end a lovely picture of TiO2 from the cover of Nano Today was synthesized at Thin Film Materials Laboratory, Department of Physics India. It resulted from a Ph. D. work of Mr. Sachin A. Pawar. The TiO2 produced has solar cell applications.