News from the NNI Community - Research Advances Funded by Agencies Participating in the NNI

A team led by researchers at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering has found a new way of enhancing the performance of electrochemical micro-sensors by using a carbon nanomaterial called nano-graphitic carbon. This discovery could lead to the detection of biomolecules, such as dopamine, at lower concentrations than is possible today. Dopamine molecule activity in the brain is associated with motivation, motor control, reinforcement, and reward.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Northwestern University, and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (South Korea) have reported a new electrode design for lithium-ion batteries that uses two low-cost materials: lead and carbon. The team's anode is not a plain slab of lead but is composed of innumerable lead nanoparticles embedded in a carbon matrix that is enclosed by a thin lead oxide shell. Tests in laboratory cells over 100 charge-discharge cycles showed that the new lead-based nanocomposite anode reached twice the energy storage capacity of current graphite anodes (normalized for the same weight).

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Northwestern University, and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (South Korea) have reported a new electrode design for lithium-ion batteries that uses two low-cost materials: lead and carbon. The team's anode is not a plain slab of lead but is composed of innumerable lead nanoparticles embedded in a carbon matrix that is enclosed by a thin lead oxide shell. Tests in laboratory cells over 100 charge-discharge cycles showed that the new lead-based nanocomposite anode reached twice the energy storage capacity of current graphite anodes (normalized for the same weight).

Researchers North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Duke University School of Medicine have developed a new tool for addressing disseminated intravascular coagulation, a blood disorder that proves fatal in many patients. The researchers developed a technique that makes use of nanogel spheres, which are loaded with tissue-type plasminogen activator – a drug that breaks down blood clots. The spheres travel through the bloodstream until they reach a blood clot, at which point they stick to fibrin, the main protein found in blood clots.

Researchers North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Duke University School of Medicine have developed a new tool for addressing disseminated intravascular coagulation, a blood disorder that proves fatal in many patients. The researchers developed a technique that makes use of nanogel spheres, which are loaded with tissue-type plasminogen activator – a drug that breaks down blood clots. The spheres travel through the bloodstream until they reach a blood clot, at which point they stick to fibrin, the main protein found in blood clots.

The challenge with rapidly diagnosing sepsis – a potentially life-threatening medical condition triggered by blood-borne pathogens – stems from the fact that measuring only one biomarker often does not allow a clear-cut diagnosis. Now, a multi-disciplinary team at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and the University of Bath, United Kingdom, has further developed the Institute's eRapid technology as an affinity-based, low-cost electrochemical diagnostic sensor platform for the detection of multiple clinically relevant biomarkers in whole blood. The device uses a novel graphene nanocomposite-based surface coating and was demonstrated to accurately detect three different sepsis biomarkers simultaneously.

The challenge with rapidly diagnosing sepsis – a potentially life-threatening medical condition triggered by blood-borne pathogens – stems from the fact that measuring only one biomarker often does not allow a clear-cut diagnosis. Now, a multi-disciplinary team at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and the University of Bath, United Kingdom, has further developed the Institute's eRapid technology as an affinity-based, low-cost electrochemical diagnostic sensor platform for the detection of multiple clinically relevant biomarkers in whole blood. The device uses a novel graphene nanocomposite-based surface coating and was demonstrated to accurately detect three different sepsis biomarkers simultaneously.

Visible and infrared light can carry more data than radio waves, but has always been confined to a hard-wired, fiber-optic cable. Working with Facebook's Connectivity Lab, a research team at Duke University has now made a major advance toward eliminating the fiber in fiber optics by using silver nanocubes that are 60 nanometers wide and spaced about 200 nanometers apart. While working to create a free-space optical communication system for high-speed wireless internet, the researchers have also shown that speed and efficiency properties previously demonstrated on tiny, single-unit plasmonic antennas can also be achieved on larger, centimeter-scale devices.

Visible and infrared light can carry more data than radio waves, but has always been confined to a hard-wired, fiber-optic cable. Working with Facebook's Connectivity Lab, a research team at Duke University has now made a major advance toward eliminating the fiber in fiber optics by using silver nanocubes that are 60 nanometers wide and spaced about 200 nanometers apart. While working to create a free-space optical communication system for high-speed wireless internet, the researchers have also shown that speed and efficiency properties previously demonstrated on tiny, single-unit plasmonic antennas can also be achieved on larger, centimeter-scale devices.

Oil and water may not mix, but adding the right nanoparticles to the recipe can convert these two immiscible fluids into an exotic gel with uses ranging from batteries to water filters to tint-changing smart windows. Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Delaware have found what appears to be a better way to create these gels, which have been an area of intense research focus for more than a decade.