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

A multi-institutional team of researchers led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has developed a smart, breathable fabric designed to protect the wearer against biological and chemical warfare agents. The fabric combines two key elements: a base membrane layer made of trillions of aligned carbon nanotube pores and a polymer layer grafted onto the membrane layer. The carbon nanotubes are able to easily transport water molecules through their interiors while also blocking biological agents.

By disabling a gene in specific mouse cells, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have prevented mice from becoming obese, even after the animals had been fed a high-fat diet. In one set of experiments, the research team deleted the ASXL2 gene in the macrophages of obese mice, and in a second set of experiments, they injected the animals with nanoparticles that interfered with the activity of the ASXL2 gene. In both cases, the researchers found that despite high-fat diets, the treated animals burned 45% more calories than their obese littermates.

By disabling a gene in specific mouse cells, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have prevented mice from becoming obese, even after the animals had been fed a high-fat diet. In one set of experiments, the research team deleted the ASXL2 gene in the macrophages of obese mice, and in a second set of experiments, they injected the animals with nanoparticles that interfered with the activity of the ASXL2 gene. In both cases, the researchers found that despite high-fat diets, the treated animals burned 45% more calories than their obese littermates.

To clean wastewater from munitions processing and demilitarization, engineers at the University of Delaware are testing a novel technology using iron nanoparticles. Instead of being corroded by oxygen in water, forming rust, the 25-nanometer iron particles are corroded by munitions compounds in wastewater. The nanoparticles donate electrons to munitions compounds and, through electron transfer, the dissolved munitions compounds break down. Iron nanoparticles have already been used to treat groundwater, but this is its first application to munitions wastewater.

To clean wastewater from munitions processing and demilitarization, engineers at the University of Delaware are testing a novel technology using iron nanoparticles. Instead of being corroded by oxygen in water, forming rust, the 25-nanometer iron particles are corroded by munitions compounds in wastewater. The nanoparticles donate electrons to munitions compounds and, through electron transfer, the dissolved munitions compounds break down. Iron nanoparticles have already been used to treat groundwater, but this is its first application to munitions wastewater.

Researchers at Rice University have created an efficient, low-cost device that splits water to produce hydrogen fuel. The device integrates catalytic electrodes made with cobalt phosphide nanorods (about 100 nanometers in diameter) and perovskite solar cells, which are crystals that produce electricity when triggered by sunlight. When the device is dropped into water and placed in sunlight, it produces hydrogen with no further input.

Researchers at Rice University have created an efficient, low-cost device that splits water to produce hydrogen fuel. The device integrates catalytic electrodes made with cobalt phosphide nanorods (about 100 nanometers in diameter) and perovskite solar cells, which are crystals that produce electricity when triggered by sunlight. When the device is dropped into water and placed in sunlight, it produces hydrogen with no further input.

Soft and flexible materials called halide perovskites could make solar cells more efficient at significantly less cost, but they are too unstable to use. A Purdue University-led research team has found a way to make halide perovskites stable enough by inhibiting the ion movement that makes them rapidly degrade, unlocking their use for solar panels and electronic devices. A perovskite is made up of components that an engineer can individually replace at the nanometer scale to tune the material's properties.

Soft and flexible materials called halide perovskites could make solar cells more efficient at significantly less cost, but they are too unstable to use. A Purdue University-led research team has found a way to make halide perovskites stable enough by inhibiting the ion movement that makes them rapidly degrade, unlocking their use for solar panels and electronic devices. A perovskite is made up of components that an engineer can individually replace at the nanometer scale to tune the material's properties.

A team of researchers from the University of California San Diego, Columbia University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the University of Calgary, and the University of California, Irvine has developed a portable, more environmentally friendly method to produce hydrogen peroxide. The method is based on a chemical reaction in which one molecule of oxygen combines with two electrons and two protons in an acidic electrolyte solution to produce hydrogen peroxide. The key to making this reaction happen is a special catalyst that the team developed that is made up of carbon nanotubes that have been partially oxidized.