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

Using computer modeling and an imaging technique called liquid-phase electron microscopy, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University pinpointed the individual motions of nanoscale particles as they orient themselves into crystal lattices. The work confirms that synthetic nanoparticles—the fundamental building blocks of many synthetic and biological materials—can assemble in ways far more complex than larger particles, the researchers said, and paves the way to more general applications for mineralization, pharmaceuticals, optics and electronics.

How do we know when graphene, the most widely studied 2-D material, is a defect-free and uniform layer of atoms? Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have discovered an indicator that reliably demonstrates a sample's high quality. The researchers were investigating samples of graphene using low-energy electron diffraction and realized that a broad band of diffuse diffraction in the background was actually an intrinsic feature of graphene, but that broad band of diffuse diffraction had been ignored for the past 25 years.

How do we know when graphene, the most widely studied 2-D material, is a defect-free and uniform layer of atoms? Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have discovered an indicator that reliably demonstrates a sample's high quality. The researchers were investigating samples of graphene using low-energy electron diffraction and realized that a broad band of diffuse diffraction in the background was actually an intrinsic feature of graphene, but that broad band of diffuse diffraction had been ignored for the past 25 years.

An international research team led by a physicist at the University of California, Riverside, has identified a process of electron spin dynamics in nanoparticles that could impact the design of applications in medicine, quantum computation, and spintronics.

An international research team led by a physicist at the University of California, Riverside, has identified a process of electron spin dynamics in nanoparticles that could impact the design of applications in medicine, quantum computation, and spintronics.

While scientists have long known how to make nanoparticles of transition metal oxides, no one has found a controllable way to grow these 3D nanoparticles into nanosheets, which are thin 2D materials just a few atoms thick. Now, a team of scientists led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has gained valuable insight into 3D transition metal oxide nanoparticles’ natural “edge” for 2D growth.

While scientists have long known how to make nanoparticles of transition metal oxides, no one has found a controllable way to grow these 3D nanoparticles into nanosheets, which are thin 2D materials just a few atoms thick. Now, a team of scientists led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has gained valuable insight into 3D transition metal oxide nanoparticles’ natural “edge” for 2D growth.

A team of researchers at the University of Michigan has built catalysts that guide chemical reactions toward the right version of chiral molecules. This discovery could lead to more efficient production of some medicines. The catalysts, which are assemblies of mineral nanoparticles made chiefly from zinc oxide, are at least 10 times better at selecting a particular version of a chiral molecule than earlier catalysts of this type.

A team of researchers at the University of Michigan has built catalysts that guide chemical reactions toward the right version of chiral molecules. This discovery could lead to more efficient production of some medicines. The catalysts, which are assemblies of mineral nanoparticles made chiefly from zinc oxide, are at least 10 times better at selecting a particular version of a chiral molecule than earlier catalysts of this type.

Much like some snakes use infrared to "see" at night, University of Central Florida researchers are working to create similar viper vision to improve the sensitivity of night-vision cameras. The ability to enhance night vision capabilities could have implications in improving what can be seen in space, in chemical and biological disaster areas, and on the battlefield. The trick in developing the new highly sensitive, but uncooled, infrared detector was engineering the two-dimensional nanomaterial graphene into a material that can carry an electric current.