Materials Sciences

Tiny nanocables, 1,000 times smaller than a human hair, could become key parts of toxin detectors, miniaturized solar cells and powerful computer chips.

The technique for making the nanocables was invented by UC Davis chemical engineers led by Pieter Stroeve, professor of chemical engineering and materials science. They manufacture the cables in the nano-sized pores of a template membrane. The insides of the pores are coated with gold. Layers of other semiconductors, such as telluriu

Ohio State University researchers are finding new insights into how microscopic corrosion attacks an aluminum alloy commonly used in aircraft.

They’ve developed a statistical model of the deterioration and simulated it on computer, using what may seem like an unlikely analogy: a cracking brick wall. What they’ve found could one day help scientists better understand this kind of corrosion, and also explain corrosion in other types of alloys. Although the alloy, called 2024-T3, is

Early correct diagnosis of breast cancer can mean the difference between life and death for the significant proportion of western women affected by the disease. Small clumps of calcium salts – microcalcifications – are often the earliest signs of breast cancer, and appear in 25% of mammograms. Oxford researchers have developed a new method to identify more reliably these clusters.

Calcifications appear as bright spots or clusters of spots; small clustered whorled calcifications ar

UCLA chemists report the discovery of a remarkable new nanoscale phenomenon: An ordinary camera flash causes the instantaneous welding together of nanofibers made of polyaniline, a unique synthetic polymer that can be made in either a conducting or an insulating form. The discovery, which the chemists call “flash welding,” is published in the November issue of the journal Nature Materials.

Numerous applications potentially could result from this research in such areas as chemi

Spotless surfaces are of prime importance in the plastics and metal processing industries, as dust and dirt can impair the function and adhesive properties of parts. A portable measuring device, the KombiSens, can detect both types of contamination.

Greasy fingerprints on wineglasses, ketchup on the table, crumbs on the floor – anyone with a clean disposition would be disgusted. But spotless surfaces are not the prerogative of housework maniacs; they are essential in numerous sec

No one wants food that has gone mouldy – least of all when they have only just purchased the product. But consumers are not exactly wild about food preservatives either. Packaging researchers are now introducing coated films to fight the battle of the bacteria.

At first glance, food packaging and an operating theater don’t have much in common. But when you look at the elaborate procedures that are used in sterilising packaging materials, the operating theatre analogy is not so far