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

Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a diagnostic platform technology that enables the detection of a broad range of biomarkers with high sensitivity and selectivity in complex biological fluids, using as little as a single drop of blood. After experimenting with a variety of recipes, the research team developed a simple, porous, 3-D matrix consisting of bovine serum albumin cross-linked with glutaraldehyde and supported by a network of conducting nanomaterials, such as gold nanowires or carbon nanotubes.

Chemistry researchers at Georgia State University have established a new imaging strategy that can track single molecules as they shimmy through tiny pores in the shells of silica spheres and that can monitor the chemical reaction dynamics on catalytic centers at the core. This discovery has led to the first quantitative measurements of how confinement at the nanoscale speeds up catalytic reactions. Understanding this surprising "nanoconfinement effect" could help guide the precise design of more efficient industrial catalysts that can conserve energy.

Chemistry researchers at Georgia State University have established a new imaging strategy that can track single molecules as they shimmy through tiny pores in the shells of silica spheres and that can monitor the chemical reaction dynamics on catalytic centers at the core. This discovery has led to the first quantitative measurements of how confinement at the nanoscale speeds up catalytic reactions. Understanding this surprising "nanoconfinement effect" could help guide the precise design of more efficient industrial catalysts that can conserve energy.

One of the most significant challenges standing in the way of widespread adoption of electric vehicles and aircraft has to do with mass, because the most current electric vehicle batteries and supercapacitors are incredibly heavy. A research team from the Texas A&M University College of Engineering has created strong and stiff supercapacitor electrodes based on dopamine-functionalized graphene and Kevlar nanofibers, which might enable energy to be stored within the structural body panels of electric vehicles and aircraft and, as a result, make them lighter.

One of the most significant challenges standing in the way of widespread adoption of electric vehicles and aircraft has to do with mass, because the most current electric vehicle batteries and supercapacitors are incredibly heavy. A research team from the Texas A&M University College of Engineering has created strong and stiff supercapacitor electrodes based on dopamine-functionalized graphene and Kevlar nanofibers, which might enable energy to be stored within the structural body panels of electric vehicles and aircraft and, as a result, make them lighter.

A team led by scientists from the University of Washington and the University of Notre Dame used recent advances in electron microscopy to observe Fano interferences directly in a pair of metallic nanoparticles. Fano interference means that electrons in atoms move through two types of energy transitions, one discrete and the other continuous, which result in destructivae interference through their synchronized mixing.

A team led by scientists from the University of Washington and the University of Notre Dame used recent advances in electron microscopy to observe Fano interferences directly in a pair of metallic nanoparticles. Fano interference means that electrons in atoms move through two types of energy transitions, one discrete and the other continuous, which result in destructive interference through their synchronized mixing.

For the first time, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have shown how a powerful electron microscope can provide direct insight into the performance of any material by pinpointing specific atomic "neighborhoods." In particular, the scientists made molecular movies showing how the nanostructure of a semiconductor used in organic solar cells changed in response to a common processing additive known to enhance solar cell efficiency.

For the first time, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have shown how a powerful electron microscope can provide direct insight into the performance of any material by pinpointing specific atomic "neighborhoods." In particular, the scientists made molecular movies showing how the nanostructure of a semiconductor used in organic solar cells changed in response to a common processing additive known to enhance solar cell efficiency.

MIT engineers have shown that they can enhance the performance of drug-delivery nanoparticles by controlling a trait of chemical structures known as chirality—the "handedness" of the structure. The MIT team found that coating nanoparticles with the right-handed form of the amino acid cysteine helped the particles to avoid being destroyed by enzymes in the body. This finding could help researchers to design more effective carriers for drugs to treat cancer.