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

Date Published
(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army Research Office)

MIT engineers have developed a material that is 10 times blacker than anything that has previously been reported. The material is made from vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, or CNTs — microscopic filaments of carbon, like a fuzzy forest of tiny trees, that the team grew on a surface of chlorine-etched aluminum foil. The foil captures at least 99.995% of any incoming light, making it the blackest material on record.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering have introduced the first universal adsorption model that accounts for detailed nanoparticle structural characteristics, metal composition and different adsorbates, making it possible to not only predict adsorption behavior on any metal nanoparticles but screen their stability, as well. This improvement will significantly accelerate nanomaterials design and avoid trial and error experimentation in the lab.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering have introduced the first universal adsorption model that accounts for detailed nanoparticle structural characteristics, metal composition and different adsorbates, making it possible to not only predict adsorption behavior on any metal nanoparticles but screen their stability, as well. This improvement will significantly accelerate nanomaterials design and avoid trial and error experimentation in the lab.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research)

Researchers at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Harvard Medical School have developed a method that combines the team's DNA-powered imaging technology with a single-molecule labeling strategy at a desired location within synthetic nanostructures or intact cells. This approach could allow researchers to stimulate or inhibit the functions of individual molecules in real time and with very high resolution.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research)

Researchers at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Harvard Medical School have developed a method that combines the team's DNA-powered imaging technology with a single-molecule labeling strategy at a desired location within synthetic nanostructures or intact cells. This approach could allow researchers to stimulate or inhibit the functions of individual molecules in real time and with very high resolution.a

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

Platinum is one of the most commonly used catalysts for fuel cells, but its high cost has spurred research efforts to find ways to use smaller amounts of it while maintaining the same catalytic. Now researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have demonstrated that films of platinum only two atoms thick supported by graphene could enable fuel cell catalysts with unprecedented catalytic activity and longevity.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

Platinum is one of the most commonly used catalysts for fuel cells, but its high cost has spurred research efforts to find ways to use smaller amounts of it while maintaining the same catalytic. Now researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have demonstrated that films of platinum only two atoms thick supported by graphene could enable fuel cell catalysts with unprecedented catalytic activity and longevity.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy)

Researchers Sandia National Laboratories have developed a nanoantenna-enabled detector that can boost the signal of a thermal infrared camera by up to three times and improve image quality by reducing dark current — a major component of image noise — by 10 to 100 times. A nanoantenna is a nanoscale antenna-like structure that sends and transmits electromagnetic waves.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy)

Researchers Sandia National Laboratories have developed a nanoantenna-enabled detector that can boost the signal of a thermal infrared camera by up to three times and improve image quality by reducing dark current — a major component of image noise — by 10 to 100 times. A nanoantenna is a nanoscale antenna-like structure that sends and transmits electromagnetic waves.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy)

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have shown how a fuel cell can be built with monodisperse platinum-cobalt nanocrystals – a scientific advance that could pave the way for making fuel cell technology more stable and cost-effective.