Bits of Nanotechnology

New catalyst developed to produce isobutene from bio-ethanol

The largest application for biomass is to burn it directly or to ferment it to produce ethanol. Converting biomass into other chemicals is often costly or inefficient, due to the many production steps needed. However a new catalyst developed by … Continue reading →

Graphene and water: another perfect mix

We’ve said it before and we will say it again: graphene is here to stay. This time researchers of the Monash University Department of Materials Engineering seem to have lived up to one of graphene’s long due promises: an extremely … Continue reading →

DNA: the building block of a new class of nanomaterials

For years, nanotechnologists have been captivated by the potential of quantum dots – semiconducting particles that can absorb and emit light efficiently and at custom-chosen wavelengths. Their true potential however, has been difficult to grasp because of the lack of … Continue reading →

A new hope for hydrogen energy: nanoparticle driven and solar powered

Hydrogen would be an excellent clean energy source, were it not for the fact that it costs a tremendous amount of energy to produce and is thus quite expensive. Researchers have been looking for ways to cheaply and sustainably produce … Continue reading →

Using gold nanoparticles to recover old fingerprints

Fingerprinting is one of the essential techniques of modern-day forensic science. Be that as it may, only a fraction of fingerprints can actually be detected using traditional powdering and cyanoacrylate fuming. But now, using gold nanoparticles, even year-old evidence can … Continue reading →