DNA may be the blueprint of life, but it's also a molecule made from just a few simple chemical building blocks. Among its properties is the ability to conduct an electrical charge, making one of the hottest areas in engineering a race to develop novel, low-cost nanoelectronic devices. Now, a team led by ASU Biodesign Institute researcher Nongjian (NJ) Tao and Duke theorist David Beratan has been able to understand and manipulate DNA to more finely tune the flow of electricity through it. ...

Nanomaterials have the potential to improve many next-generation technologies. They promise to speed up computer chips, increase the resolution of medical imaging devices and make electronics more energy efficient. But imbuing nanomaterials with the right properties can be time consuming and costly. A new, quick and inexpensive method for constructing diamond-based hybrid nanomaterials could soon launch the field forward. University of Maryland researchers developed a method to build ...

A University of Texas at Dallas engineer has made a discovery that could open the door to car and mobile phone batteries that last five times longer than current ones. Dr Kyeongjae Cho, professor of materials science and engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, has discovered new catalyst materials for lithium-air batteries that jump start efforts at expanding battery capacity. The research was published in Nature Energy. "There's huge promise in ...

A team of chemical engineers at Pennsylvania State College of Engineering has developed a beneficial biofilm with the ability to prevent the biofouling of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. The biofilm allows membranes to limit their own thickness via a quorum-sensing circuit, and ultimately to reduce the occurrence of biofouling in membrane-based water treatment systems by releasing chemicals that repel undesirable bacteria. "We realised that the accumulation of microbial films in water ...

Researchers at the University of Bath have developed an innovative miniature fuel cell that can generate electricity from urine, creating an affordable, renewable and carbon-neutral way of generating power. In the near future, this device could provide a means of generating much-needed electricity to remote areas at very little cost, each device costs just £1-£2. With growing global pressures to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and the associated greenhouse gas emissions, microbial fuel cells ...

  MIT chemists have created a new material that combines the flexibility of polymer gels with the rigid structure provided by metal-based clusters. The new gels could be well suited for a range of possible functions, including drug release, gas storage, or water filtration, the researchers say. These new gels, known as polyMOCs, are a hybrid of two materials called metallogels and metal organic cages. Metallogels, which consist of metals bound to polymer chains, are similar to regular ...