https://phys.org/nanotech-news/nano-materials/ en-us The latest science news on nanomaterials, nanotechnology, nanoparticles and nanoscience. Photographs can reveal things that are otherwise impossible for the naked eye to see, be they distant galaxies or microscopic cells. Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have developed a practical and versatile imaging technique that makes another usually invisible phenomenon visible: surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), light waves that travel along metal surfaces. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-dots-reveal-hidden-metal.html Nanophysics Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:40:07 EDT news704113602 Microplastics are an increasing global concern, with growing evidence of their presence in water systems. RMIT University researchers have developed a water treatment material that rapidly removes micro- and nanoplastics and some PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), bringing the technology closer to real-world use. The invention builds on the team's 2022 breakthrough in microplastics removal, extending its performance to much smaller particles and more complex wastewater. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-reusable-magnetic-microplastics-pfas.html Nanomaterials Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:20:02 EDT news703947001 For decades, water utilities have relied on giant tanks filled with ion-exchange resin beads to remove perchlorate, a harmful industrial pollutant, from drinking water. The system works by attracting negatively charged perchlorate ions to positively charged resin beads, allowing purified water to flow out of the tanks. But the process leaves behind a difficult problem: resin beads loaded with perchlorate that must be regenerated or disposed of as hazardous waste. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ruthenium-nanoparticles-captured-perchlorate-harmless.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 21 Jul 2026 19:40:01 EDT news703865297 QUT researchers have overcome a challenge that has limited next-generation energy-harvesting materials for more than two decades, opening the door to more powerful wearable electronics and new ways of turning wasted heat into electricity. The breakthrough centers on carbon nanotubes, which are flexible, conductive microscopic rods that have long shown promise for wearable technologies but have been difficult to control. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-molecules-carbon-nanotubes-clumping-electricity.html Nanomaterials Mon, 20 Jul 2026 17:40:06 EDT news703781761 Researchers from Skoltech, in collaboration with the Harbin Institute of Technology and Jiangsu University (China), have published a study presenting the first empirical model to explain and predict the sensing behavior of hierarchical tri-phase carbon nanotube systems across a wide temperature range (from -170°C (-274°F) to 90°C (194°F)). The study has been published in the Carbon journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-carbon-nanotube-reveals-smart-sensors.html Nanophysics Mon, 20 Jul 2026 17:20:05 EDT news703780670 Electrical interconnects may very well be the unsung heroes of modern microchips. These tiny wires—typically made of copper due to its high conductivity—string together the billions of transistors that drive our computers and electronic devices. But as the technology advances and additional transistors are piled on, the components must shrink to the nanoscale. And that's when copper begins to fail. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-thinner-wires-faster-electrons-quantum.html Nanomaterials Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:40:01 EDT news703497286 University of Arizona researchers have demonstrated a promising new application for graphene nanoribbons, a nanoscale semiconductor material with the potential to withstand extreme environments. The team's findings could help clear a key hurdle to bringing fusion energy to the electric grid. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-graphene-nanoribbons-survive-gamma-revealing.html Nanophysics Thu, 16 Jul 2026 16:23:15 EDT news703437770 Some researchers are leaning into biology for inspiration in computing. In particular, neuromorphic computing offers a brain-inspired approach to hardware that replaces traditional binary processing with systems that function more like neurons and synapses. Now, a new study, published in Nature Communications, describes an innovative design for a fluidic memristor that uses its own self-heating mechanism to induce a history-dependent memory effect. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-brain-nanopore-device-current-memory.html Nanophysics Thu, 16 Jul 2026 13:40:03 EDT news703417766 Many of the advanced electronic components surrounding us in everyday life rely on polar materials to function. Polar materials have an uneven distribution of electric charge. This gives them a positive and a negative side even in the absence of an external electric field. The most important among these are ferroelectric materials, in which the direction of polarization can be reversed by applying an electric field. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hybrid-material-antiferroelectricity-coexist-switchable.html Nanophysics Thu, 16 Jul 2026 13:20:01 EDT news703410647 Nanocrystals are so useful that they formed the basis of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. But despite their usefulness, scientists have so far been able to make these microscopic crystals from only a limited palette of materials. A group of chemists at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory has announced a way to make nanocrystals from a useful class of materials known as metal nitrides—a previously impossible task. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-chemists-gallium-nitride-material-nanocrystals.html Nanomaterials Thu, 16 Jul 2026 10:20:07 EDT news703405455 Researchers have shown it is possible to expand the field of twistronics—literally. They have demonstrated a technique that allows them to fabricate oxide twistronic materials at much larger scales while also controlling the twist angles between materials that dictate their structural and electronic properties. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-method-scales-oxide-materials-future.html Nanophysics Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:10:01 EDT news703339019 Researchers at the College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore have identified a key design principle for building reliable electronics from materials only one atomic layer thick, giving engineers a clearer way to control unwanted electrical leakage in future ultra-small devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-nanoscale-gaps-reveal-atom-thin.html Nanomaterials Wed, 15 Jul 2026 13:00:05 EDT news703328944 Driving an electric current through a molecule can create a magnetic field. Yet in practice, such fields are often too weak to be detected experimentally. Through theoretical modeling, researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) show how quantum effects can turn single molecules into effective magnets—including one shaped like a microscopic soccer ball, just in time for the FIFA World Cup final. The findings are published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-currents-nano-soccer-ball.html Nanophysics Wed, 15 Jul 2026 11:20:10 EDT news703326458 Scientists have unveiled a new fabrication technique for the ultra-clean manufacturing of 2D heterostructures—materials just a few atoms thick—that could be used in quantum technology and electronics. Experts from Southampton and Singapore say the method could be used to develop next-generation devices that accelerate research in quantum computing. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-technique-ultra-thin-material-stacks.html Nanomaterials Tue, 14 Jul 2026 19:00:12 EDT news703245651 A research team led by Seil Kim of the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) Energy & Environmental Materials Research Division has developed an Ag–PTFE composite plating technology that produces silver coatings with greater hardness and wear resistance than conventional silver plating by stably dispersing PTFE nanoparticles in a cyanide-free acidic silver plating bath. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-harder-longer-silver-plating.html Nanomaterials Tue, 14 Jul 2026 13:00:07 EDT news703245686 As computer chips become more powerful and compact, the materials that protect them must perform better than ever. In advanced chip packaging, liquid epoxy is widely used because it can flow into tiny spaces before curing into a solid protective layer. To be effective, the material must be easy to process in its liquid state while becoming strong, stable and reliable after curing. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-highly-liquid-epoxy-smaller-reliable.html Nanophysics Tue, 14 Jul 2026 08:40:01 EDT news703232968 Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have developed a method to form dome-shaped bumps on nanofilms in water using a computer-guided electron beam. The bumps form within 10 seconds and can be flattened, reshaped or repositioned as needed. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-electricity-rapidly-flat-nanofilms-3d.html Nanomaterials Mon, 13 Jul 2026 07:00:01 EDT news703141011 Materials with magnetic nanostructures have a wide range of potential applications. One area is so-called spintronics, with devices that encode information in magnetic domains. These magnetic bits can be written, read and erased in a more energy-efficient way than bits in current semiconductor devices. Spin textures and magnetic domains in such materials can be investigated using nanoscale magnetic imaging techniques. For example, photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM), coupled with a magnetically sensitive detection mechanism. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-tiny-magnetic-image-spintronic-materials.html Nanophysics Sun, 12 Jul 2026 17:00:03 EDT news702563676 Nanocrystals are already used in millions of devices, including televisions, laptops and displays, and are considered key materials for the next generation of quantum, sensing and solar technologies. However, they have not yet fully realized their potential. One major reason is their inherent heterogeneity: A single solution contains billions of nanocrystals whose properties can differ substantially. Although these particles can be characterized, important quality parameters are typically accessible only as average values across the entire sample. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-method-particle-quality-nanocrystal.html Nanomaterials Sun, 12 Jul 2026 08:00:02 EDT news702822051 Fast identification of bacteria is important in health care, food safety, environmental monitoring and infection control. One of the most common first steps is gram classification, which separates bacteria into gram-positive and gram-negative groups. This information can help guide early treatment decisions and safety responses. However, conventional Gram staining requires several chemical steps, trained personnel and manual interpretation. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-robot-bacteria-chemical.html Nanomaterials Sat, 11 Jul 2026 13:00:03 EDT news702724810 A joint research group from Tohoku University, Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University and the Japan Fine Ceramics Center has developed a thermal catalyst that exhibits high carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation activity under low-temperature conditions. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ligand-strategy-nanocluster-catalysts.html Nanomaterials Fri, 10 Jul 2026 09:20:03 EDT news702890090 A new Tufts University imaging facility is doing something that most microscopy centers in the world cannot: allowing scientists to examine a butterfly wing, a living tissue or a microchip and reveal its physical structure, molecular chemistry and elemental composition across every scale, from the macroscale down to the nanoscale—all in one imaging session. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-peering-materials-nanoscale-cocoon-lab.html Nanomaterials Fri, 10 Jul 2026 08:20:04 EDT news702888139 Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have developed gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) nanosheets that may enhance camera resolution in compact devices, including smartphones and medical endoscopes. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-transparent-nanosheets-cameras-high-resolution.html Nanophysics Thu, 09 Jul 2026 08:40:01 EDT news702802141 Researchers at the University of Tokyo and the Innovation Center of NanoMedicine (iCONM) have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) approach that identifies the morphology of nanoparticles in liquid using data from standard nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), a widely used technique for particle sizing. The method achieved classification accuracies exceeding 80% for non-spherical nanoparticles without requiring modification of existing instruments. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-deep-reveals-nanoparticle-routine-tracking.html Nanomaterials Tue, 07 Jul 2026 16:20:06 EDT news702657911 Light can carry enormous amounts of information at extreme speeds, making photonic technologies promising for the development of faster communications, more powerful computing systems and more sensitive sensors. But for light to be useful for these purposes, engineers need to be able to control where it goes and redirect it quickly. A new device built by Caltech researchers uses a beam of light to steer another to a different angle in just 74 femtoseconds (74 quadrillionths of a second). That's about the time it takes light to travel the width of a human hair. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-chip-redirects-trillionth.html Nanophysics Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:40:06 EDT news702648282 Achieving the blackest of blacks has been one of humanity's enduring challenges. It is a frontier that unites modern nanotechnologists with nature's ancient color palette. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-blackest-black-nature-nanotechnology.html Nanomaterials Mon, 06 Jul 2026 19:40:02 EDT news702562621 Phase transformations—in which a material changes from one crystal structure to another, thereby acquiring dramatically different properties—are ubiquitous in nature. Understanding the microscopic mechanisms of these transformations is essential for controlling material properties and designing functional devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-atomic-domino-effect-phase-dimensional.html Nanomaterials Mon, 06 Jul 2026 17:00:08 EDT news702563334 Next-generation batteries that use new electrolyte materials could achieve far higher energy density than today's lithium-ion batteries, without many of the safety concerns. But advanced batteries, such as those that use solid or almost-solid electrolytes, have been plagued by the formation of tiny spikes of lithium metal called dendrites that cause the batteries to lose efficiency and fail. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-electrical-imbalances-grain-boundaries-solid.html Nanophysics Mon, 06 Jul 2026 16:00:37 EDT news702571329 Researchers in the Texas A&M University J. Mike Walker '66 Department of Mechanical Engineering have developed a new method for producing graphene oxide, a high-value carbon nanomaterial used in batteries, electronics and advanced manufacturing. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-unexpected-discovery-yields-graphene-oxide.html Nanomaterials Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:40:07 EDT news702553665 New research has revealed that water behaves differently when confined to spaces just one molecule thick. For the first time, scientists have directly measured the vibrational signatures of truly two-dimensional water. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers used ultrathin channels only a few angstroms high to trap water in isolated layers and probe how its hydrogen-bonding network changes under extreme confinement. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-behavior-molecular-layer.html Nanophysics Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:20:03 EDT news702543801