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The use of solid-state refrigerators to cool appliances and electronic devices is a possible technological application for a theoretical study conducted at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo State, Brazil. Although this application is not considered in the study, which was based on computer simulations, such applications are on the horizon and could be an efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to vapor-compression refrigerators, which currently dominate the [...]

(Nanowerk News) Liposomes are small spherical vesicles with walls comprising two layers of lipids and containing an aqueous core. These artificial structures have been developed for drug delivery or as carriers of active substances in cosmetic products. Another possible application involves the encapsulation of magnetic nanoparticles in liposomes to use them to transmit signals. This possibility is discussed in an article published by a group of Brazilian researchers in Royal Society Open [...]

Materials that are hybrid constructions (combining organic and inorganic precursors) and quasi-two-dimensional (with malleable and highly compactable molecular structures) are on the rise in several technological applications, such as the fabrication of ever-smaller optoelectronic devices. An article published in the journalPhysical Review Bdescribes a study in this field resulting from the doctoral research of Diana Meneses Gustin and Luís Cabral, both supervised by Victor Lopez Richard, a [...]

(Nanowerk News) A simple sheet of graphene has noteworthy properties due to a quantum phenomenon in its electron structure named Dirac cones in honor of British theoretical physicist Paul Dirac (1902-1984), who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933. The system becomes even more interesting if it comprises two superimposed graphene sheets, and one is very slightly turned in its own plane so that the holes in the two carbon lattices no longer completely coincide. For specific angles [...]

Following the isolation of graphene in 2004, a race began to synthesize new two-dimensional materials. 2D materials are single-layer substances with a thickness of between one atom and a few nanometers (billionths of a meter). They have unique properties linked to their reduced dimensionality and play a key role in the development of nanotechnology and nanoengineering. An international group of researchers including Brazilian scientists affiliated with the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) have [...]

The Solar System is much vaster and more complex than is usually assumed. The Sun's gravitational pull on the gravitational fields of the nearest stars is estimated to extend for approximately two light-years (125 astronomical units), meaning the light emitted by the Sun takes approximately two years to reach the outer edge of the Solar System. This enormous gravitational niche is home to millions of objects, from planets and moons to comets, asteroids and meteoroids. One object differs from [...]

In recent decades, various research groups in the field of materials science have invested time and resources to answer the following question: is it possible to develop new techniques capable of producing silver particles on a nanometric scale (i.e., one billionth of a meter), thus enhancing the optical, catalytic and bactericidal properties of silver? A group of Brazilian investigators has taken a step forward in this contest. In a research carried out within the Center for Development of [...]

(Nanowerk News) - Can a "thermometer" consist of a thin film or tiny (micrometer or even nanometer scale) particles, operate in real time and in very well-defined regions with a spatial resolution ranging from a centimeter to a micrometer, and be capable of measuring temperatures with exceptional sensitivity in a wide band between 80 kelvin (minus 193°C) and 750 kelvin (476°C)? The answer is yes. The device, created in the laboratory by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) and [...]

(Nanowerk News) - A study conducted at the University of São Paulo's Physics Institute (IF-USP), Brazil, has resolved a longstanding controversy dogging the international community of researchers dedicated to investigating defects in graphene. The controversy is related to the calculation of the overall electronic structure of defects. This configuration, which comprises many variables, was described in different ways depending on the researcher and the model used. The solution, which is [...]