With the emergence of the printed electronics industry, the development of sensing technologies on non conventional substrates such as plastic foils is on-going.
23 August 2011
Biosensing is paramount for improving the quality of human life. Biosensors and biosensing protocols are able to detect a wide range of compounds, sensitively and selectively, with applications in security, health care for point-of-care analyses of diseases, and environmental safety.
08 July 2011
We are facing accelerated global warming due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases. A hydrogen-based economy is one potential approach toward maintaining our standard of living while lowering carbon dioxide emissions. Palladium is a unique material with a strong affinity to hydrogen owing to both its catalytic and hydrogen absorbing properties.
15 June 2011
Magic: “Influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces.” Precious metals are alluring and magical because of their inactivity toward chemical reactions; they are extremely stable and hence are also termed “noble metals.” During the industrial revolution mankind realized that noble metals have the power to influence the course of chemical events – through catalysis. A catalyst is defined as a substance that facilitates a chemical transformation without itself being consumed in the process; this power has a mysterious, almost magic-wand character.
11 April 2011
Biocatalytic reactions have been identified as an outstanding option for various applications in material chemistry such as modifying surfaces under mild conditions, preparing polymers, controlling self-assembly systems and manufacturing (chiral) monomers. Mostly driven by research for producing bioactive compounds, ‘novel’ biocatalytic reactions have recently become mature enough to be exploited.
11 April 2011
Silsesquioxanes are inorganic-organic hybrid materials that combine the mechanical, thermal, and chemical stability of ceramics with the solution processing and flexibility of traditional soft materials. In this review we discuss how these attributes naturally lend themselves to a diverse range of nanoscale patterning applications.
23 February 2011
It is only recently that is has been possible to perform chemical characterization measurements with infrared spectroscopy on the nanoscale. The enabling technique is known as nanoIR™.
04 November 2010
For detecting substances that are invisible to the human eye or nose, and particularly those biomolecules, the devices must have very small feature sizes, be compact and provide a sufficient level of sensitivity, often to a small number of biomolecules that are just a few nanometres in size.
04 November 2010
In 1902, Morton and Cooley discovered the electrospinning process, the way it is known now and filed US patents.
04 November 2010
The recent earthquake in Haiti has focused worldwide attention on the need for improved water purification materials and systems.
15 June 2010