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IMAGE: A model of the zigzag carbon nanobelt (with a magnification of 50 million) produced by a 3D printer at the Equipment Development Center, Institute for Molecular Science. view more
Credit: NINS/IMS
The current method of manufacturing carbon nanotubes in essence rolled up sheets of graphene is unable to allow complete control over their diameter, length and type. This problem has recently been solved for two of the three different types of nanotubes, but the third type, known as zigzag nanotubes, had remained out of reach. Researchers with Japan s National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) have now figured out how to synthesize the zigzag variety.
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IMAGE: Schematic illustration of hierarchical structures of carbon nanofiber bundles made of bitten warped nanographene molecules. view more
Credit: NINS/IMS
Nanographene is flexible, yet stronger than steel. With unique physical and electronic properties, the material consists of carbon molecules only one atom thick arranged in a honeycomb shape. Still early in technological development, current fabrication methods require the addition of substituents to obtain a uniform material. Additive-free methods result in flimsy, breakable fibers until now.
An international team of researchers has developed self-assembling, stable and strong nanographene wires. The results were published on March 24 in
Journal of the American Chemical Society.
A new method to analyze chemical status of lithium was developed by using a synchrotron-based scanning transmission soft X-ray microscope (STXM). A key of the method is installation of a newly designed X-ray lens, a low-pass filtering zone plate, to the STXM to improve quality of a monochromatic X-ray. 2-dimensional chemical state of a test electrode of Li-ion battery was successfully analyzed with spatial resolution of 72 nm.
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Efforts to enhance the ability of proteins to resist breaking down, or âdenaturingâ, at high temperatures is one of the hottest topics in biotech. Researchers have now identified some of the principles behind how this works, potentially opening up a raft of industrial applications for designer proteins.
Bioengineers have found why proteins that are designed from scratch tend to be more tolerant to high temperatures than proteins found in nature.
Natural proteins with high âthermostabilityâ are prized for their wide range of applications, from baking and paper-making to chemical production. Efforts to enhance protein thermostabilityâand to discover the principles behind thisâis one of the hottest topics in biotech.