Where researchers who worked with two-dimensional materials and those who worked with membranes were once separate, synergistic opportunities are resulting in exciting new developments at their intersection, a Vanderbilt University chemical and biomolecular engineering professor has both opined and proven. In a review published earlier this year in Advanced Materials, Assistant Professor of Chemical and…
Quantum Mechanics Work Lets Oil Industry Know Promise of Recovery Experiments Before They Start
With their current approach, energy companies can extract about 35 percent of the oil in each well. Every 1 percent above that, compounded across thousands of wells, can mean billions of dollars in additional revenue for the companies and supply for consumers. Extra oil can be pushed out of wells by forced water – often…
Nanotweezers Detect Cancer and Viruses
An award-winning Vanderbilt University researcher used plasmonics to develop a new kind of nanotweezers that can rapidly trap and detect molecules, viruses, and DNA — a device transformative for medicine that also has color printing applications. Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering Justus Ndukaife and his Purdue University collaborators poked holes in gold film smaller than…
Revolutionary Nanotube Discovery Could Clean Air for Profit
Imagine a box you plug into the wall that cleans your toxic air and pays you cash. That’s essentially what Vanderbilt University researchers produced after discovering the blueprint for turning the carbon dioxide into the most valuable material ever sold — carbon nanotubes with small diameters. Carbon nanotubes are supermaterials that can be stronger than…