Although conventional microscopes enlarge images of small structures or objects using light, they miss the mark with nanoparticles that remain invisible due to their inability to absorb or scatter light. Optical resonators can increase the…

A DESY NanoLab research team observed a single catalyst nanoparticle at work—and rendered a 3D look. The experiment demonstrated how the chemical composition of the nanoparticle’s surface becomes more active under reaction conditions and…

Glass, rubber and plastics are amorphous solids. While common, unlike other classes of solids, they have stymied researchers attempts to determine their atomic structures with precision. Mapping the 3D atomic structures of crystals, for…

How nanoparticles melt has been a mystery since the study of the extremely small began. While initial theoretical models describing melting have been around for a century, with more relevant models being about 50 years old, the way melting…

Silver nanoparticles make a glue-free deformable mirror possible

Levitation may sound like the stuff of magic shows or New Age gurus, but California Institute of Technology researchers have designed a way to levitate and propel objects using only light, by creating specific nanoscale patterning on the…

A durable transparent surface coated with gold nanoparticles embedded in titanium oxide can clear fogged surfaces four times faster than surfaces treated with other anti-fog agents, says the lead author of a recent ETH study. The coating…