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For the first time, researchers at Empa and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research have succeeded in "growing" single-wall carbon nanotubes (CNT) with a single predefined structure - and hence with identical electronic properties. And here is how they pulled it off: the CNTs "assembled themselves", as it were, out of tailor-made organic precursor molecules on a platinum surface, as reported by the researchers in the latest issue of the journal "Nature".

A new, absorbable material from wood research could be of assistance in future oil spill accidents: a chemically modified nanocellulose sponge.

Transparent conductive films are now an integral part of our everyday lives. Whether in smartphones, tablets, laptops, flat screens or (on a larger scale) in solar cells.

Immobile patients are in constant danger of developing pressure ulcers on the skin. Researchers have worked together to develop a special sheet that is gentle on the skin and helps to make patients more comfortable.

Hydrogen production by solar water splitting in photoelectrochemical cells (PEC) has long been considered the holy grail of sustainable energy research.

Reduced to the max: the emission-free, noiseless 4-wheel drive ca represents lightweight construction at its most extreme. The nano car consists of just a single molecule and travels on four electrically-driven wheels in an almost straight line over a copper surface. A number of chemists aim to use similar principles and concepts to design molecular transport machines, which could then carry out specific tasks on the nano scale.

Environmentally friendly fuels are not just of interest for use in cars. The University of Birmingham has been operating a canal boat with a fuel cell drive for three years now.

Graphene is a promising material for tomorrow's nanoelectronics devices, as reported myScience.ch earlier . Precise and upscaleable methods to fabricate graphene and derived materials with desired electronic properties are however still searched after. To overcome the current limitations, researchers have fabricated graphene-like materials using a surface chemical route and clarified in detail the corresponding reaction pathway.