News

Celebrating #womenatNano

Cnr Nano joins the social media campaign on the occasione of the Int’l Day of Women & Girls in Science, introducing a one of its talented female researcher every week for a whole year. Because every day should be #womenscienceday!

Vincenzo Grillo receives prestigious Ernst Ruska Prize 2023

The Society for Electron Microscopy presents the prestigious Ernst Ruska Prize to Vincenzo Grillo, in recognition of “his outstanding scientific achievements related to electron microscopy”. The prize will be presented at the MC2023 Microscopy Conference, on March 1, 2023.

Nano Colloquia 2023 – the first semester series is out!

The Nano Colloquia seminars feature two talks every month by Cnr Nano researchers presenting latest research achievements and discussing new perspectives within our community. A deep dive into the institute’s most advanced research.

digital illustration of two entangled electron with opposite spins

Spin correlation between paired electrons demonstrated

Physicists at the University of Basel in collaboration with Cnr Nano have experimentally demonstrated for the first time a negative correlation between the spins of an entangled pair of electrons from a superconductor. Researchers used spin filters made of nanomagnets and a semiconductor nanowire, as they report in the journal Nature.

Shedding light on pH-sensitive photoluminescence

Cnr Nano researchers explain the experimentally observed, yet elusive, pH-responsive fluorescence of peptide-functionalized gold nanoparticles that can be used in biomedical applications. Results are published in ACS Nano.

New metamaterial to control mechanical waves

Nano-fabricated gallium arsenide manifests a new refraction property: the ability to asymmetrically refract high-frequency acoustic waves depending on the coming side of the pulses. Results are published in Nature Communications.

Dysprosium atoms as readable/writeable magnetic bits

Single atoms of the rare-earth element dysprosium were found suitable to host magnetic bits when supported by strontium titanate crystals. The observations suggest new methods to read/write the magnetic information.

New type of thermoelectricity from superconductors

Cnr Nano researchers report the experimental observation of an astounding
bipolar thermoelectric effect between two different superconductors subject to nonlinear thermal gradients. Results are published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Ultra-light aerogels derived from egg white

Egg-white proteins can be transformed into ultralightweight hierarchical carbon aerogels for highly efficient water purification – capturing 99.99% of nano/microplastic contamination from seawater. The result of an international collaboration, which includes Cnr Nano, published on Materials Today.

A coin-sized device to detect measles virus in saliva

The new lab-on-a-chip is based on surface-acoustic-wave technology and is capable of detecting measles virions in human saliva. Results, published in Advanced Functional MaterialsIt, may enable early “point-of-care” diagnostic applications.

The new Cnr Nano Activity Report is out!

The latest Activity Report of Istituto Nanoscienze presents our most exciting achievements for the years 2020-2021. Read on and discover 164 pages of frontier research, active collaborations, and outreach activities!

Ilaria Tonazzini (left) Laura Baroncelli (right)

Improving the therapeutic pipeline in Angelman syndrome

A new research project led by Ilaria Tonazzini of Cnr-Nano has been funded by the Angelman Syndrome Alliance. It will develop a less invasive method to deliver Angelman syndrome therapy and assess non-invasive imaging methods.

Stimulating curiosity at school

The spring series of seminars held by Cnr Nano researchers to engage students at all levels to the wonders of nanoscience ended successfully.

Molecular motors touch down

A combined STM and DFT study reveals that upon deposition on a metal surface the energetics of motor molecules conformations are modified. Results are published and pictured on the cover of The Journal of Physical Chemistry C.