Nanotech discovery to bring flexi screens

A University of New Hampshire (UNH) research team has created the first stable derivative of nonacene, a new compound derivative that could be the key to flexible screens, high-efficiency solar panels and chameleon military camouflage outfits, says Mass High Tech.

The discovery came after UNH organic chemistry professor Glen Miller and his team spent a year trying to prepare a stabilised nonacene. Its smaller cousin, pentacene, is already widely used in organic light-emitting diodes, which appear in devices such as television screens and cellphones.

Miller said the process could be scaled up to mass production. For the creation of flexible organic electronic devices, the compound would need to be applied to a material like cloth or plastic, as a coating in a low-cost process that would be easy to employ in a manufacturing setting, he said.

The bacteria on people's hands could be used in forensic identification, in the same way as DNA, say scientists, according to BBC News.

Researchers in the US discovered that the 'communities' of bacteria living on a person's skin are different for each individual. The team took swabs from keyboards and were able to match the bacteria they found to the computer owners.

Even on the hands of the most scrupulously clean people, about 150 different species of bacteria can be found. Each person leaves behind a unique trail of bugs as they go about their daily lives. And this trail, scientists say, could be the basis of a new forensic tool.

A research breakthrough has suggested that a new high-performance anode structure based on silicon-carbon nanocomposite materials could make lithium ion batteries - used in electrical equipment - perform considerably better, states Rapid Electronics.

The new structure takes advantage of nanotechnology to make an advance on the negative points of earlier silicon-based battery anodes. Last week Japanese researchers revealed they had made a breakthrough that could result in energy savings of 80% in integrated circuit chips.

Gleb Yushin, an assistant professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said: "This is a significant step toward commercial production of silicon-based anode materials for lithium-ion batteries."