Public health officials recommend the N95 masks should be worn by frontline medical workers. But if you're going to buy a regular mask or make your own out of cloth, what's the best material for protecting yourself and those around you?According to researchers, the filtration efficiencies of hybrids, such as cotton-silk and cotton-flannel, were more than 80 percent for particles smaller than 300 nanometers and more than 90 percent for particles larger than 300 nanometers. A nanometer equals one billionth of one meter....
IMAGE: Machine learning tools developed by Assoc. Prof. Andrew Ferguson and his collaborators are able to screen self-assembling peptides to find the best candidates for electronic, biocompatible materials. view more Scientists and engineers are on a quest to develop electronic devices that are compatible with our bodies: think of materials that can help wire neurons back together after brain injuries, or diagnostic tools that can easily be absorbed within the body.A family of self-assembling peptides, called Ï-conjugated oligopeptides, has shown promise for becoming the basis of the next-generation of these electronic, biocompatible materials. But identifying the right molecular sequences to create the optimal self-assembled nanostructures would require testing thousands of possibilities that each take approximately one month to test in the lab....
An international team of scientists that includes researchers from ITMO University has developed a new composite material based on perovskite nanocrystals for the purpose of creating miniature light sources with improved output capacity. The introduction of perovskite nanocrystals into porous glass microparticles made it possible to increase their operating time by almost three times, and the subsequent coating of these particles with polymers - to increase the stability of their optical properties when underwater, which is especially important for the purposes of creating light sources for application in biological media. The results have been published in ChemNanoMat.Perovskite nanocrystals are some of the most researched objects in modern materials science. They have excellent optical properties, such as the purity and brightness of emitted light, which makes them appealing for use in modern laser systems. At the same time, perovskites are unstable in the air, when interacting with water, as well as under intensive illumination. This is why the improvement of perovskite nanocrystals' stability is one of the key tasks that stands before the scientific community.An international team of scientists that includes researchers from ITMO University, Ioffe Institute, as well as City University of Hong Kong, studied various conditions for the introduction of perovskite nanocrystals into porous spheres of silicon dioxide that can act as both protective matrices and optical resonators for spontaneous amplification of the luminescence signal. Their research identified the optimal parameters for the manufacturing of a perovskite nanocrystals-based luminescent material where the emission intensity stayed at 85% of the original, which is significantly higher than that of the same nanocrystals without a protection matrix. Such composite materials also remained stable under the effect of intensive UV radiation, which can be used as a light pumping source when designing laser systems....
OTTAWA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Equispheres, a materials science innovator based in Ottawa, Canada, today announced they have raised Series B investment and a new round of funding totaling $30 Million (CDN), at an undisclosed valuation. This round of funding was led by advanced materials and sustainable technology investor, HG Ventures, with participation from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), BDC, Canadaâs bank for entrepreneurs, and other undisclosed contributors. âWe are extremely excited to have HG Ventures as a partner,â says Kevin Nicholds, President and CEO of Equispheres, âtheir extraordinary combination of research capability and venture capital experience made them an ideal partner to understand both the technical and market potential of our product across the transportation industry. We are also grateful to have the support of the Canadian government, enabling us to leverage investor financing to achieve our objective of providing a high-quality product at volume levels the marketplace demands.â The round was comprised of $10 million in equity investment from HG Ventures, an $8 million-dollar grant from SDTC, $5 million-dollar subordinated financing from BDC (previously announced and now released under conditions met with this raise) and an additional $7 million in undisclosed funding. Equispheres had previously announced the $8 million grant contribution from SDTC in a release on January 15th, 2020. Equispheres was one of 14 Canadian cleantech companies that received support from SDTC in a strategic investment to âposition Canada as a global leader in innovationâ and create jobs....
