Gold membrane coaxes secrets out of surfaces

Thousand-fold signal amplification

26-Jun-2024 - Using a special wafer-thin gold membrane, ETH researchers have made it significantly easier to study surfaces. The membrane makes it possible to measure properties of surfaces that are inaccessible to conventional methods. “Surfaces were invented by the devil” - this quote is attributed to the ...

Accurate rapid tests made from smart graphene paper

The potential range of applications covers virtually all chemical, biological and medical analyses that can be performed in aqueous solutions

29-Mar-2023 - A team led by ETH Zurich chemical engineers Chih-​Jen Shih and Andrew deMello have developed a rapid test system made of smart graphene paper. It only costs a few cents per test strip, is easy to use but is as accurate as lab measurements. The approach will impact more than just disease ...

Light amplification accelerates chemical reactions in aerosols

Temporal sequence of photochemical reaction in individual aerosol particles observed with high resolution

21-Apr-2022 - Aerosols in the atmosphere react to incident sunlight. This light is amplified in the interior of the aerosol droplets and particles, accelerating reactions. ETH researchers have now been able to demonstrate and quantify this effect and recommend factoring it into future climate models. Liquid ...

Changes in colour indicate deformations

Fluorescence indicates overstressed parts

24-Aug-2021 - ETH Zurich researchers have developed a new type of laminate that changes colour as soon as the material is deformed. This way, the materials researchers can kill two birds with one stone: a lightweight composite material that inspects itself. Lightweight construction has found its way into many ...

Uncovering atomic movements in crystal

28-Aug-2018 - Scientists can spend a long time in heated debates over tiny details – for example, how and whether atoms in a crystal move when heated, thereby altering the symmetry. Using computer simulations for the mineral lead telluride on the CSCS supercomputer “Piz Daint”, ETH researchers have resolved a ...

Extremely bright and fast light emission

12-Jan-2018 - An international team of researchers from ETH Zurich, IBM Research Zurich, Empa and four American research institutions have found the explanation for why a class of nanocrystals that has been intensively studied in recent years shines in such incredibly bright colours. The nanocrystals contain ...

Google provides open source library for quantum chemistry

Platform-independent solution to integrate future developments

26-Oct-2017 - Since physicists have been dealing with the theoretical description of molecules, the solving of quantum mechanical equations has been a major obstacle. This is supposed to be a thing of the past with the release of an open source based system. Google has introduced such a system to the public ...

Holograms for molecules

27-Sep-2017 - Much can be detected in blood or urine: viral illnesses, metabolic disorders or autoimmune diseases can be diagnosed with laboratory tests, for instance. But such examinations often take a few hours and are quite complex, which is why doctors hand the samples over to specialist ...

New technique speeds nanoMRI imaging

Multiplexing technique for nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging cuts normal scan time from two weeks to two days

01-Jun-2015 - NanoMRI is a scanning technique that produces nondestructive, high-resolution 3-D images of nanoscale objects, and it promises to become a powerful tool for researchers and companies exploring the shape and function of biological materials such as viruses and cells in much the same way as ...

Advanced imaging for bone research and materials science

High-resolution method for computed nano-tomography developed

30-Sep-2010 - A novel nano-tomography method developed by a team of researchers from the Technische Universität München (TUM), the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the ETH Zurich opens the door to computed tomography examinations of minute structures at nanometer resolutions. The new method makes possible, ...