Smalley-Curl Institute

Nanoflakes

A little soap simplifies making 2D nanoflakes

The right combination of surfactant, water and processing can maximize the quality of 2D hexagonal boron nitride for such products as antibacterial films.

Flash

Rice ‘flashes’ new 2D materials.

Rice scientists extend their technique to produce graphene in a flash to tailor the properties of 2D dichalcogenides, quickly turning them into metastable metallics for electronic and optical applications.

Flashing plastic ash completes recycling

Rice ‘flashes’ new 2D materials

2D compound shows unique versatility

Plasmon

‘Soft’ nanoparticles give plasmons new potential

Bigger is not always better, but here’s something that starts small and gets better as it gets bigger.

A color map illustrates the inherent colors of 466 types of carbon nanotubes with unique (n,m) designations based their chiral angle and diameter.

Sheets of carbon nanotubes come in a rainbow of colors

Nanomaterials researchers in Finland, the United States and China have created a color atlas for 466 unique varieties of single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Films made of highly aligned nanotubes like those developed at Rice in 2016 will be part of advanced tissue imaging systems. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

Rice physicist shares grant to advance imaging

The lab of physicist Junichiro Kono will share in a $1 million grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to improve imaging of proteins, cells and tissues.

Chemists at Rice University have discovered a second level of fluorescence in single-walled carbon nanotubes. The fluorescence is triggered when oxygen molecules excited into a singlet state interact with nanotubes, prompting excitons to form triplet states that upconvert into fluorescing singlets. (Credit: Illustration by Ching-Wei Lin/Rice University)

Chemists get peek at novel fluorescence

Rice chemists find a second level of fluorescence in single-walled carbon nanotubes. The phenomenon may be useful in solar energy and optoelectronic applications.

Rice University researchers have expanded their theory on converting graphene into 2D diamond, or diamane. They have determined that a pinpoint of pressure can trigger connections between layers of graphene, rearranging the lattice into cubic diamond. (Credit: Illustration by Pavel Sorokin)

Rice finds path to nanodiamond from graphene

Rice University researchers expand their theory on converting graphene into 2D diamond, or diamane.

Rice University will roll up for the second international Nanocar Race with a new vehicle. The one-molecule car has a permanent dipole that makes it easier to control. (Credit: Alexis van Venrooy/Rice University)

Rice rolls out next-gen nanocars

Rice researchers continue to advance the science of single-molecule machines with a new lineup of nanocars, in anticipation of the next international Nanocar Race in 2022.

A pictorial schematic depicts the structure and action of a nanopatterned plasmonic metasurface that modulates polarized light at terahertz frequencies.

A trillion turns of light nets terahertz polarized bytes

Nanophotonics researchers at Rice University, the Polytechnic University of Milan and the Italian Institute of Technology have demonstrated a novel technique for modulating light at terahertz frequencies with plasmonic metasurfaces.

The National Science Foundation renews the Rice-based Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Center for five years. The Engineering Research Center is dedicated to enabling access to clean water around the world.

NSF renews Rice-based NEWT Center for water treatment

The National Science Foundation renews the Rice-based Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Center for five years. The Engineering Research Center is dedicated to enabling access to clean water around the world.

Artist's impression of aluminum nanocatalysts of different shapes

Shape matters for light-activated nanocatalysts

Points matter when designing nanoparticles that drive important chemical reactions using the power of light, according research from Rice University's Laboratory for Nanophotonics.

Atoms in the crystal lattice of tantalum disulfide arrange themselves into six-pointed stars that can be manipulated by light, according to Rice University researchers. The phenomenon can be used to control the material’s refractive index. It could become useful for 3D displays, virtual reality and in lidar systems for self-driving vehicles. (Credit: Weijian Li/Rice University)

Ambient light alters refraction in 2D material

Microscopic crystals in tantalum disulfide have a starring role in what could become a hit for 3D displays, virtual reality and even self-driving vehicles.