[Images above] Credit: NIST
NANOMATERIALS
Unusual ‘quasiparticle’ in common 2D material
National University of Singapore researchers found when 2D layer of molybdenum disulphide is grown on single crystal of strontium titanate, the charged trion in MoS2 can further interact with atomic vibrations in SrTiO3 lattice to form new quasiparticle named ‘polaronic trion,’ which can enable significant tunability in optoelectronic properties of MoS2.
Enhancing materials for hi-res patterning to advance microelectronics
Researchers at Brookhaven National Lab used the recently developed technique of infiltration synthesis to combine the organic polymer poly(methyl methacrylate), or PMMA, with inorganic aluminum oxide to create “resists,” or materials that are used as templates for transferring circuit patterns into device-useful substrates.
ENERGY
Blue perovskite LEDs get an efficiency boost
By combining perovskite nanoparticles with 2D perovskites, researchers doubled the efficiency of blue LEDs. The device only glows for a few minutes, but the work is a step toward developing high-performance blue perovskite emitters.
Science history: How the bunnies got their power
In a recent Cosmos article, journalist Jeff Glorfeld looks back at the birth of the battery, from when Alessandro Volta introduced the theory of electrical current and produced his Voltaic Cell in the late 1700s to the Energizer bunny, which did not appear until 1989.
BIOMATERIALS
Biological risk potential of nanoparticles studied
Researchers from Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf found encapsulation of carbon nanoparticles in lysosomes ensures the particles are stored securely and cannot damage the cell. The researchers say this insight is important if nanoparticles are to be used to deliver drugs into cells.
Scientists discover way to ‘grow’ tooth enamel
It is difficult to reproduce the complex structure of natural tooth enamel. Researchers say they got around this problem by developing a way to produce tiny clusters of calcium phosphate—the main component of enamel—with a diameter of just 1.5 nanometers.
MANUFACTURING
Ranking proposed for crumbling concrete
Trinity College professors who have been working for years testing foundation samples for pyrrhotite, the mineral causing foundations to crumble, believe there may never be a set amount of the mineral that would be deemed acceptable but are instead proposing a sliding scale of deterioration.
OTHER STORIES
Tattoo needles leave more than just ink
Researchers led by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Germany found when tattoo ink contains titanium dioxide, it wears away the needle. Metal particles of iron, chromium, and nickel then end up in a person’s lymph nodes.
How to practice safer sunscreening
Researchers in Australia successfully used microchips to demonstrate titanium dioxide, a chemical found in most sunscreens, not only is nontoxic but also offers protection against ultraviolet damage to skin cells.
Physicists create device for imitating biological memory
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology researchers created a second-order memristor based on hafnium oxide that acts like a synapse in the living brain, storing information and gradually forgetting it when not accessed for a long time. The device offers prospects for designing analog neurocomputers that imitate the way a biological brain learns.
First report of superconductivity in a nickel oxide material
Scientists at SLAC National Accelerator Lab and Stanford University made nickelate, the first nickel oxide material that shows clear signs of superconductivity. It is similar to superconducting copper oxides (cuprates) but seems to differ in fundamental ways—for example, it may not contain a type of magnetism seen in superconducting cuprates.
Entanglement sent over 50 km of optical fiber
Researchers at University of Innsbruck and at Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences sent a light particle entangled with matter over 50 km of optical fiber. This distance is two orders of magnitude further than was previously possible and is a practical distance to start building intercity quantum networks.