[Images above] Credit: NIST
NANOMATERIALS
A nanotube material conducts heat in just one direction
Researchers from the University of Tokyo and colleagues created a material out of carefully aligned carbon nanotubes that conducts heat along the tubes but not across them. The new substance could revolutionize the way thermal engineers design and build cooling systems for computers and other devices.
How to induce magnetism in graphene
Researchers succeeded in synthesizing a unique nanographene predicted in the 1970s, which conclusively demonstrates that carbon in very specific forms has magnetic properties that could permit future spintronic applications.
Physicists image electrons flowing like water
Physicists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel imaged electrons flowing viscously through a nanoscale detector built from a carbon nanotube transistor, like water flowing through a pipe. Electrons usually move through conductors more like gas than liquid.
Better studying superconductivity in single-layer graphene
Researchers at University of Antwerp in Belgium demonstrate that an existing technique called ‘dielectric function method’ is better suited for probing superconductivity in pure, single-layer graphene than previously thought.
Growing carbon nanotubes with the right twist
Researchers led by Institute for Basic Science in Korea achieved the creation of a specific type of carbon nanotube with a selectivity of 90% and expanded the current theory that explains the synthesis of these nanocylinders.
ENERGY
Detours may make batteries better
Rice University researchers discovered that placing specific defects in the crystalline lattice of lithium iron phosphate-based cathodes broadens avenues through which lithium ions travel. Their calculations could improve performance up to two orders of magnitude.
Silver improves the efficiency of monograin layer solar cells
Researchers at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia improved the efficiency of monograin layer solar cells by partial substitution of copper with silver in absorber material. They say replacing 1% copper with silver improved efficiency from 6.6% to 8.7%.
ENVIRONMENT
A more efficient way to turn saltwater into drinking water
Carnegie Mellon University researchers explore the potential of metal-organic frameworks to desalinate water. They found few layers MOF membranes show one order of magnitude higher water flux compared to that of single-layer nanoporous graphene or molybdenum disulfide, without the requirement of drilling pores.
Big step in producing carbon-neutral fuel: Silver diphosphide
Wake Forest University researchers used silver diphosphide as a novel catalyst that takes carbon dioxide pollution from manufacturing plants and converts it to a material called syngas (synthesis gas), from which the liquid fuel used in manufacturing is made.
OTHER STORIES
Tiny magnetic particles enable new material to bend, twist, and grab
Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and The Ohio State University developed a soft polymer material that uses magnetic fields to transform into a variety of shapes. The material contains iron oxide for inductive heat, neodymium iron boron with strong magnetic attraction, and shape-memory polymers to help lock various shape changes into place.
Tiny quantum sensors watch materials transform under pressure
Scientists led by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and University of California, Berkeley, with support from the Center for Novel Pathways to Quantum Coherence in Materials, found by turning natural atomic flaws inside diamond anvils into tiny quantum sensors, they opened the door to a wide range of experiments inaccessible to conventional sensors.
Wonder material grows on trees
Researchers at University of Maryland in College Park reported at the 2019 Fall Meeting of the Material Research Society that a material that combines nanocellulose with graphite has mechanical properties surpassing those of steels, other established structural materials.
Bullets that shoot through water
A new weapon being tested by the U.S. military could give special operators a more lethal edge by allowing them to shoot underwater. The bullets, manufactured by DSG Technologies, are tipped with tungsten and create a gas bubble to allow the bullet to move rapidly through the water.
3D-printed bunny contains DNA instructions to make a copy of itself
Researchers 3D printed a bunny using data stored on DNA inside the bunny itself. They compressed the data down to 45 kilobytes and encoded it in DNA, which they put in silica beads. An initial digital file was then used to 3D print the bunny with those beads, and clippings from the newly printed bunny’s ear let them print another bunny.