[Images above] Credit: NIST
NANOMATERIALS
Mimicking moth eyes to produce transparent anti-reflective coatings
Tokyo University of Science researchers are working on a novel strategy to produce moth-eye nanostructures and transparent films. In their latest study, they showed a two-step inductively coupled plasma etching process was best to obtain a high-quality nanostructured mold in glassy carbon.
Scientists grow carbon nanotube ‘forest’ much longer than any other
Waseda University researchers developed an approach for growing carbon nanotubes forests of about 14 cm, or 7x greater than the previous maximum. They add a gadolinium layer to the conventional iron-aluminum oxide catalyst and then place the catalyst in a vapor deposition chamber, where it is supplied with small concentrations of iron and aluminum vapors.
Germanium telluride’s hidden properties at the nanoscale revealed
Researchers from Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin and Lomonosov Moscow State University showed that germanium telluride crystals possess two distinct types of boundaries surrounding ferroelectric nanodomains with sizes between 10 to 100 nanometers.
ENERGY
New technique extends next-generation lithium metal batteries
Columbia University researchers found that alkali metal additives, such as potassium ions, can prevent lithium microstructure proliferation during battery use. The work is one of the first in-depth characterizations of the surface chemistry of lithium metal using NMR.
Scientists develop energy-saving ‘liquid window’
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore developed a liquid window panel that simultaneously blocks the sun while trapping thermal heat that can be released through the day and night. They developed the window by placing hydrogel-based liquid within glass panels.
Research shows efficient and inexpensive fuel cells in sight
A research team comprising University of California Los Angeles, California Institute of Technology, and Ford Motor Company improved fuel-cell technologies to exceed U.S. Department of Energy targets in efficiency, stability, and power. They did so by accelerating the chemical reaction and quickly expelling excess water from the reaction site.
OTHER STORIES
New ‘genomic’ method reveals atomic arrangements of battery material
Researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, and European collaborators developed a new way to decipher the atomic-level structure of materials by comparing computationally generated chemically plausible structures to powder diffraction data.
Optimizing the design of new materials
Northwestern Engineering researchers developed a new computational approach to accelerate the design of materials exhibiting metal-insulator transitions. The approach combines multi-objective Bayesian optimization with latent-variable Gaussian processes to optimize ideal features in a family of metal-insulator transition materials called complex lacunar spinels.
3D-print experts discover how to make tomorrow’s technology using ink-jet printed graphene
University of Nottingham researchers showed it is possible to jet inks containing tiny flakes of 2D materials such as graphene to build up and mesh together the different layers of 3D-printed novel electronic devices.
New technology allows cameras to capture colors invisible to the human eye
Tel Aviv University researchers developed cheap and efficient technology that could mount on a standard camera and allows the conversion of photons of light from the entire mid-infrared region to the visible region, at frequencies that the human eye and the standard camera can pick up.
Lead-free magnetic perovskites
Researchers led by Linköping University create a nonhazardous, magnetic double perovskite. They incorporated magnetic iron ions into a previously known double perovskite consisting of caesium, silver, bismuth and bromine. The new material has a magnetic response at temperatures below 30 K (-243.15°C).
Researchers at University of Tokyo experimentally verified that Bose-Einstein condensates work as superconductors. They also verified a smooth transition between Bose-Einstein condensates and the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer regime, which they say hints at a more general underlying theory behind superconductivity.