[Images above] Credit: NIST
NANOMATERIALS
Capillary nanostamping with spongy stamps
The urgency to develop reliable, versatile and ultimately high-throughput surface stamping techniques for micro-/nanocontact printing has rapidly increased. Capillary nanostamping has emerged as a more versatile fabrication technique for nanocontact printing.
A sprinkle of platinum nanoparticles onto graphene makes brain probes more sensitive
Graphene electrodes could enable higher quality imaging of brain cell activity thanks to new research by a team of engineers and neuroscientists at the University of California San Diego.
Using gold nanoparticles to trigger sequential unfolding of 3-D structures
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique that takes advantage of gold nanoparticles to trigger the sequential unfolding of three-dimensional structures using different wavelengths of light.
ENERGY
Research could lead to more efficient electronics
A team of physicists has demonstrated a way to conduct electricity between transistors without energy loss, opening the door to low-power electronics and, potentially, quantum computing that would be far faster than today’s computers.
Capturing light in a waveguide array: Confined, insensitive light could improve lasers, solar cells
A team of physicists has demonstrated in a proof-of-concept experiment that they can contain light in such a way that makes it highly insensitive to defects that might be present in a material.
Demystifying the future of connected and autonomous vehicles
Researchers are deploying advanced modeling and simulation tools to predict the impact of connected and autonomous vehicles on energy and mobility in metropolitan areas. The goal is to measure how advanced technologies affect how people travel and how energy will be used.
Lead-free, efficient perovskite for photovoltaic cells
A KAIST research team has proposed a perovskite material, Cs2Au2I6 that serves as a potential active material for highly efficient lead-free thin-film photovoltaic devices. This material is expected to lay the foundation to overcome previously known limitations of perovskites.
Scientists go deep to quantify perovskite properties
Scientists led by Rice University and Los Alamos National Laboratory have discovered electronic properties in quantum-scale devices that are likely to impact the growing field of low-cost perovskite-based optoelectronics.
ENVIRONMENT
Simulating turbulent bubbly flows in nuclear reactors
Researchers have developed a novel bubble-tracking method that produces a level of detail that cannot be observed directly in experiments. They can now simulate the thousands of bubbles needed to model and predict the behavior of the flows in nuclear reactors.
Flexible solar cells: Will they someday power your devices?
Researchers at Aalto University in Finland and Université de Montréal are studying whether the now-experimental technology could someday be mass-produced and commercialized, and some of the issues that have to be resolved, including the environmental impact.
New study estimates the carbon footprints of 13,000 cities
Cologne, Manchester, and Montreal rarely make the list of the world’s megacities. Yet they are all in the top 100 worldwide in terms of their carbon footprint. A new study says it is these cities, along with others, that drive the global carbon footprint.
OTHER STORIES
Scientists develop material that could regenerate dental enamel
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have developed a new way to grow mineralized materials which could regenerate hard tissues such as dental enamel and bone.
FEFU scientists have created a new type of optical ceramic material
The new material is needful to develop instruments for the high-precise measuring of distances, terrestrial and space optical communications, pollution monitoring, implementation of new modes of laser processing, information recording, and storage.
NAU scientist contributes to significant advance in silicon photonics
Northern Arizona University assistant professor Ryan Behunin collaborated with a team of physicists in discovering an innovative way to manipulate light in silicon. The team’s research represents a significant advance in the field of silicon photonics.
ORNL launches Summit supercomputer
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory today unveiled Summit as the world’s most powerful and smartest scientific supercomputer. Summit will provide unprecedented computing power for research in energy and other domains.
Author
Faye Oney
CTT Categories
- Material Innovations
- Weekly Column: “Other materials”