[Image above] Credit: ACerS
NANOMATERIALS
New properties discovered in diamond semiconductors
Researchers from Case Western Reserve University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found that boron-doped diamonds exhibit plasmons, allowing electric fields to be controlled and enhanced on a nanometer scale.
Researchers unlock new insights into tellurene
Rice University researchers published a study describing how quasiparticles called polarons behave in the nanomaterial tellurene.
Scientists use ‘lone-pair electrons’ as chemical scissor to design 2D van der Waals oxide
Researchers at Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed a new structural design strategy: using lone pair electrons as “chemical scissors” to prepare 2D van der Waals oxides.
ENERGY
Solar panels should not be cleaned with dishwashing detergent
University of Turku researchers investigated the best way to clean solar panels. Most cleaning agents, such as glass cleaner and isopropanol, proved suitable for cleaning the studied solar panel glass. The exception was dishwashing detergent—even dirty glass transmitted more light than glass cleaned with dishwashing detergent.
Scientists harness the power of layered crystals for energy innovation
University of Missouri physics professors are exploring how halide perovskites could transform light-powered energy technology. They explored the fundamental optical properties of halide perovskites using ultrafast laser spectroscopy, and they created intricate patterns on the thin films using cryogenic electron beam patterning.
For clean ammonia, engineers propose going underground
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers used the Earth as a geochemical reactor to produce ammonia underground. They injected water containing nitrogen and a metal catalyst into an area of iron-rich subsurface rock. The catalyst allowed the water to react with the iron and generate clean hydrogen, which in turn reacted with the nitrogen to make ammonia.
ENVIRONMENT
Researchers unveil ‘surprising’ breakthrough in carbon nanotube recycling
Rice University researchers demonstrated that carbon nanotube fibers produced by different manufacturers can be fully recycled together without any loss in their structure or properties.
University of Hawaii advances wave energy research through TEAMER
In 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy launched the Testing Expertise and Access for Marine Energy Research program, which is helping the University of Hawaii test a wave-powered ocean observation platform and breakwater.
MANUFACTURING
New wiring material could transform chip technology
Stanford University researchers showed that thin films of niobium phosphide exhibit much higher conductivity than copper below a thickness of 5 nm (the typical thickness of the wiring in today’s chips is about 10–30 nm).
In-space 3D printing research paves way for future in-orbit fabricators
University of Glasgow researchers demonstrated a patented process that can effectively 3D print in low-Earth gravity with feedstock and fiber reinforcement, freeing up the ability to build structures on-demand in space.
OTHER STORIES
Physicists measure quantum geometry for the first time
Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicists measured the geometry of electrons in solids at the quantum level using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Scientists have long known how to measure the energies and velocities of electrons in crystalline materials, but until now, those systems’ quantum geometry could only be inferred theoretically.
Researchers make breakthrough in high-pressure optical materials
Oakland University researchers showed that Ba₃(ZnB₅O₁₀)PO₄, an ideal choice for laser systems operating in deep ultraviolet ranges, remains remarkably stable up to 43 Gigapascals—a pressure almost 400,000 times greater than Earth’s atmospheric pressure at sea level.
