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[Image above] Credit: NIST

Interface surprises may motivate novel oxide electronic devices

A team led by Oak Ridge National Lab has made a surprising discovery—that intrinsic electric fields can drive oxygen diffusion at interfaces in engineered thin films made of complex oxides. The surprising discovery may serve as a basis for design of new electronic devices utilizing both electrons and ions.

World’s smallest reference material is big plus for nanotechnology

NIST recently issued Reference Material 8027, the smallest known reference material ever created for validating measurements of synthesized ultrafine particles between 1 and 100 nm in size. The reference material consists of five hermetically sealed ampoules containing one milliliter of silicon nanoparticles—all certified to be close to 2 nm in diameter—suspended in toluene.

Live long and phosphor: Blue LED breakthrough for efficient electronics

Researchers at the University of Michigan have extended the lifetime of blue organic light emitting diodes by a factor of 10. The team showed that the high energies required to produce blue light are more damaging when the brightness is increased to levels needed for displays or lighting.

Nanotechnology leads to better, cheaper LEDs for phones and lighting

Princeton University researchers report that they have used a new nanoscale structure to increase the brightness and efficiency of LEDs made of organic materials by 57 percent. They also report their method should yield similar improvements in LEDs made of inorganic (silicon-based) materials.

Molybdenum disulphide may be new challenger to graphene

A team of researchers from the University of Southampton has announced a new way to fabricate a potential challenger to graphene. The material is molybdenum disulphide, which shares many of graphene’s properties, including extraordinary electronic conduction and mechanical strength, but is made from metal.

‘Greener,’ low-cost transistor heralds advance in flexible electronics

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles and Yonsei University (Korea) have reported a new, inexpensive and simple way to make transparent, flexible transistors. The researchers developed inks that create patterns on ultrathin, transparent devices when exposed to light.

New solar cells serve free lunch

Scientists at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University have developed a new method for making perovskite solar cells, using hybrid deposition to create cells made from a mixture of inexpensive organic and inorganic raw materials. The solar cells are about a thousand times thinner than silicon solar cells, and therefore use less material.

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