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[Images above] Credit: NIST

NANOMATERIALS

Atomically thin perovskites boost for future electronics

Researchers at the National Institute for Materials Science have developed the world’s highest performance dielectric nanofilms using atomically thin perovskites. They created high-performance dielectric nanofilms using 2-D perovskite nanosheets as building blocks.

Researchers develop highly sensitive gas sensors from silicon nanowires

A team from Lomonosov Moscow State University has suggested using porous silicon nanowire arrays in highly sensitive gas sensors. These devices will be able to detect the presence of toxic and non-toxic gas molecules in the air at room temperature.

All-nanotube stretchable supercapacitor with low equivalent series resistance

Scientists from Skoltech and Aalto University in Finland proposed a novel method for the fabrication of an all-nanotube stretchable supercapacitor from single walled carbon nanotube film electrodes and a boron nitride nanotube separator.

Project will provide reaction kinetics data for synthesis of metallic nanocrystals

Researchers have published the first part of what they expect to be a database showing the kinetics involved in producing colloidal metal nanocrystals—which are suitable for catalytic, biomedical, photonic and electronic applications—through an autocatalytic mechanism.

ENERGY

Microscopic glass structures could help improve solar panel performance

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are working to improve the next generation of solar panels. They’re using something called fused silica glass. Imagine tiny blades of grass, almost 1,000 times thinner than a human hair, tightly packed together.

Lithium-ion battery demand grows despite overheating danger, travel limits

Lithium ion batteries power nearly all of our small, portable electronics. But despite more than 20 years of research, there are no immediate viable alternatives with the required energy densities, according to Candace Chan, an associate professor at Arizona State University.

Standardizing perovskite aging measurements

EPFL scientists have produced a data-driven proposal for standardizing the measurements of perovskite solar cell stability and degradation. The work aims to create consensus in the field and overcome one of the major hurdles on the way to commercializing perovskite photovoltaics.

Non-electric batteries could store solar energy

A team of chemists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has developed a polymer-based system that can yield energy storage density—the amount of energy stored—more than two times higher than previous systems.

Thermoelectric power generation at room temperature: Coming soon?

A research team has created a thermoelectric material with promising performance at room temperature. Ytterbium silicide is a good electrical conductor with a layered structure that promotes the thermoelectric effect by blocking heat conduction.

Halogens can increase solar cell performance by 25%

New research from the University of British Columbia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that using halogens in a dye-sensitized solar cell can increase conversion efficiency by as much as a quarter.

OTHER RESEARCH

Gallium nitride processor—next-generation technology for space exploration

A material known as gallium nitride, poised to become the next semiconductor for power electronics, could be also essential for various space applications. An Arizona State University engineer plans to develop the first-ever processor from gallium nitride.

Probing ways to turn cement’s weakness to strength

Concrete isn’t thought of as a plastic, but plasticity at small scales boosts concrete’s utility as the world’s most-used material by letting it constantly adjust to stress long after hardening. Rice University researchers are a step closer to understanding why.

Researchers demonstrate high-quality optical microstructures using lithium niobate

Researchers have developed a technique to fabricate high-performance optical microstructures using lithium niobate, opening the door to ultra-efficient integrated photonic circuits, quantum photonics, microwave-to-optical conversion and more.

Single metalens focuses all colors of the rainbow in one point

A team of researchers has developed the first single lens that can focus the entire visible spectrum of light in the same spot and in high resolution. The metalenses use arrays of titanium dioxide nanofins to equally focus wavelengths of light and eliminate chromatic aberration.

Viewing 3-D atomic structures of dopant atoms relating to electrical activity in semiconductor

Scientists have developed a novel approach to determine and visualize the 3-D structure of individual dopant atoms. The technique will help improve current understanding of the atomic structures of dopants in semiconductors correlated with their electrical activity.

Can computers help us synthesize new materials?

Last month, three MIT materials scientists and their colleagues published a paper describing a new artificial-intelligence system that can pore through scientific papers and extract “recipes” for producing particular types of materials.

Predicting how seemingly disparate disordered materials fail, using ‘softness’ as a criterion

Scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara and University of Pennsylvania identified failure criteria shared by seemingly disparate disordered materials by looking at disordered solids with constituent particles whose size ranged across seven orders of magnitude.

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