Dec 02, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Wakanda, the mythical setting for Marvels’ superhero film “Black Panther,” is home to some not-so-mythical technology. An indestructible cape might not yet be possible, but Wakanda’s levitating high-speed trains could zoom into reality with the help of superconductors. Now, a new discovery about electron behavior...
Scientists document the presence of quantum spin liquids, a never-before-seen state of matter
Dec 02, 2021 (Nanowerk News) In 1973, physicist Philip W. Anderson theorized the existence of a new state of matter that has been a major focus of the field, especially in the race for quantum computers. This bizarre state of matter is called a quantum spin liquid and, contrary to...
Microscopic 3D-printed sensors to detect hazardous gases and vapours
Dec 02, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Certain types of sensors detect and identify different types of hazardous pollutants, such as toxic or explosive gases. Some also measure gas concentration. The majority of our days are spent at home, work or travelling in our cars. Monitoring levels of pollutants reliably and in...
Aerogel photocatalyst could enable more efficient hydrogen production
Dec 02, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Aerogels are extraordinary materials that have set Guinness World Records more than a dozen times, including as the world’s lightest solids. Professor Markus Niederberger from the Laboratory for Multifunctional Materials at ETH Zurich has been working with these special materials for some time. His lab...
Some polycrystal grain boundaries feel the heat more than others
Dec 02, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Polycrystals are solid materials that are made up of lots of small crystals. The points where the crystals meet are known as grain boundaries (GBs). GBs are important because they can affect the way the solid behaves. However, conventional analysis techniques are unable to measure...
Perovskite solar cells soar to new heights
Dec 02, 2021 (Nanowerk News) In a joint effort between Pavia University (Italy) and the Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden at Technische Universität Dresden (Germany), researchers developed a novel method to fabricate lead halide perovskite solar cells with record efficiency - publication in the journal Science Advances ("23.7% Efficient inverted...
Strategies for reducing platinum waste in fuel cells
Dec 02, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Industry and university researchers used the Advanced Light Source (ALS) to explore why the platinum used as a catalyst in hydrogen fuel cells degrades unevenly (Advanced Energy Materials, "Probing Heterogeneous Degradation of Catalyst in PEM Fuel Cells under Realistic Automotive Conditions with Multi-Modal Techniques"). The...
Quantum physics across dimensions: Unidirectional Kondo scattering
Dec 02, 2021 (Nanowerk News) An international team led by EPFL scientists, has unveiled a unique quantum-mechanical interaction between electrons and topological defects in layered materials that has only been observed in engineered atomic thin layers (npj 2D Materials and Applications, "Unidirectional Kondo scattering in layered NbS2"). The phenomenon can...
Polyimide-mica nanocomposite film with high resistance to low-Earth-orbit environments
Dec 01, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Polyimide (PI) composite films are widely used on the external surfaces of spacecraft to protect them from the adverse environments of low Earth orbit (LEO) due to their outstanding comprehensive performance. However, current PI composite films have inadequate mechanical properties and atomic oxygen (AO) resistance....
Researchers test microchip for high-density synthesis of archival data storage DNA
Dec 01, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Researchers have made significant advances toward the goal of a new microchip able to grow DNA strands that could provide high-density 3D archival data storage at ultra-low cost – and be able to hold that information for hundreds of years. To enable the technology, researchers...