Jan 30, 2023 (Nanowerk News) The importance of solar power as a renewable energy resource is increasing. Sunlight contains high-energy UV light with a wavelength shorter than 400 nm, which can be broadly used, for example, for photopolymerization to form a resin and activation of photocatalysts to drive reactions that...
New method to control electron spin paves the way for efficient quantum computers
Jan 30, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Quantum science has the potential to revolutionize modern technology with more efficient computers, communication, and sensing devices. Challenges remain in achieving these technological goals, however, including how to precisely manipulate information in quantum systems. In a paper published in Nature Physics ("Coherent spin–valley oscillations in...
Powering wearable technology with MXene textile supercapacitor ‘patch’
Jan 30, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Researchers at Drexel University are one step closer to making wearable textile technology a reality. Recently published in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Journal of Material’s Chemistry A ("Wearable energy storage with MXene textile supercapacitors for real world use"), materials scientists from Drexel’s College of...
Superconductivity switches on and off in ‘magic-angle’ graphene
Jan 30, 2023 (Nanowerk News) With some careful twisting and stacking, MIT physicists have revealed a new and exotic property in “magic-angle” graphene: superconductivity that can be turned on and off with an electric pulse, much like a light switch. The discovery could lead to ultrafast, energy-efficient superconducting transistors for...
Topological acoustic waveguide to help reduce unwanted energy consumption in electronics
Jan 30, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A team of researchers has developed a new acoustic waveguide based on the mathematical concept of topology, which will lead to reduced energy consumption in many everyday electronic devices. Details of their innovation were published in the journal Physical Review Applied ("Imaging an Acoustic Topological...
Electrode design for lithium-ion battery that improves smartphone, laptop battery performance
Jan 30, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) has announced the development of the design and process technology for the world's first battery electrode that significantly improves the performance and stability of batteries used in electronic devices such as smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles. A joint...
A fairy-like robot flies by the power of wind and light
Jan 30, 2023 (Nanowerk News) The development of stimuli-responsive polymers has brought about a wealth of material-related opportunities for next-generation small-scale, wirelessly controlled soft-bodied robots. For some time now, engineers have known how to use these materials to make small robots that can walk, swim and jump. So far, no...