Dec 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) How heavy can an element be? An international team of researchers has found that ancient stars were capable of producing elements with atomic masses greater than 260, heavier than any element on the periodic table found naturally on Earth. The finding deepens our understanding of...
Giant doubts about giant exomoons
Dec 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Only two of the more than 5300 known exoplanets have so far provided evidence of moons in orbit around them. In observations of the planets Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b from the Kepler and Hubble space telescopes, researchers had discovered traces of such moons for the first...
Flexible metal-organic frameworks mimic origami folding at molecular scale
Dec 08, 2023 (Nanowerk Spotlight) For centuries, origami, the ancient art of paper folding, was used to create decorative figures for crafts and artwork. In recent decades however, origami principles have inspired technological innovations in engineering flexible mechanical metamaterials. These origami-based materials can reversibly fold and unfold in response to...
Blend of past to present yields stunningly robust nano vacuum tube transistor
Dec 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Dr Heo Su-jin and Prof. Jang Jae-eun’s research team, affiliated with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at DGIST, developed an ultra-small nano vacuum tube transistor. As the developed transistor can stably operate in atmospheric pressure without being affected by extreme external environments,...
Quantum dot solar cells meet MXene for simultaneous efficiency and stability gains
Dec 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A research team led by Professor Jong-min Choi of the Department of Energy Engineering has developed a technology that can significantly improve the efficiency of quantum dot photovoltaic cells by introducing organic solvent dispersible MXene. The research has been published in Advanced Energy Materials ("Organic...
World’s highest-performance eco-friendly quantum dot photosensor with no external power source required
Dec 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) At Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Professor Ji-woong Yang from the Department of Energy Science and Engineering has achieved a groundbreaking feat. Collaborating with Professor Moon-kee Choi's team at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology's Department of New Materials Engineering and...
Researchers safely integrate fragile 2D materials into devices
Dec 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Two-dimensional materials, which are only a few atoms thick, can exhibit some incredible properties, such as the ability to carry electric charge extremely efficiently, which could boost the performance of next-generation electronic devices. But integrating 2D materials into devices and systems like computer chips is...
Plant-inspired liquid metal actuators unlock new potential for flexible robotics
Dec 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A research team led by Prof. TIAN Xingyou and Prof. ZHANG Xian from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) have utilized liquid metal to construct Liquid metal/Polyimide/Polytetrafluoroethylene (LM/PI/PTFE) programmable photothermal actuators based on asymmetric thermal expansion. The...
New open-source platform cuts costs for running AI
Dec 08, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Cornell University researchers have released a new, open-source platform called Cascade that can run artificial intelligence models in a way that slashes expenses and energy costs while dramatically improving performance. Cascade is designed for settings like smart traffic intersections, medical diagnostics, equipment servicing using augmented...
Optical and electrically driven single-molecular Raman switch
Dec 07, 2023 (Nanowerk News) The role of molecular junctions in nanoelectronics is most often associated with electronic transport; however, their precise characterisation hinders their widespread development. Recently, most research has focused on investigating molecular junctions based on electronic characterization. In addition to applied voltage, light can influence the molecular...