Blog
- Surprising semiconductor properties revealed with innovative new method 17/03/2022 A research team probing the properties of a semiconductor combined with a novel thin oxide film have observed a surprising new source of conductivity from oxygen atoms trapped inside.
- Revealing new states in 2D materials 15/03/2022 Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials can provide highly interesting excitonic properties, which render them an attractive platform to explore polaritonic physics.
- Physicists observe an exotic “multiferroic” state in an atomically thin material 10/03/2022 MIT physicists have discovered an exotic “multiferroic” state in a material that is as thin as a single layer of atoms. Their observation is the first to confirm that multiferroic properties can exist in a perfectly two-dimensional material. The findings, published today in Nature, pave the way for developing smaller, faster, and more efficient data-storage devices built with ultrathin multiferroic bits, as well as other new nanoscale structures.
- Visualization of the origin of magnetic forces by atomic resolution electron microscopy 08/03/2022 Electron microscopes have the highest spatial resolution among all currently used microscopes. However, in order to achieve ultra-high resolution so that atoms can be observed directly, we have to observe the sample by placing it in an extremely strong lens magnetic field. Therefore, atomic observation of magnetic materials that are strongly affected by the lens magnetic field such as magnets and steels had been impossible for many years. For this difficult problem, the team succeeded in developing a lens that has a completely new structure in 2019. Using this new lens, the team realized atomic observation of magnetic materials, which is not affected by the lens magnetic field. The team’s next goal was to observe the magnetic fields of atoms, which are the origin of magnets (magnetic force), and they continued technological development to achieve the goal.
- Scientists discover quantum phase transition in pressurized cuprate superconductors 03/03/2022 The discovery of cuprate high-temperature superconductors in 1986 impacted science and technology considerably and continues to fascinate the communities of condensed matter physics and material sciences because they host the highest ambient-pressure superconducting transition temperature and unconventional electronic behavior. However, the underlying mechanism of the superconductivity is yet an unsolved mystery. Searching for the universal links between the superconducting state and its neighboring quantum states is considered an effective approach to elucidate the high temperature superconducting mechanism.
- An easy to assemble PDMS/CNTs/PANI flexible supercapacitor with high energy-to-power density 02/03/2022 The fabrication of a flexible supercapacitor with state-of-the-art performance is described, based on a facile and low-cost fabrication method that encompasses aligned carbon nanotube arrays (ACNTA)-polyaniline/polydimethylsiloxane electrodes (ACNTA-PANI/PDMS). The ACNTA were partially embedded in PDMS to ensure excellent adhesion and integration whilst PANI was electrodeposited on its surface to improve energy storage properties.
- Tiny electrical vortexes bridge gap between ferroelectric and ferromagnetic materials 24/02/2022 Ferromagnetic materials have a self-generating magnetic field, ferroelectric materials generate their own electrical field. Although electric and magnetic fields are related, physics tells us that they are very different classes of material. Now the discovery by University of Warwick-led scientists of a complex electrical ‘vortex’-like pattern that mirrors its magnetic counterpart suggests that they could actually be two sides of the same coin.
- Researchers create molecule that can pave way for mini-transistors 22/02/2022 Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have succeeded in developing a simple hydrocarbon molecule with a logic gate function, similar to that in transistors, in a single molecule. The discovery could make electric components on a molecular scale possible in the future. The results are published in Nature Communications.
- NEWS Flip battery sideways for NMR studies 17/02/2022 Researchers have recorded the first ever nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of unmodified, off-the-shelf button batteries as they are charged and discharged. The metal battery casing had so far prevented such studies as it blocks the NMR radiofrequency field. But a team from Sandia National Laboratories, US, has found a way around this – simply turn the battery by 90°.
- NEWS Dilanthanide complexes smash record for strongest single-molecule magnet 15/02/2022 Newly discovered dilanthanide complexes are the strongest single-molecule magnets ever made. It’s the first time that chemists have isolated complexes featuring lanthanide–lanthanide bonds, and could offer a way to make powerful new permanent magnets.
- Towards high-performance organic optoelectronics with better crystallinity at semiconductor interface 10/02/2022 Semiconductor electronic devices can be made of either inorganic crystals, formed by the strong bonding of atoms and ions, or organic crystals, which demonstrate weaker bonds held together by van der Waals forces (weak electric forces of attraction between neutral atoms or molecules that do not share a chemical bond). These weak bonds make organic semiconductors viable for flexible optoelectronics applications such as wearable electronic devices and flexible solar cells. However, this very characteristic also lends them a disadvantage: organic semiconductors typically exhibit poor charge carrier mobility and, therefore, do not conduct electricity well.