Blog
- Next generation electronics: Expanding the possibilities with silver nanowires 16/09/2021 Today's nanoscale technologies are sophisticated enough to be applied in an endless number of useful devices, from sensors in touch screen devices and household appliances to wearable biosensors that can monitor chemical levels in our blood, muscle movement, breathing and pulse rate. In addition, there are technologies for precision devices such as high-resolution scanning probe microscopes which enable one to visualize surfaces not only at the atomic level, but even the individual atoms themselves.
- Physicists develop new unique scanning tunneling microscope with magnetic cooling to study quantum effects 14/09/2021 Scanning tunneling microscopes capture images of materials with atomic precision and can be used to manipulate individual molecules or atoms. Researchers have been using the instruments for many years to explore the world of nanoscopic phenomena. A new approach is now creating new possibilities for using the devices to study quantum effects.
- Highly durable biomimetic nanotrough electrodes for proton exchange membrane fuel cells 07/09/2021 Membrane electrode assembly is the core part of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). However, the high consumption of platinum and poor durability of carbon supported platinum nanoparticles (Pt/C) in the conventional cathode prohibit the large-scale commercialization of fuel cell vehicles.
- A peculiar state of matter in layers of semiconductors 02/09/2021 Scientists around the world are developing new hardware for quantum computers, a new type of device that could accelerate drug design, financial modeling, and weather prediction. These computers rely on qubits, bits of matter that can represent some combination of 1 and 0 simultaneously. The problem is that qubits are fickle, degrading into regular bits when interactions with surrounding matter interfere. But new research at MIT suggests a way to protect their states, using a phenomenon called many-body localization (MBL).
- Redox-less electron transfer in ‘weird’ material could allow powerful batteries 31/08/2021 A material has been identified that should have the strange property of being able to both store and lose electrons without the usual associated redox reactions. The redox-less process, predicted to occur in a fluoride-ion based material, could enable long-lasting, high capacity next generation batteries.
- Progress in algorithms makes small, noisy quantum computers viable 26/08/2021 Instead of waiting for fully mature quantum computers to emerge, researchers have developed hybrid classical/quantum algorithms to extract the most performance -- and potentially quantum advantage --
- Theories predict 2D nanofluidic channels showing nonlinear conduction function as memory-effect transistors 24/08/2021 A team of researchers at Sorbonne Université has developed a way to show 2D nanofluidic channels carrying out nonlinear conduction functions as memory-effect transistors, using theory and simulations. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their work with aqueous electrolytes confined in a two-dimensional gap between graphite layers and what they learned from it. Yaqi Hou and Xu Hou with Xiamen University have published a Perspective piece in the same journal issue outlining work involved in replicating the ways that neurons communicate using ionic and neurotransmitter conduction, and the work done by the team in France.
- Fibra capaz de detectar campos magnéticos extremamente fracos é produzida na Unesp 19/08/2021 Uma fibra magneto-óptica capaz de detectar campos magnéticos extremamente fracos foi desenvolvida no Laboratório de Vidros Especiais (LaVie) do Instituto de Química da Universidade Estadual Paulista (IQ-Unesp), no campus de Araraquara.
- Breakthrough in 3D magnetic nanostructures could transform modern-day computing 17/08/2021 Scientists have taken a step towards the creation of powerful devices that harness magnetic charge by creating the first ever three-dimensional replica of a material known as a spin-ice.
- Emergent magnetic monopoles controlled at room temperature 12/08/2021 Three dimensional (3D) nano-networks promise a new era in modern solid state physics with numerous applications in photonics, bio-medicine, and spintronics.
- New viable means of storing information for quantum technologies? 10/08/2021 Quantum information could be behind the next technological revolution. By analogy with the bit in classical computing, the qubit is the basic element of quantum computing. However, demonstrating the existence of this information storage unit and using it remains complex, and hence limited. An international research team used theoretical calculations to show that it is possible to realize a new type of qubit, in which information is stored in the oscillation amplitude of a carbon nanotube