Author Archives: DIPC
Controlling single molecule conductance with a new class of covalent bond formation
One of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, if not the greatest, was the transistor. It revolutionized the electronics industry and changed the way people around the world lived, learned, worked, and played. Its invention marked the […]
How chirality information can transfer over long distances
Usually, optical activity is understood as the ability some substances have to change the handedness of polarized light when it goes through them. Molecules that show optical activity have no plane of symmetry. The commonest case of this is in […]
Metal atoms enhance quantum dot coupling in metal-organic nanoporous networks
A quantum dot (QD) is a nanometric crystalline structure of semiconductor materials. In a QD electrons are confined in a region of space, thus creating a well defined structure of energy levels that depends very much on the size […]
Flavin bioorthogonal photocatalysis mechanism
A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change. As the catalyst itself takes part in the reaction it may undergo a physical change. Metal complexes are typically […]
Exploring new physics at the European Spallation Source using neutrinos
Spallation is a type of nuclear reaction in which the interacting nuclei disintegrate into a large number of protons, neutrons and other light particles, rather than exchanging nucleons between them. It is thought that most of the nuclei of light […]
Tracking the tautomerization of a single molecule in space and time
There are chemical compounds, called isomers, that have the same molecular formulae but different molecular structures or different arrangements of atoms in space. In constitutional isomerism the molecules have different molecular structures: i.e., they may be different types of compound, […]
An additional contribution to the spin Hall effect induced by an electric current
The interactions between moving charges and magnetic fields can be quite complicated; more if we consider the quantum effects. One example is the collection of Hall effects.
Imagine that we have a conductor or a semiconductor through which a current […]
Huisgenases, new protein catalysts which are not enzymes
Proteins can perform a huge number of biological functions with amazing efficiency. In order to achieve these different functions, proteins rely on the precise 3D arrangement of functional groups which are referred to as the protein fold. Some of these […]
Quantum atomic fluctuations stabilize the crystal responsible for superconductivity at 250 K
Achieving room temperature superconductivity is among the most pursued but elusive goals of scientists. In December 2014 researchers claimed to have observed superconductivity as high as 200 K in hydrogen sulfide at high pressure, breaking all the records thus […]
A local quantum emitter can be used to sense the environment of a molecule with the minimal quantum of energy
Plasmonic nanostructures confine light to dimensions far smaller than the free-space wavelength, as they mix optical fields with electronic excitations. It was not until the 1990s, with the appearance of accurate and reliable nanofabrication techniques, that plasmonics blossomed. It […]