Spintronics is a field of technology that focuses on using the spin of electrons—an intrinsic property that can be thought of as a tiny magnetic moment—to store and process information. This concept is based on the fact that electrons, in addition to carrying electric charge, also have a “spin,” which can be oriented in different […]
Catalysis in industry is often driven by empirical investigations and, eventually, by unexpected discoveries. Frequently, the scientific understanding of the process takes much longer to develop. Ideally, it would be preferable to reverse this timeline, where scientific insights precede application. Nonetheless, even when the scientific explanation takes more time, a deep understanding of the underlying […]
Condensed matter • DIPC Interfaces • Materials • Nanotechnology • Quantum physics
Molecular spintronics is an emerging field that combines ferromagnetic materials with organic or metal–organic semiconductors. It benefits from the unique and exceptional properties of organic molecules, which go beyond inorganic ones. The strong response of many organic molecules to electrical, optical, ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic stimuli bring new potential functionalities to the spintronic device. An effective […]
The bottom-up design of hierarchically organized nanostructures is a powerful strategy to achieve new materials with innovative functionalities. To a large extent, this approach takes inspiration from the ability of living organisms to engineer hybrid nanocomposites both for structural and functional purposes. Intense research has been dedicated to synthesizing biologically inspired textures and shapes mimicking […]
Carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation (2CO + O2 → CO2) on platinum (Pt) group metal surfaces is the model heterogeneous gas/surface catalytic reaction. Pt itself is of the upmost importance as a catalyst for car exhaust cleaning or for the water gas shift reaction, whereas Pt crystal surfaces are model systems for investigating the catalytic CO […]
Electrical transport in non-centrosymmetric materials departs from the well-established phenomenological Ohm’s law. Instead of a linear relation between current and electric field, a non-linear conductivity emerges along specific crystallographic directions. This non-linear transport is fundamentally related to the lack of spatial inversion symmetry. Ohm’s law is one of the most established relations in Physics and […]
Whenever an electric current flows a magnetic field is produced; as the orbital motion and the spin of atomic electrons are equivalent to tiny current loops, individual atoms create magnetic fields around them, when their orbital electrons have a net magnetic moment as a result of their angular momentum. The magnetic moment of an atom […]
The way a particular reaction proceeds, described in terms of the steps involved, is called mechanism. The study of organic chemistry is, to a great extent, the study of reaction mechanisms and textbooks content both their description and their applications. But something has come to revolutionize the world of mechanisms: surface chemistry. On-surface synthesis is […]
Magnetic two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors have attracted a lot of attention because modern preparation techniques are capable of providing single crystal films of these materials with precise control of thickness down to the single-layer limit. It opens up a way to study a rich variety of electronic and magnetic phenomena with promising routes towards potential applications […]
Friction, an everyday phenomenon, has perplexed scientists for centuries. Though extensively researched, our understanding remains fragmented, primarily due to the multifaceted interactions that span across varying scales. Achieving an accurate grasp of the precise contact conditions between objects has been a longstanding challenge, a feat recently made possible through advancements in scanning probe microscopy. Yet […]