Author: Meilani Wibowo obtained her master’s degree at the University of Valencia, Spain. Currently she is a Ph.D. student (ITN-EJC TCCM) at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, where she works on the improvement of organic photovoltaic devices. Solar energy as one of the alternative and sustainable energy sources has a potential to replace fossil […]
This year the Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart and Ben Feringa “for the design and synthesis of molecular machines” . These devices, often described as the tiniest “Lego” , a re indeed so small that is difficult to grasp their size used as we are to the macroscopic […]
Author: Tommaso Francese is a Ph.D. student (ITN-EJD-TCCM) at Universitat de Barcelona Every year the amount of data produced is of the order of magnitude of the Avogadro’s constant, thus 6.028×10 23 . Let’s say that it is more or less the quantity of hydrogen atoms contained in 1 gram. This trend is supposed to […]
A chemical compound or molecule consisting of two identical simpler molecules is a dimer. If one of the simpler molecules is excited while the other is in its ground, non-excited, state we talk about excimers. They are excited dimers which are non-bonding in the ground state. Thus, excimers can be considered evanescent quasi-particles that typically […]
Chemistry • Condensed matter • Materials • Physics • Quantum physics
Graphene is a two-dimensional allotrope of carbon made of hexagons. In February 2015, penta-graphene, only made of pentagons, was theoretically proposed as another two-dimensional allotrope of carbon . Apparently, it is dynamically, thermally, and mechanically stable, exhibiting a large band gap (graphene is gapless). However, an exhaustive experimental search has been inconclusive, resulting in doubts […]
Everybody knows the force that is required to activate a light switch on a wall – a finger is enough. But how much force do you need to apply if the device was dramatically reduced to the “nanoscale world”, that is, how much force do you need to operate a “single-molecule switch”? This fundamental question […]
In order to study new solid state magnetic properties appropiate new laboratory models are needed. In particular, there is a necessity for a substrate to investigate new forms of magnetic coupling with nanoscale ferromagnets and the exotic physics at the interface with semiconductor or superconductor materials. Now a team of researchers from DIPC and some […]
Author: Leire Gartzia Rivero got a Chemistry degree and completed her Master studies in “New Materials” at the University of the Basque Country. She holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Technology obtained at the same university, in the Molecular Spectroscopy Laboratory, where she focused on the spectroscopic characterization of photoactive nanomaterials based on energy […]
A phase may be defined as a homogeneous portion of a system that has uniform physical and chemical characteristics. Every pure material is considered to be a phase; so also is every solid, liquid, and gaseous solution. For example, a sugar–water syrup solution is one phase, and solid sugar is another. Each has different physical […]
Ionization is a fundamental process in chemistry and physics, lying at the heart of many fascinating phenomena. Ionization is the process of producing ions. Certain molecules ionize in solution, for example. But ions may also be formed when an atom or molecule loses one or more electrons as a result of energy gained in a […]