What only a decades ago seemed impossible for chemists, determining the chemical structure of molecules directly from experimental images, is now routinely done. Not only that, the information about bond order, intermediates, and products of on-surface chemical reactions or charge distribution within molecules can also be quantified from those images. Two main techniques have made […]
Chemistry • Condensed matter • Energy • Materials • Physics • Quantum physics
Following the need for new and renewable sources of energy worldwide, fuel cells using electrocatalysts can be thought of as viable options. Catalyst materials modify and increase the rate of chemical reactions without itself undergoing any permanent change. An electrocatalyst is a catalyst that participates in electrochemical reactions and that functions at electrode surfaces or […]
A quantum dot is a nanometric crystalline structure of semiconductor materials. In a quatum dot electrons are confined in a region of space, thus creating a well defined structure of energy levels that depends very much on the size and shape of the quantum dot. This structure resembles that of atoms, that is why sometimes […]
The ability to trap and control particles with the help of well-controlled electromagnetic fields has led to revolutionary advances in the fields of biology, condensed- matter physics, high-precision spectroscopy, and quantum information, enabling unprecedented control both in the study of isolated single particles as well as in few and many-body systems subject to controlled and […]
Electrons do not move around nuclei in defined curved orbits. Our current understanding of how electrons are to be found in atoms and molecules is based on clouds of probability called orbitals as it is not possible to give a definite path for an electron. Thus, an orbital is a region in which an electron […]
Most plant and animal life on Earth depends on photosynthesis, a process in which green plants synthesize carbohydrates from CO2 and water, the reverse of this reaction provides energy for plants and animals. But the equilibrium of the reaction favours the reactants, not the products. It is the presence of UV light and of the […]
There is a variable that is relevant for such seemingly different fields as outer space exploration , nanotechnology , fusion research , or medicine. And that is electronic stopping, its precise knowledge important for the understanding of space weathering, ion beam patterning, plasma-wall interactions, or radiation therapy, respectively. When ions propagate in matter, they are […]
According to how the electronic band theory is usually explained, solids can be classified as insulators, semiconductors, or metals. But, actually, there is another kind of solid between semiconductors and metals, the semimetals. In insulators and semiconductors the filled valence band is separated from an empty conduction band by a band gap, in metals there […]
In 1882, Heinrich Hertz devoted himself to the study of electromagnetism, including the recent and still generally unappreciated work of Maxwell. Two years later he began his famous series of experiments with electromagnetic waves. During the course of this work, Hertz discovered the photoelectric effect, which has had a profound influence on modern physics. The […]
Major technological revolutions have occurred when the humankind has been able to harness natural resources, such as fire, electricity or nuclear energy. We are now in the verge of the so called second quantum revolution, that aims to harness two of the weirdest natural resources, coherence and entanglement. This is a tall order that calls […]