A method that can grow a useful insulating material into exceptionally high-quality films that are just one atom thick and are suitable for industrial-scale production has been developed. The material, called hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), is used in semiconductor devices and can also enhance the performance of other two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene and […]
Liquid crystals are all around us, from cell phone screens and video game consoles to car dashboards and medical devices. Run an electric current through liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and they generate colours, thanks to the unique properties of these fluids: rearrange their shape, and they reflect different wavelengths of light. As the lab of […]
Author: Leah Burrows, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences The earliest blacksmiths in the Bronze and Iron Ages figured out that when they deformed metal through bending or hammering, it became stronger. This process, known as work or strain hardening, is still used widely in metallurgy and manufacturing today to increase […]
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 […]
Periodic responses to nonperiodic energy inputs, such as oscillations, are hallmarks of living systems. Researchers have devoted considerable efforts to understanding and mimicking natural self-assembled structures and functions to systems composed of nonbiological components. This has rendered remarkable developments in regulating interparticle interactions to form static and dynamic self-assemblies. Dynamic assemblies can, under suitable stimuli […]
Chemical engineering • Food processing • Materials • Mechanical Engineering • Nanotechnology
Imagine a close basketball game that comes down to the final shot. The probability of the ball going through the hoop might be fairly low, but it would dramatically increase if the player were afforded the opportunity to shoot it over and over. A similar idea is at play in the scientific field of membrane […]
“Helicene” is the name introduced by Newman in 1955, to describe the benzologues of phenanthrene in which the extra ortho -condensed rings give rise to a (regular) cylindrical helix. The pioneer work of Newman in this field cannot be overemphasized; his brillant synthesis and resolution of [6]helicene will remain as a landmark, for it opened […]
Convenient fast charging and energy density of lithium-ion batteries have long been considered a trade-off, which has hindered the widespread adoption of electric vehicles. A new process will help develop stable, high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries capable of fast charging. A crucial prerequisite for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is the enhancement of lithium-ion battery […]
A team of researchers has invented a more efficient way to extract lithium from waste liquids leached from mining sites, oil fields and used batteries. They demonstrated that a common mineral can adsorb at least five times more lithium than can be collected using previously developed adsorbent materials. The new low-cost high-lithium-uptake process presents the […]
Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) is a type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) fabrication process that uses complementary and symmetrical pairs of p-type and n-type MOSFETs for logic functions. CMOS technology is used for constructing integrated circuit chips, including microprocessors, microcontrollers, memory chips, and other digital logic circuits. After 50 years of continuous transistor size downscaling and […]