Category archives: Materials

Manipulating the topological surface states with molecular adsorbates

Manipulating the topological surface states with molecular adsorbates

Condensed matterMaterials

By DIPC

A topological insulator is a material in which there is order associated to topology, i.e., the surface can conduct electricity but the bulk of the material is an insulator. In these last years topological insulators have received the attention of a large area of the scientific community thanks to their exotic properties. They are promising […]

Strains control electronic properties and magnetic ordering in an atomically-thin layer

Strains control electronic properties and magnetic ordering in an atomically-thin layer

Condensed matterMaterials

By DIPC

Geometrical structure, lattice periodicity and atomic arrangement are subtly intertwined with the electronic properties of materials. Sub-angstrom changes in the atomic distance are sufficient to modify the physical and chemical properties, such as the band-structure, carrier mobility and the chemical reactivity. The deposition of two-dimensional layered crystals on mechanically stretchable or bendable substrates can produce […]

Origami, the art of folding

Origami, the art of folding

Materials

By Silvia Román

Origami, the ancient art of creating intricate sculptures from a flat sheet of paper, is no longer just a Japanese curiosity, but a cutting-edge manufacturing technique. Just through bending and folding a given material, we can obtain complex 3D structures with applications in electronics, bioengineering or architecture, just to name a few that are currently […]

Ab initio modeling the chemical storage of alternative energy

Ab initio modeling the chemical storage of alternative energy

ChemistryEnergyMaterials

By TCCM

Author: Carles Martí is a Ph.D. student (ITN-EJD-TCCM) at University of Perugia Nowadays, mostly everybody has heard about global warming, a problem that humanity faces and that can drastically change our climate in the upcoming years. This is caused by the, also well known, greenhouse effect, produced by the gases our modern society generates, to […]

Hydrogen gas as alternative fuel

Hydrogen gas as alternative fuel

ChemistryMaterialsTCCM

By TCCM

Author: Jelle Vekeman is a Ph.D. student (ITN-EJD-TCCM) at Universitat de València For a long time now, we have mainly been using fossil fuels to satisfy our increasing needs for energy. Resources, however, are limited and waste products destructive for the environment. As researchers and companies are exploring alternatives, hydrogen gas (H 2 ) seems […]

Growing chiral graphene nanoribbons

Growing chiral graphene nanoribbons

ChemistryCondensed matterMaterials

By DIPC

Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), are strips of graphene with ultra-thin width (<50 nm). Graphene ribbons were introduced as a theoretical model by Mitsutaka Fujita and coauthors to examine the edge and nanoscale size effect in graphene. GNRs are very interesting structures, partly due to their attractive electronic properties. Those properties vary dramatically with changes in the […]

Ruthenium nitrosyl complexes: a useful kind of molecular photoswitches

Ruthenium nitrosyl complexes: a useful kind of molecular photoswitches

ChemistryMaterialsTCCM

By TCCM

Author: Francesco Talotta is a Ph.D. student (ITN-EJD-TCCM) at Université Toulouse III A molecular switch consists in a molecular device able to change its physical or chemical properties (as its color for example) in a well definite way. In the best cases changing can be fully controlled, normally by an external chemical or physical factor […]