Graphene and diamonds prove a slippery combination June 10th, 2015govt. -Legislation/Regulation/Funding/Policy VP: Iran Ranks 15th in World in Producing Science, 7th in Nanotechnology June 13th,
Graphene and diamonds prove a slippery combination June 10th, 2015chip Technology Iranian Researchers Model, Design Optical Switches June 13th, 2015new boron compounds for organic light-emitting diodes:
Graphene and diamonds prove a slippery combination June 10th, 2015moving sector walls on the nano scale June 6th, 2015discoveries Nature Communications:
Graphene and diamonds prove a slippery combination June 10th, 2015sensors Designer electronics out of the printer:
Graphene and diamonds prove a slippery combination June 10th, 2015researchers analyze the structure of bird feathers to create hues without dye June 8th, 2015environmental Issues to Hamper Growth of Global Nanocomposites Market June 4th, 2015industrial Industrial Nanotech,
2015researchers synthesize magnetic nanoparticles that could offer alternative to Rare earth magnets June 1st, 2015fuel Cells A protective shield for sensitive catalysts:
Graphene and diamonds prove a slippery combination June 10th, 2015govt. -Legislation/Regulation/Funding/Policy Toward nanorobots that swim through blood to deliver drugs (video) June 17th,
Imaging Scientists film shock waves in diamond: X-ray laser opens up new avenues of research in material science June 18th, 2015a new way to image surfaces on the nanoscale:
Method could be useful in developing green energy and a better understanding of rust June 18th, 2015news and information Scientists film shock waves in diamond:
2015cellulose from wood can be printed in 3-D June 17th, 2015new Sensors Measure Blood Anticoagulation Drug June 17th, 2015discoveries Scientists film shock waves in diamond:
/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers Scientists film shock waves in diamond: X-ray laser opens up new avenues of research in material science June 18th,
In this research, printing graphite electrode modified with silica and gold nanoparticles was used as an appropriate bed for the production of biosensors to detect four-strand structure of DNA
HZB team decodes relationship between magnetic interactions and the distortions in crystal structure within a geometrically'frustrated'spinel system Abstract:
A team at HZB has carried out the first detailed study of how magnetic and geometric ordering mutually influence one another in crystalline samples of spinel.
The results were published in Physical Review B. Spinels consist of densely packed, highly symmetrical planes of oxygen atoms (somewhat like a densely packed box of marbles) where different metallic elements are lodged in the spaces between them.
A great many different types of compounds arise as a result that are employed in extractive industries
The embedded metal ions in the Ni1-xcuxcr2o4 spinel system cause a distortion of the crystal structure.
The HZB team has analysed now comprehensively the chromium-spinel system and have explained the complex phase diagram at a fundamental level for the first time.
The series begins with samples of pure nickel-chromium spinel (x=0; a green powder) and continues with increasing proportions of copper.
which lies far below room temperature for pure nickel-spinel as well as for copper-spinel.""We were able for the first time to determine the magnetic characteristics exactly
Peninsula of orthorhombic state At a mixture ratio of 85%nickel and 15%copper, the spinel system displays a kind of narrow peninsula of orthorhombic state in the phase diagram where the observed Anm
Layered semiconducting black arsenic phosphorus as an alternative to silicon July 9th, 2015depletion and enrichment of chlorine in perovskites observed July 9th,
Layered semiconducting black arsenic phosphorus as an alternative to silicon July 9th, 2015depletion and enrichment of chlorine in perovskites observed July 9th,
Graphene is a thin atomic layer of graphite (used in pencils) with numerous properties that could be valuable in a variety of applications,
inexpensive graphite is irradiated. The process is relatively faster, safer and green--devoid of any toxic substances (just graphite plus concentrated light.
Following this proof of concept, the BGU-UWA team is now planning an experimental program to scale up this initial success toward markedly improving the volume and rate at
#Diamond-like coatings save fuel (Nanowerk News) Scientists already know how to coat components with diamond-like carbon to minimize friction.
which layers of carbon almost as hard as diamond can be applied on an industrial scale at high coating rates and with high thicknesses.
and thus more resistant to wear than conventional diamond-like coatings. Unfortunately, you cant just scrape off diamond dust and press it onto the component.
a pulsed laser is scanned vertically across a rotating graphite cylinder as a means of controlling the arc.
The ability to monitor such gases in production facilities and coal fired power stations gives vital early warning of explosions
#Hematite're-growth'smoothes rough edges for clean energy harvest (Nanowerk News) Finding an efficient solar water splitting method to mine electron-rich hydrogen for clean
power has been thwarted by the poor performance of hematite. But by'regrowing'the mineral's surface, a smoother version of hematite doubled electrical yield, opening a new door to energy harvesting artificial photosynthesis,
according to a report published online today in the journal Nature Communications("Enabling Unassisted Solar Water Splitting by Iron Oxide and Silicon").
"Re-grown hematite proved to be a better power generating anode, producing a record low turn-on voltage that enabled the researchers to be the first to use earth-abundant hematite
and silicon as the sole light absorbers in artificial photosynthesis, said Boston College associate professor of chemistry Dunwei Wang,
By smoothing the surface of hematite, a team of researchers led by Boston College chemist Dunwei Wang achieved'unassisted'water splitting using the abundant rust-like mineral and silicon to capture and store solar energy within hydrogen gas.
NPG) The new hydrogen harvesting process achieved an overall efficiency of 0. 91 percent, a'modest'mark in and of itself,
but the first'meaningful efficiency ever measured by hematite and amorphous silicon, two of the most abundant elements On earth,'the team reported.'
'By simply smoothing the surface characteristics of hematite, this close cousin of rust can be improved to couple with silicon,
'Wang said the findings represent an important step toward realizing the potential performance theoretical models have predicted for hematite, an iron oxide similar to rust.'
which included researchers from Boston College, UC Berkeley and China's University of Science and Technology, decided to focus on hematite's surface imperfections,
The team reevaluated hematite surface features using a synchrotron particle accelerator at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The team reported that further modifications to the new hematite-silicon method make it amenable to large-scale utilization.
Furthermore, the're-growth'technique may be applicable to other materials under study for additional breakthroughs in artificial photosynthesis.'It is a delight to see that a simple re-growth treatment can do so much to improve the performance of hematite,
'Due to its prior poor performance, hematite has been pronounced'dead'by many leading researchers in the field.
and the Diamond Light source in Oxfordshire, England. In the process, they discovered why the electrons are so fast and mobile.
Image courtesy of Chongwu Zhou and Bilu Liu) The demand for a silicon material aided the discovery of graphene, a single layer of graphite
Conventional methods for creating materials with high pressure use tiny diamond anvils to poke or squeeze materials.
However, the ultra-short laser micro-explosion creates pressures many times higher than the strength of diamond crystal can produce.
which a piece of tape is used to peel graphene fragments off a chunk of graphite,
such as yttrium iron garnet (YIG. When they apply a heat gradient across the material, the spins begin to"move"--that is,
Wu looked at a layer of ferromagnetic YIG on a substrate of paramagnetic gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG.
Graphene, made from single atom-thick layers of graphite, was a suitable candidate due its electronic performance
the W. M. Keck Professor of Energy at MIT and a senior author of a paper describing the findings in the Journal of Physical chemistry C("Reactivity of Perovskites with Water:
"The research focused on a class of oxides called perovskites that are of interest for applications such as gas sensing, water purification, batteries, and fuel cells.
The material comprised of germanium, antimony and tellurium in which data media store information may also be suitable as an extremely fast light switch for optical communication or data processing.
Electrons are diffracted differently in the crystalline structure of a compound of germanium, antimony and tellurium (GST) than in the amorphous one.
if a GST layer were sandwiched between two thin graphite layers or even between two layers of graphene.
"The researchers have begun the process of mining their imaging data by looking first at an area of the brain that receives sensory information from mouse whiskers,
and technology such as how animals and plants grow minerals into shapes that have no relation to their original crystal symmetry.
In contrast, amorphous conglomerates can simply aggregate. These atoms later become organized by"doing the wave"through the mass to rearrange into a single crystal,
or trapped in the minerals of sediments has implications for environmental management of water and soil."
And because I don't see China shutting down its coal fired power plants anytime soon, there's no end to this drought
About a decade ago, Cubist tried its hand at mining microbial dark matter, says Eisenstein. The company gave up the hunt
Mr Pivac father was a mining surveyor so he grew up around measuring instruments from a young age.
the team measured the effect of near-infrared light on thin layers of water by examining the friction on a diamond probe as it pushed through water
and incorporated into a CH3NH3PBI3 perovskite solar cell, which displayed a power conversion efficiency of 16.91,
#Oil and gas companies target coal industry as climate deal comes closer As the global climate deal draws closer,
oil and gas companies are claiming that coal is the major factor that is posing a threat to climate.
they are considering gulp coal's market share in power generation. According to them, natural gas and oil are so much part of the problem.
However, gas produced by many oil companies release about half the CO2 EMISSIONS of coal fired plants and lower levels of air pollution.
Counterstrikes against fellow fossil fuels industries have been resisted by the coal industry. It has opted instead to draw attention to new technologies that improve the efficiency of coal fired power plants or capture their CO2 EMISSIONS.
Many environmental advocacy groups are skeptic behind the attacks of oil-and-gas industry's on coal.
Many existing flow batteries use expensive rare earth metals like vanadium. This new battery is modeled on photosynthesis and uses quinones
When crystalline materials such as quartz and ceramics are stretched or compressed, they generate an electric charge. That's called piezoelectricity,
As a result, the bacteria excrete a hard limestone filler which fills in the crack
#Scientists Make Friction Disappear By Coating Diamonds With Graphene Diamonds are already one of the hardest natural substances known to science.
and diamond nanoparticles are also incredibly slippery, which can be useful if you want to reduce friction in a moving machine.
Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory recently announced that the combination of tiny bits of diamond with the two-dimensional graphene created tiny structures that had superlubricity--meaning that the friction between them
When the diamond nanoparticles came in contact with the thin sheets of graphene (carbon that's only an atom thick) the graphene rolled up around the diamond nanoparticles,
With the new graphene coating, the diamond particles could roll far more easily over a larger diamond-like surface that the researchers used as a testing ground.
and diamond that makes the superlubricity possible right now, but researchers hope that they can expand the property to other materials in the future. he knowledge gained from this study will be crucial in finding ways to reduce friction in everything from engines or turbines to computer hard disks and microelectromechanical systems,"nanoscientist Ani Sumant,
so excruciating that it is called often the one breaker, causing severe pain in the joints and abdomen, vomiting,
Together they formed Team Turquoise to make their hypothesis a reality. Co-creator Nell Bennett explained how doppel represents truly empathic wearable technology
Team Turquoise says prototype models have been tested successfully on hundreds of people. They say doppel was tested also independently by psychologists at Royal Holloway University of London;
Bilicki, along with the rest of Team Turquoise, believe doppel is a unique and game-changing addition to the burgeoning wearable technology market."
Conventional waveplates, made from multilayer stacks of materials such as quartz, have difficulty achieving both broadband and wide-angle conversion.
and lithium-borate (Libo2) precursors and was coated with reduced graphite oxide (RGO) to enhance the electrode properties of the material.
To produce an efficient electrode the researcher coated the vanadate-borate powder with reduced graphite oxide (RGO.
and electrode designs as well as by using coatings other than reduced graphite oxide i
#Robots learn to use kitchen tools by watching Youtube videos Researchers at the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) partnered with a scientist at the National Information Communications technology Research Centre
or nitrogen atoms embedded in diamond--would still benefit from using entangled photons to move quantum information around.
The team of physicists at ANU and the University of Otago stored quantum information in atoms of the rare earth element europium embedded in a crystal.
This method uses magnetic fields to break the time-reversal symmetry with certain specialized garnet and ferrite materials.
Makerbot has supplied also the Feinstein Institute with early samples of its just-announced Makerbot PLA Composite Filaments in Limestone (calcium carbonate) and Iron
Petrochemical and biofuel refineries use materials called zeolites that act as molecular sieves to sort filter and trap chemical compounds as well as catalyze chemical reactions necessary to produce
There are more than 200 known zeolites and hundreds of thousands predicted zeolite variations. The key to improving biofuel and petrochemical processes is to find which zeolites work best.
Unfortunately synthesizing novel zeolites in the lab is complicated a long process that can take many months each.
To analyze all the known and predicted structures would take decades. Instead researchers from the University of Minnesota and Rice university developed a complex computational screening process that can look at thousands of zeolites in the virtual world
and identify their performance for specific applications. This reduces the need for trial and error experimentation in the lab. Using a supercomputer at Argonne National Laboratory we are able to use our computer simulations to compress decades of research in the lab into a total of about a day's worth of computing said lead researcher Ilja
Predicting the zeolites'performance required serious computing power efficient computer algorithms and accurate descriptions of the molecular interactions.
The computations identified zeolites to attack two complex problems. The first problem researchers tackled is the current multi-step ethanol purification process encountered in biofuel production.
Researchers found a few all-silica zeolites with superior performance that contain pores and channels with the ability to accommodate ethanol molecules
One of these zeolites which was synthesized and tested in University of Minnesota chemical engineering and materials science professor Michael Tsapatsis'lab was found to be so effective that it could change the ethanol/water separation process from a multi-step distillation process to a single-step adsorptive process.
They identified zeolite frameworks that could improve the dewaxing process of transforming linear long-chain into slightly branched hydrocarbon molecules called alkanes
Now the team of scientists from Exeter has found that one such material a mineral called perovskite could hold the key to cheaper PV energy generation.
Crucially the team conducted studies with perovskite in Alta Floresta (Brazil) Frenchman Flat (USA) Granada (Spain) Beijing (China) Edinburgh (UK) and Solar Village (Saudi arabia) and confirmed its efficiency
The results which show how perovskite devices work under real operating conditions will lead to our understanding them better
Given concern on large-scale solar farms across the country such techniques will be key to understand how the Perovskite technology integrates within our building envelope.
The research is questioning the perovskite material's ability to produce stable solar cells under versatile climatic conditions.
The obtained results are very crucial in terms of perovskite solar cell growth and understanding how to make better devices s
#New technique for growing high-efficiency perovskite solar cells This week in the journal Science, Los alamos National Laboratory researchers reveal a new solution-based hot-casting technique
that allows growth of highly efficient and reproducible solar cells from large-area perovskite crystals.""These perovskite crystals offer promising routes for developing low-cost, solar-based, clean global energy solutions for the future,"said Aditya Mohite,
the Los alamos scientist leading the project. State-of-the-art photovoltaics using high-purity, large-area, wafer-scale single-crystalline semiconductors grown by sophisticated,
Solar cells composed of organic-inorganic perovskites offer efficiencies approaching that of silicon, but they have been plagued with some important deficiencies limiting their commercial viability.
%among the highest reported in the field of perovskite-based light-to-energy conversion devices. The cells demonstrate little cell-to-cell variability,
which had been a fundamental bottleneck for stable operation of perovskite devices.""Characterization and modeling attribute the improved performance to reduced bulk defects
and improved charge-carrier mobility in large-grain pervoskite materials,"said Mohite, "and we've demonstrated that the crystalline quality is on par with that observed for high-quality semiconductors like silicon and gallium arsenides."
"The researchers anticipate that their crystal growth technique will lead the field towards synthesis of wafer-scale crystalline perovskites necessary for the fabrication of high-efficiency solar-cells
Porous polymers with micropores of less than 2 nanometers like a zeolite have a large surface area. They are used as a means to store hydrogen-based molecules
but it also has extensive experience with x-ray applications in the mining industry. Based on the results from a project called'Informed'
The pinholes in the top layer of the solar cell, known as the hole transport layer, were identified as a key cause for the quick degradation of perovskite solar cells.
Researchers around the world are investigating the potential of perovskite, a humanmade organic-inorganic hybrid material, as an alternative to silicon-based solar cells."
and oxygen to attack the perovskite material, which is the active layer converting sunlight to energy,
"Without pinholes in the hole transport layer, the perovskite is protected and the lifetime improves.""The researchers eliminated the pinholes by using a different method to create the top layer of the solar cell,
and then spin-coating it onto perovskite, they evaporated the powder in a vacuum chamber and the spiro-OMETAD molecules deposited onto the solar cell.
it evaporates and the gas molecules that stick to the perovskite, creating an even layer--much like
"A very small difference between the top layer and perovskite material means maybe we get greater energy efficiency,
While cheaper than conventional silicon-based solar cells, evaporation-based perovskite solar cells are more expensive than spin-coated cells.
#Stable perovskite solar cells developed through structural simplification Lead-halide-based perovskite (hereinafter simply referred to as perovskite) has been used as a solar cell material since six years ago.
Perovskite solar cells are promising low-cost and highly-efficient next-generation solar cells because they can be produced through low-temperature processes such as spin coating,
As such, the research on perovskite solar cells is making rapid progress. In order to identify the semiconducting properties of perovskites
and formulate guidelines for the development of highly efficient solar cell materials, NIMS launched an ad hoc Team on Perovskite PV Cells last October led by the deputy director-general of GREEN.
While the conventional perovskite solar cells have demonstrated high conversion efficiency, they were not sufficiently stable plagued by their low reproducibility
and the hysteresis in the current-voltage curves depending on the direction of the voltage sweeps.
For this reason, the semiconducting properties of perovskites had not been identified. Researchers successfully created reproducible and stable perovskite solar cells as follows;
They proposed an equivalent circuit model that explains the semiconducting properties of perovskites based on analysis of the internal resistance of perovskite solar cells.
This model indicated the existence of a charge transport process derived from an impurity level between the conduction
and valence bands in the perovskite layer. Due to this transport process, the efficiency of perovskite solar cells may be suppressed to some extent.
In future studies, researchers will investigate into the cause of the impurity level and its influence on solar cells.
The GQDS with high luminance tunability and efficiency were synthesized by a route based on graphite intercalation compounds (GICS.
but the mineralogy is still not well known and will be the subject of ongoing research. The Rutgers team was able to isolate the uranium-breathing bacterium in the lab by recognizing that uranium in samples from the Rifle site could be toxic to microorganisms as well as humans.
Nanoscale mirrored cavities that trap light around atoms in diamond crystals increase the quantum mechanical interactions between light and electrons in atoms.
and the Center for Functional Nanomaterials at the U s. Department of energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, has demonstrated a new process to construct such diamond nanocavities in
and the Diamond Light source in Oxfordshire, England. In the process, they discovered why the electrons are so fast and mobile.
including a magnesium-silver-antimony (Mgagsb) compound, bismuth tellurides, half-Heuslers and skutterudites. The tested values matched those determined by computational analysis using the new formulas,
and former postdoctoral researcher Weiqiang Li examined samples from the banded iron formation in Western australia. Banded iron is the iron-rich rock found in ore deposits worldwide, from the proposed iron mine in Northern Wisconsin to the enormous mines of Western australia.
These ancient deposits, up to 150 meters deep, were begging for explanation, says Johnson. Scientists thought the iron had entered the ocean from hot,
you want to know the source of the minerals so you know where to explore.""The research also clarifies the evolution of our planet--and of life itself--during the"iron-rich"era 2. 5 billion years ago."
what minerals are stable at what conditions on the surface of the Earth is absolutely wrong."
"We speed up and guide the chemical process in the reactor with a zeolite as a catalyst.
Zeolites are porous minerals. By selecting a specific type on the basis of its pore shape,
we were able to convert lactic acid directly into the building blocks for PLA without making the larger by-products that do not fit into the zeolite pores.
New insight into the fundamentals of solid state physics A team at HZB has carried out the first detailed study of how magnetic and geometric ordering mutually influence one another in crystalline samples of spinel.
The results were published in Physical Review B. Spinels consist of densely packed highly symmetrical planes of oxygen atoms (somewhat like a densely packed box of marbles) where different metallic elements are lodged in the spaces between them.
A great many different types of compounds arise as a result that are employed in extractive industries
The embedded metal ions in the Ni1-xcuxcr2o4 spinel system cause a distortion of the crystal structure.
The HZB team has analysed now comprehensively the chromium-spinel system and have explained the complex phase diagram at a fundamental level for the first time.
The series begins with samples of pure nickel-chromium spinel (x=0; a green powder) and continues with increasing proportions of copper.
which lies far below room temperature for pure nickel-spinel as well as for copper-spinel.""We were able for the first time to determine the magnetic characteristics exactly
Peninsula of orthorhombic state At a mixture ratio of 85%nickel and 15%copper, the spinel system displays a kind of narrow peninsula of orthorhombic state in the phase diagram where the observed Anm
When the lubricant materials--graphene and diamond-like carbon (DLC)--slid against each other, the graphene began rolling up to form hollow cylindrical"scrolls"that helped to practically eliminate friction.
and diamond-like carbon on the other side. However, the knowledge gained from their study is perhaps even more valuable,
In 2006 the state passed a law mandating that it buy less coal fired energy. The Los angeles Department of Water and Power is now also selling its stake in the Navajo Generating station to invest in clean energy alternatives,
#Perovskites provide big boost to silicon solar cells Stacking perovskites onto a conventional silicon solar cell dramatically improves the overall efficiency of the cell,
The researchers describe their novel perovskite-silicon solar cell in this week edition of the journal Energy & Environmental science. ee been looking for ways to make solar panels that are more efficient and lower cost,
Perovskite is a crystalline material that is inexpensive and easy to produce in the lab. In 2009,
scientists showed that perovskites made of lead, iodide and methylammonium could convert sunlight into electricity with an efficiency of 3. 8 percent.
Since then, researchers have achieved perovskite efficiencies above 20 percent, rivaling commercially available silicon solar cells and spawning widespread interest among silicon manufacturers. ur goal is to leverage the silicon factories that already exist around the world,
and add a layer of perovskite at relatively low cost. Sunlight to electricity Solar cells work by converting photons of sunlight into an electric current that moves between two electrodes.
while perovskite cells harvest only the visible part of the solar spectrum where the photons have more energy.
perovskite stacked on top of CIGS (copper indium gallium diselenide). COURTESY: Colin Bailie, Stanford bsorbing the high-energy part of the spectrum allows perovskite solar cells to generate more power per photon of visible light than silicon cells,
Bailie said. A key roadblock to building an efficient perovskite-silicon tandem has been a lack of transparency. olin had to figure out how to put a transparent electrode on the top
so that some photons could penetrate the perovskite layer and be absorbed by the silicon at the bottom,
Mcgehee said. o one had made ever a perovskite solar cell with two transparent electrodes. Perovskites are damaged easily by heat and readily dissolve in water.
This inherent instability ruled out virtually all of the conventional techniques for applying electrodes onto the perovoskite solar cell
so Bailie did it manually. e used a sheet of plastic with silver nanowires on it, he said. hen we built a tool that uses pressure to transfer the nanowires onto the perovskite cell, kind of like a temporary tattoo.
You just need to rub it to transfer the film. Remarkable efficiency For the experiment, the Stanford team stacked a perovskite solar cell with an efficiency of a 12.7 percent on top of a low-quality silicon cell with an efficiency of just 11.4 percent. y combining two cells
with approximately the same efficiency you can get a very large efficiency boost, Bailie said.
The researchers stacked a 12.7 percent efficiency perovskite cell onto a CIGS cell with a 17 percent efficiency.
if not all of the layers in a perovskite cell can be deposited from solution, it might be possible to upgrade conventional solar cells into higher-performing tandems with little increase in cost,
A big unanswered question is the long-term stability of perovskites, Mcgehee added. ilicon is a rock,
But if you expose perovskite to water or light it likely will degrade. We have a ways to go to show that perovskite solar cells are stable enough to last 25 years.
My vision is that some day wel be able to get low-cost tandems that are 25 percent efficient.
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