Researchers have developed a way to weave molecular threads in two-dimensional layers. In doing so they have produced a 2D-molecularly-woven fabric that has a thread count of 40-60 million (for comparison, the finest Egyptian linen has a thread count of around 1500 - thread count is the number of strands per inch).
Scientists have found a way to enhance hybrid flow batteries and their commercial use. The new approach can store electricity in these batteries for very long durations for about a fifth the price of current technologies, with minimal location restraints and zero emissions.
Researchers have designed a bottom-up approach to create carbon-based bioelectronics that could be used in medical research or for devices such as tissue stimulators to treat Parkinson's disease or cardiac problems.
The newly developed shape memory polymer resist, which allows for high-resolution 4D printing, promises a platform for information hiding for optical anti-counterfeiting and tunable photonic devices.
Scientists have miniaturized the optical components required to cool atoms down to a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, the first step in employing them on microchips to drive a new generation of super-accurate atomic clocks, enable navigation without GPS, and simulate quantum systems.
For years, the metal nanoparticles used in catalysts have been getting smaller and smaller. Now, a research team has shown that everything is suddenly different when you arrive at the smallest possible size: a single atom.
Gold nanoparticles are of great importance for a wide range of industrial processes such as CO oxidation, water-gas shift reactions and oxygen reduction at the cathode of hydrogen fuel cells. Scientists investigated the three-dimensional atomic structure of gold nanoparticles at high temperatures. By combining two powerful techniques, electron tomography with atom counting, researchers tracked the morphology changes in gold nanoparticles when heated.
Researchers have successfully designed and fabricated bubble-propelled enzymatic micromotors built from a highly porous metal-organic framework (MOF). These new micromotors might lead to applications for drug delivery and adsorption of pollutants.
A promising lead halide perovskite is great at converting sunlight to electricity, but it breaks down at room temperature. Now scientists have discovered how to stabilize it with pressure from a diamond anvil cell.
