A strain-sensing smart skin that uses carbon nanotubes to monitor and detect damage in large structures is ready for prime time.

Electron spin, rather than charge, holds the key.

Optimized light paths, high-throughput laser scribing and the use of established coating processes pave the way to commercial viability.

Researchers have successfully demonstrated a new platform for guiding the compressed light waves in very thin van der Waals crystals. Their method to guide the mid-infrared light with minimal loss will provide a breakthrough for the practical applications of ultra-thin dielectric crystals in next-generation optoelectronic devices based on strong light-matter interactions at the nanoscale.

Using the principles of droplet dynamics, MXene is dispersed in liquid and deposited, layer by layer, into stacks of 3D structures to form electrochemical and physical sensors.