The concept of nanostructuring of battery electrodes is not new; it has been frequently employed to improve the charging speed and, in some cases, stability of Li-ion electrodes. Researchers now demonstrated 3D-interconnected Ni nanowire meshes as current collectors and structural scaffolds for building nanostructured Li-ion electrodes. This material exhibits a semi-ordered structure and is characterized by some of the highest...
Jul 06, 2020
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Researchers show that a nanoporous MoS2 membrane allows a higher water flux compared with other 2D materials such as graphene, boron nitride and phosphorene. The team dug deeply into the physical reasons behind why MoS2 performed better than other two-dimensional materials in water desalination processes. Through molecular dynamics simulation, they found out that water density near a MoS2 membrane is lower compared to that...
Jul 03, 2020
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Novel complementary nanoelectromechanical (CNEM) switches based on complementary ferroelectric nanocracks integrate the advantages of ferroelectric and nanoelectromechanical switches, such as nonvolatility, quasi-zero OFF-state leakage current and low operating voltage. These ferroelectric crack-based CNEM switches could realize energy-efficient and high-density reconfigurable computing, which can be specialized to a particular...
Jun 29, 2020
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The only options to control and deal with the spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are fast, cheap, reliable, and portable means of diagnosing COVID-19 infection (the name of disease caused by SARS-CoV-2); therapeutics to treat the infected; and vaccines to rapidly build up immunization of large parts of the global population. The current crisis demands an urgent analysis of all the available...
Jun 26, 2020
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Vertical semiconductor nanowire arrays are a promising material for retinal prostheses, which could help restore the eyesight of people suffering from severe retinal diseases. These nanowires could also be used to fabricate bio-inspired photoreceptors and lightweight, highly efficient photovoltaics. In new work, scientists present theoretical and experimental studies on the microscopic optical behavior of highly dense and...
Jun 18, 2020
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The electronic and optical properties of 2D materials can be controlled by mechanical deformations of their crystal structure. This route to tailor the properties of materials is called strain engineering and it is a rapidly evolving field of research in nanomaterials. Straintronics, however, is somewhat hampered by technical issues related to the fast and reliable control of the applied strain. Researchers have now developed...
Jun 17, 2020
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Many biological systems transmit signals via ions or molecules, whereas man-made sensors are mainly based on electron transport systems, i.e. electronics. The concept of ionic sensory systems is inspired by ion transport in biological systems, which is the movement of ions across a membrane, passively through ion channels or actively through ion pumps. Although sensory systems based on accurate ion transport are still in their...
Jun 16, 2020
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Bismuth antimonide (BiSb) is an important material in nanoelectronics as a topological insulator and as a thermoelectric material. However, some of its thermal properties are still mostly unknown at the nanoscale. This is an issue because in order for BiSb to exhibit its thermoelectric properties it has to be an alloy. But at the nanoscale, it is difficult to mix Bi and Sb. New findings provide the phase diagram of bismuth...
Jun 05, 2020
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More than 25 years since the discovery of superconductivity in strontium ruthanate (SRO), understanding the properties of this material remains as challenging as ever. Researchers now demonstrated that a SRO sample can allow the two energetically degenerate condensates of Cooper-pairs with opposite momentum to segregate in domains, with a domain wall in between where chirality changes. To use the analogy to Moses parting the...
May 27, 2020
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