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IMAGE: A key contributor to how these halide perovskites create and transport electricity literally hinges on the way their octahedral atomic lattice twists and turns in a hinge-like fashion. view more
Credit: ORNL/Jill Hemman
DURHAM, N.C. Researchers at Duke University have revealed long-hidden molecular dynamics that provide desirable properties for solar energy and heat energy applications to an exciting class of materials called halide perovskites.
A key contributor to how these materials create and transport electricity literally hinges on the way their atomic lattice twists and turns in a hinge-like fashion. The results will help materials scientists in their quest to tailor the chemical recipes of these materials for a wide range of applications in an environmentally friendly way.
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IMAGE: MIT engineers have developed self-cooling fabrics from polyethylene, commonly used in plastic bags. They estimate that the new fabric may be more sustainable than cotton and other common textiles. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Svetlana Boriskina
In considering materials that could become the fabrics of the future, scientists have largely dismissed one widely available option: polyethylene.
The stuff of plastic wrap and grocery bags, polyethylene is thin and lightweight, and could keep you cooler than most textiles because it lets heat through rather than trapping it in. But polyethylene would also lock in water and sweat, as it s unable to draw away and evaporate moisture. This antiwicking property has been a major deterrent to polyethylene s adoption as a wearable textile.
The NANOGrav Collaboration recently captured the first signs of very low-frequency gravitational waves. Prof. Pedro Schwaller and Wolfram Ratzinger analyzed the data and considered the possibility of whether this may point towards new physics beyond the Standard Model. In an article published in the journal
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IMAGE: Scanning electron microscopy images of newly fabricated highly ordered nanohole arrays in tungsten, iron, cobalt and niobium oxide layers. view more
Credit: Tokyo Metropolitan University
Tokyo, Japan - Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have developed a new method for making ordered arrays of nanoholes in metallic oxide thin films using a range of transition metals. The team used a template to pre-pattern metallic surfaces with an ordered array of dimples before applying electrochemistry to selectively grow an oxide layer with holes. The process makes a wider selection of ordered transition metal nanohole arrays available for new catalysis, filtration, and sensing applications.
Osaka University scientists used circular gate electrodes set around tiny nanopores to hold particles just outside the opening, or make them pass through very slowly. This work may lead to revolutionary advances in single-molecule detection and cost-effective DNA sequencing.