Metal-free carbon-based electrocatalysts for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are active enough in one type of commonly used (cobalt-based) electrolyte but not in another (iodide-based) one. Now, researchers at UNIST in Korea say they may have overcome this problem with their new catalyst made from edge-selenated graphene nanoplatelets, which has a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) […]
Researchers in Ireland have succeeded in making few-layer black phosphorus (a 2D semiconductor with a direct bandgap that stretches across the near to the mid-infrared) using a simple and scalable liquid-phase exfoliation technique. They have also measured how the material absorbs light. The near to mid-infrared wavelength region is becoming increasingly important for a wide […]
The replication of DNA involves conformational changes are that are greatly affected by its mechanical properties. Tethering DNA has profound effects on its mechanical properties, but there are few studies that attempt to quantify this change. Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed and refined a technique that allows high-sensitivity force measurements of dynamic systems, and […]
Researchers at the University of Manchester, UK have made the first autonomous chemically powered synthetic small-molecule motor
Single-crystal graphite appears to be a better contact material for graphene than conventional metals. So say researchers at Columbia University in New York who have found that the contact resistivity of the graphite–graphene interface can be as low as 6.6 Ωμm2. A reduced contact resistance could not only be useful for improving devices made from […]
Bringing together the best of two types of quantum computer for the first time, researchers at Google have created a prototype that combines the architecture of both a universal quantum computer and an analogue quantum computer. By digitizing the traditionally analogue computations that can be done with an adiabatic quantum computer, the team’s system is […]
