Jan 04, 2023 (Nanowerk News) As semiconductor devices become ever smaller, researchers are exploring two-dimensional (2D) materials for potential applications in transistors and optoelectronics. Controlling the flow of electricity and heat through these materials is key to their functionality, but first we need to understand the details of those behaviors...
Improving the safety assessment of nanoparticles
Jan 04, 2023 (Nanowerk News) More and more products contain nanoparticles: very small particles on the scale of 1-100 nanometres. Although they are impossible to see with the human eye, they can have a big effect. 'Nanomaterials are in many more products than you would expect,' Brinkmann says. 'To keep...
Self-repairing healing solar cells recovering in the dark of the night
Jan 04, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Perovskite solar cells degrade when exposed to sunlight, which results in decreasing performance over time. A new research project will examine how such solar cells could recover and self-repair at night. "Electronic components, such as solar cells and LEDs, are made from semiconductor materials," says...
Scientists develop a cool new method of refrigeration
Jan 04, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Adding salt to a road before a winter storm changes when ice will form. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have applied this basic concept to develop a new method of heating and cooling. The technique, which they have...
Researchers discover new process to create freestanding membranes of ‘smart’ materials
Jan 03, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led team of scientists and engineers has developed a new method for making thin films of perovskite oxide semiconductors, a class of “smart” materials with unique properties that can change in response to stimuli like light, magnetic fields, or electric...