May 21, 2026 Researchers show water droplets can adopt sticky or repellent states on the same smooth surface, challenging a 200 year old law of interface chemistry. (Nanowerk News) Researchers at Japan's National Institute for Materials Science have observed bistable wetting on a single smooth surface, with water droplets settling...
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Quantum computing partnership targets faster design of advanced functional materials
May 21, 2026 Quantum computing and AI-driven molecular simulations could accelerate discovery and design of advanced materials for chemistry and life science applications. (Nanowerk News) Affordable medicine, rising energy costs, and dependence on strategic raw-material sources make new materials central to many questions. Traditional materials development is time-consuming and often...
Theoretical predictions of unusual nonlinear thermoelectric effect confirmed
May 21, 2026 Experiments catch up with theory with the observation of an exotic nonlinear thermoelectric effect in a metalloid. (Nanowerk News) An unusual thermoelectric effect has been observed in the semiconductor tellurium by RIKEN physicists for the first time (Nature Physics, "Observation of the nonlinear chiral thermoelectric Hall effect...
Creating a new paradigm for fast charging batteries
May 21, 2026 Researchers have discovered a promising new strategy that could deliver fast battery charging. The team created pouch battery cells using interfacial anion-reduction catalysis to record a charge of more than 85% after six minutes. (Nanowerk News) Researchers at Adelaide University have discovered a promising new strategy which...
Complexity isn’t subjective. The right amount results in new material properties
May 21, 2026 Graph theory allows researchers to quantify complexity, defined as a mix of order and disorder. Structures with the optimal ratio have new or enhanced capabilities (Nanowerk News) Complexity may seem subjective, but a quantitative measure of the complexity of nanomaterials was recently developed by a team of...
New passivation strategy boosts perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell performance
May 21, 2027 Scientists have developed a new passivation strategy that significantly improves both the efficiency and operational stability of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells. (Nanowerk News) Perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells combine a top perovskite layer, which efficiently converts sunlight into electricity, with a silicon bottom substrate. These solar cells hold...
crystals of space and time
May 21, 2027 Scientists have found a formula describing a strange phenomenon: space and time can form a kind of 'crystal' that may turn into a black hole. (Nanowerk News) Alongside the famous gigantic black holes, physics also allows for microscopic versions. They emerge from so-called critical states, when spacetime...
Glass microspheres make perovskite quantum dots tougher for micro-LED color conversion
May 21, 2026 Glass microspheres help perovskite quantum dots resist blue-light degradation, heat, and moisture in patterned micro-LED color-conversion pixels. (Nanowerk Spotlight) A material that changes light has to survive the light it changes. In a display, that means the color-changing layer must keep working inside the pixel, not just...
Two nanopores working in concert to control molecular traffic
May 21, 2026 Researchers used DNA nanotechnology to build a synthetic membrane that mimics cell pores, enabling coordinated transport and programmable reactions inside. (Nanowerk News) Living systems such as cells rely on membrane pores and channels to transport molecules, exchange signals, and organize biochemical reactions. These functions emerge from dynamic...
A new way to observe the release of proteins encapsulated in nanoparticles
May 21, 2026 Researchers used an advanced high-resolution optical microscopy technique to observe, for the first time, the individual behaviour of nanoparticles over time. The results reveal that, within the same population, nanoparticles can release their therapeutic cargo in very different ways, a key aspect for the development of precision...