As part of an international collaboration, a team at the HZB has examined the corrosion processes of high-quality BiVO4 photoelectrodes using different state-of-the-art characterisation methods. The result is the first operando stability study of high-purity BiVO4 photoanodes during the photoelectrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER). This work shows how the stability of photoelectrodes and catalysts can be compared and enhanced in the future. Hydrogen is a versatile fuel that can store and release chemical energy when needed. Hydrogen can be produced…

How optimally joined aluminum and fiber composite plastics contribute to climate protection In order to improve city air quality and protect the environment, many municipalities are planning to acquire electric refuse vehicles for their parks and pedestrian passages. However, these are equipped with heavy batteries or fuel cells and can therefore usually transport less waste than classic waste trucks with combustion engines. However, German engineers now intend to change this by using lightweight designs. To this end, the Fraunhofer Institute…

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered a way to control the growth of twisting, microscopic spirals of materials just one atom thick. The continuously twisting stacks of two-dimensional materials built by a team led by UW-Madison chemistry Professor Song Jin create new properties that scientists can exploit to study quantum physics on the nanoscale. The researchers published their work today in the journal Science. “This is the current frontier of 2D material research. In the last few years,…

‘Multi-ferroic’ materials in low-energy data storage. A new UNSW study comprehensively reviews the magnetic structure of the multiferroic material bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3 – BFO). The review advances FLEET’s search for low-energy electronics, bringing together current knowledge on the magnetic order in BFO films, and giving researchers a solid platform to further develop this material in low-energy magnetoelectric memories. BFO is unique in that it displays both magnetic and electronic ordering (ie, is ‘multiferroic’) at room temperature, allowing for low-energy switching…

By expanding on existing designs for electrodes of ultra-thin solar panels, Stanford researchers and collaborators in Korea have developed a new architecture for OLED – organic light-emitting diode – displays that could enable televisions, smartphones and virtual or augmented reality devices with resolutions of up to 10,000 pixels per inch (PPI). (For comparison, the resolutions of new smartphones are around 400 to 500 PPI.) Such high-pixel-density displays will be able to provide stunning images with true-to-life detail – something that…

Topological states of matter hold tremendous promise for potential applications in quantum technologies. The creation and control of such states on demand with short flashes of light is currently under intense investigation. Now an international collaboration of researchers involving a theory team at the MPSD has shown that short-lived topological states can be tracked with equally short light flashes spiraling like a corkscrew. In the past decade, quantum materials science has seen a surge in the quest for topological materials….

Researchers discover how water can affect its own filtration. Membranes with microscopic pores are useful for water filtration. The effect of pore size on water filtration is well-understood, as is the role of ions, charged atoms, that interact with the membrane. For the first time, researchers have successfully described the impact water molecules have on other water molecules and on ions as part of the filtration mechanism. The researchers detail a feedback system between water molecules which opens up new…

Metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, are composed of metal ions periodically surrounded by organic bridging molecules, and these hybrid crystalline frameworks feature a cage-like hollow structure. This unique structure motif offers great potential for a range of applications in energy storage, chemical transformations, optoelectronics, chemiresistive sensing, and (photo)electrocatalysis, among others. Debuted in the early 2000s, MOFs are a fascinating nanomaterial. Though numerous applications exploit MOFs, little has been known as to how oxygen may work in the synthesis of MOFs. Led…

Empa researchers succeeded in developing a material that works like a luminescent solar concentrator and can even be applied to textiles. This opens up numerous possibilities for producing energy directly where it is needed, i.e. in the use of everyday electronics. Our hunger for energy is insatiable, it even continues to rise with the increasing supply of new electronic gadgets. What’s more, we are almost always on the move and thus permanently dependent on a power supply to recharge our…

Purdue University innovators are taking cues from nature to develop 3D photodetectors for biomedical imaging. The Purdue researchers used some architectural features from spider webs to develop the technology. Spider webs typically provide excellent mechanical adaptability and damage-tolerance against various mechanical loads such as storms. “We employed the unique fractal design of a spider web for the development of deformable and reliable electronics that can seamlessly interface with any 3D curvilinear surface,” said Chi Hwan Lee, a Purdue assistant professor…

The need for everyday objects with antiviral surfaces is high due to the COVID 19 pandemic. It is known that the material composition of an object has an influence on the viability of viruses on surfaces. This is where the work of the Fraunhofer IFAM comes in: In cross-disciplinary research projects between material science and biology, the effect of functionalized surfaces and treatment processes on the survival time of viruses is evaluated for various materials using real-time PCR tests. The…

New collaboration between TU Darmstadt and MPIE The Technical University Darmstadt and the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung (MPIE) started a new Max Planck Research Group headed by Prof. Oliver Gutfleisch, Professor of Functional Materials at the TU Darmstadt and scientific director at the Fraunhofer IWKS Materials Recycling and Resource Strategies. The group is established at the MPIE and deals with the design of advanced hard and soft magnets, magnetocaloric and related functional materials. “Magnets are key materials for electrification thus providing…

Researchers from Osaka University use non-destructive acoustic monitoring to identify the earliest stages of failure in silicon carbide power electronics, which will help in the design of more-durable power devices. Power electronics regulate and modify electric power. They are in computers, power steering systems, solar cells, and many other technologies. Researchers are seeking to enhance power electronics by using silicon carbide semiconductors. However, wear-out failures such as cracks remain problematic. To help researchers improve future device designs, early damage detection…

Ultrathin materials such as graphene promise a revolution in nanoscience and technology. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have now made an important advance within the field. In a recent paper in Nature Communications they present a method for controlling the edges of two-dimensional materials using a ‘magic’ chemical. “Our method makes it possible to control the edges – atom by atom – in a way that is both easy and scalable, using only mild heating together with abundant,…

Research initiative of the Helmholtz Association presents strategies, technologies, and open-source tools. To contribute to global climate protection, Germany has to rapidly and comprehensively minimize the use of fossil energy sources and to transform the energy system accordingly. The Helmholtz Association’s research initiative “Energy System 2050” has studied how and by which means this can be achieved. One of the partners is Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). At the final conference in Berlin, scientists of the participating research centers presented…

Start of the EU Project MUNDFAB Progressing development of big data and mobility applications as well as of the Internet of Things requires the further miniaturization of electronic circuits. Sophisticated manufacturing techniques for computer chips, such as the sequential 3D integration of devices, are a key to success. In addition to experimental investigations, the use of simulation programs is of particular importance: Simulations allow significant cost and time savings in the development of new technologies and devices. The improvement of…