Researchers from The University of Tsukuba grow a germanium thin film on a flexible polyimide substrate, resulting in a material with the highest hole mobility reported to date. Technologists envisage an electronically interconnected future that will depend on cheap, lightweight, flexible devices. Efforts to optimize the semiconductor materials needed for these electronic devices are therefore necessary. Researchers from the University of Tsukuba have reported a record-breaking germanium (Ge) thin film on a plastic substrate that offers flexibility without compromising performance….

Researchers have developed a method to stabilise a promising material known as perovskite for cheap solar cells, without compromising its near-perfect performance. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, used an organic molecule as a ‘template’ to guide perovskite films into the desired phase as they form. Their results are reported in the journal Science. Perovskite materials offer a cheaper alternative to silicon for producing optoelectronic devices such as solar cells and LEDs. There are many different perovskites, resulting from…

AI presents a roadmap to define new materials for any need, with implications in green energy and waste reduction. Scientists and institutions dedicate more resources each year to the discovery of novel materials to fuel the world. As natural resources diminish and the demand for higher value and advanced performance products grows, researchers have increasingly looked to nanomaterials. Nanoparticles have already found their way into applications ranging from energy storage and conversion to quantum computing and therapeutics. But given the…

Successful spin-off: 3D printing offers completely new design and application possibilities in many areas. Scientists at the University of Stuttgart have been exploring and developing this flexible method for producing complex, miniaturized imaging systems using 3D multiphoton lithography. The inventors now want to use their knowledge to start-up an enterprise: Printoptix GmbH i.G. is currently being set up in order to grow its business as an independent limited liability company (GmbH) from next year onwards. 3D printing offers completely new…

Intelligent packaging with sensors that monitor goods, such as vegetables, on long transport routes is a trend for the future. Yet printed and disposable electronics also cause problems: Metals in printing inks are expensive – and disposing of them in an environmentally sound manner is costly and exacerbates the problem of electronic waste. A new solution from Empa researchers aims to remedy this. More precise, faster, cheaper: Researchers all over the world have been working for years on producing electrical…

Discovery improves stability in ethylene and hydrogen production via artificial photosynthesis. A research team has developed a new artificial photosynthesis device with remarkable stability and longevity as it converts sunlight and carbon dioxide into two promising sources of renewable fuels – ethylene and hydrogen. The researchers’ findings, which they recently reported in the journal Nature Energy, reveal how the device degrades with use, then demonstrate how to mitigate it. The authors also provide new insight into how electrons and charge…

Perovskites are the great hope for further increasing the efficiency of solar modules in the future. Until now, their short service life has been considered the biggest hurdle to their practical use, but this could soon change. In the current issue of the renowned journal Nature Energy, researchers from the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nuremberg of the Forschungszentrum Jülich have presented a variant that stands out for its special stability. In tests at elevated temperature and illumination over 1450 hours of operation,…

Breakthrough technology keeps you warm in the winter, and cool in the summer, without consuming natural gas or electricity. Scientists have developed an all-season smart-roof coating that keeps homes warm during the winter and cool during the summer – without consuming natural gas or electricity. Research findings reported in the Dec. 17 edition of the journal Science point to a groundbreaking technology that outperforms commercial cool-roof systems in energy savings. “Our all-season roof coating automatically switches from keeping you cool…

An international research team led by scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has developed a material that, when coated on a glass window panel, can effectively self-adapt to heat or cool rooms across different climate zones in the world, helping to cut energy usage. Developed by NTU researchers and reported in the top scientific journal Science, the first-of-its-kind glass automatically responds to changing temperatures by switching between heating and cooling. The self-adaptive glass is developed using layers of…

Once expended, eco-friendly batteries break down in soil within weeks. Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed paper-thin biodegradable zinc batteries that could one day become an environmentally sustainable option for powering flexible and wearable electronic systems. The NTU Singapore-developed zinc batteries are made up of electrodes (through which the electrical current leaves or enters the battery) screen-printed on to both sides of a piece of cellulose paper that has been reinforced with hydrogel. Once the battery…

Freiberg-based start-up TheiaX enters market with innovative mapping methods. With the increasing demand for high-tech metals by the industry, mining faces complex challenges. The sustainable supply of raw materials requires energy-efficient and socially acceptable methods with low environmental impact. At the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) belonging to the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), researchers have developed novel, digital mapping methods for sustainable raw material exploration and extraction over the past two years and brought them to market. The founding…

Electron source enables atomic resolution TEM observation. The National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and JEOL, Ltd. have developed a lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6) nanowire-based field emission gun that is installable on an aberration-corrected transmission electron microscope (TEM). This combined unit is able to perform atomic resolution observation at an energy resolution of 0.2 eV—the highest resolution ever recorded for non-monochromatic electron guns—with a high current stability of 0.4%. Unsuccessful efforts have been made for more than 20 years to develop…

New successes in optical engineering could lead to ultrafast light-based computers and more. Imagine windows that can easily transform into mirrors, or super high-speed computers that run not on electrons but light. These are just some of the potential applications that could one day emerge from optical engineering, the practice of using lasers to rapidly and temporarily change the properties of materials. “These tools could let you transform the electronic properties of materials at the flick of a light switch,”…

The bipartisan infrastructure bill recently signed into law by President Joe Biden includes a requirement for automakers to install driver monitoring systems that detect intoxicated or impaired drivers. Current systems rely on cameras, which have limitations. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Electronic Materials have made heat-resistant, pressure-detecting sensors that, when attached to seats, can tell whether a driver is drowsy or has a sudden illness, signaling a future smart car to take action. Most current drowsiness detection systems use an exterior,…

German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to Fund the 18 Partners in the AgiloDrive2 Research Project with a Total of 16.4 Million Euros until 2024. Although electric mobility is becoming increasingly important, the general conditions for car manufacturers remain uncertain: What volumes can be expected? Which technologies are suitable? To solve this, scientists from KIT, the company Schaeffler, and 16 other industrial partners are addressing the question of how electric motors can be manufactured flexibly and yet economically…

Liquid acts across multiple scales to reorganize connectivity in networks of artificial microscopic cells. The Science Networks of cells in nature have inspired researchers to develop their own materials made of interconnected microscopic circles, squares, triangles, and other shapes. The way cells in these materials are connected and arranged leads to novel energy transport and chemical reaction capabilities. Biological materials constantly adapt by merging, fusing, and redefining the boundaries of their cells. In synthetic materials, existing methods can stretch or…