New Twist on old tech could bring living color at low power

By marrying state-of-the-art nanometer-scale gratings with a Space Age-era thin-film polymer, researchers have developed a new technology for building power-sipping full-color video displays, switches and routers for optical signals, as well as smart windows and coatings.

Graphene is strong, but is it tough?

Scientists find that polycrystalline graphene is not very resistant to fracture.

Lithium battery catalyst nanoparticles found to harm key soil microorganism

The material at the heart of the lithium ion batteries that power electric vehicles, laptop computers and smartphones has been shown to impair a key soil bacterium.

Scientists guide gold nanoparticles to form 'diamond' superlattices

DNA scaffolds cage and coax nanoparticles into position to form crystalline arrangements that mimic the atomic structure of diamond.

Researchers seek efficient means of splitting water with nanorods

Researchers studied water-splitting activity on the surface of nanorods of the semiconductor titanium dioxide, finding that variations in the structure of the surface determine where and how the reaction takes place.

Scientists take key step toward custom-made nanoscale chemical factories

Scientists have for the first time reengineered a building block of a geometric nanocompartment that occurs naturally in bacteria to give it a new function.

Scientists bridge different materials by design

Researchers have shown that it is possible to design and construct interfaces between materials with different structures by making a bridge between them.

Is lignin the crude oil of the future?

Maybe so, thanks to the Sun and nano photocatalysts.

Metal oxide sandwiches: New option to manipulate properties of interfaces

A Franco-German cooperation has investigated a sandwich system of transition metal oxides. The scientists discovered a new option to control properties of the interface between the two layers, for instance the amount of charge transferred from one layer to the other or the emergence of ferromagnetism.

A fast solidification process makes material crackle

Researchers have developed a theory that combines for the first time the understanding of vibrations in solid material and the solidification of liquid at a microscopic level.

Light signals from living cells

Scientists report on a process that uses pressure to deliver chemical probes in a fine-tuned manner into living cells.

Diagnosis of rare bleeding disorder improved with super-resolution microscopy

Researchers have differentiated between patients with a rare bleeding disorder and healthy volunteers using super-resolution microscopy, providing an alternative method for accurately and cost-effectively diagnosing rare platelet diseases.

Seeding better efficiencies in monocrystalline silicon solar cells

New 'single-seed cast method' for producing high quality monocrystalline solar cells has tremendous potential for the manufacture of low cost, high efficiency silicon solar cells.

Discovery of the specific properties of graphite-based carbon materials

Scientists have shown from detailed measurements that in atomically flat areas of a nitrogen-doped graphite surface in the absence of external magnetic fields, Landau levels manifest corresponding to super strong magnetic fields of approximately 100 tesla across bilayer graphene.