From abundant hydrocarbons to rare spin liquids

Scientists have discovered how to take hydrocarbon molecular components, dress them with electrons, each of which carries a small compass - an unpaired spin - and pack them together like cookies in a box to create a quantum spin liquid - a long-sought hypothetical state of matter.

Growth under pressure: New metamaterial designed with counterintuitive property

A newly designed metamaterial that expands with increasing hydrostatic pressure may advance what 3-D printers are capable of producing beyond what occurs in nature.

Chip-based nanoscopy: Microscopy in HD quality

Physicists have developed a photonic chip that makes it possible to carry out super-resolution light microscopy, also called nanoscopy, with conventional microscopes. In nanoscopy, the position of single fluorescent molecules can be determined with a precision of just a few nanometers.

Bright future for self-charging batteries

New light-based technology could one day make battery chargers obsolete.

Solar cell design with over 50 percent energy-conversion efficiency

A new solar cell design could raise the energy conversion efficiency to over 50% by absorbing the spectral components of longer wavelengths that are usually lost during transmission through the cell.

New self-sustained multi-sensor platform for environmental monitoring

Researchers have engineered a self-sustaining sensor platform to continuously monitor the surrounding environment without having an external power source.

New breakthrough in battery charging technology

A team of researchers has developed a single-unit, photo-rechargeable portable power source based on high-efficiency silicon solar cells and lithium-ion batteries.