Freezing lithium batteries may make them safer and bendable

Engineers use ice-templating to control electrolyte structure in lithium batteries; solid-state is non-flammable, non-toxic and flexible with longer battery life.

Self-assembled nanostructures can be selectively controlled

DNA self-assembly allows the unprecedented control of the optical properties of plasmonic metamolecules.

Working on the magnetic memory of the future

In his work, Geoffrey Beach combines the deep, theoretical understanding of a physicist with an engineer's passion for building and refining the devices needed to carry out his investigations.

Graphene holds up under high pressure

Used in filtration membranes, ultrathin material could help make desalination more productive.

Thin diamond crystal reflects many colors of light in all directions

Physicists and mathematicians have discovered by advanced calculations that a thin diamond-like photonic nanostructure reflects a surprisingly broad range of colors of light omnidirectionally.

Tiny cages could keep vaccines safe at high temperatures

Scientists have created a technique which can keep proteins intact at high temperatures up to 100 C, by encasing them in silica cages.

Revealing polymeric fluids behavior at the microscopic scale

A team of researchers is focussing their efforts on using microfluidics as a tool to reveal the laws and principles ruling the behavior of complex fluids at the microscopic scale. Then in a second phase, they make use of these discoveries to provide direct applications in healthcare and biotechnology.