Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

The new molecule. Credit: Illustration by Nils Rosemann

For the first time, researchers have succeeded in creating an iron molecule that can function both as a photocatalyst to produce fuel and in solar cells to produce electricity. The results indicate that the iron molecule could replace the more expensive and rarer metals used today.

Some photocatalysts and solar cells are based on a technology that involves molecules containing metals, known as metal complexes. The task of the metal complexes in this context is to absorb solar rays and utilise their energy. The metals in these molecules pose a major problem, however, as they are rare and expensive metals, such as the noble metals ruthenium, osmium and iridium.

“Our results now show that by using advanced molecule design, it is possible...

Chang-Beom Eom, right, and Mark Rzchowski inspect a materials growth chamber. The researchers have made a new material that can be switched from electrical conductor to insulator. Credit: UW-Madison photo by Sam Million-Weaver

University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have made a material that can transition from an electricity-transmitting metal to a nonconducting insulating material without changing its atomic structure. “This is quite an exciting discovery,” says Chang-Beom Eom, professor of materials science and engineering. “We’ve found a new method of electronic switching.”

The new material could lay the groundwork for ultrafast electronic devices. Metals like copper or silver conduct electricity, whereas insulators like rubber or glass do not allow current to flow...

A computer model of the atomic structure of one of the new carbides. The jumbled mess of carbon and five metal elements gives stability to the overall structure.
Credit: Pranab Sarker, Duke University

Computational simulations predict new class of carbides that could disrupt industries from machinery to aerospace. Materials scientists at Duke University and UC San Diego have discovered a new class of carbides expected to be among the hardest materials with the highest melting points in existence. Made from inexpensive metals, the new materials may soon find use in a wide range of industries from machinery and hardware to aerospace.

A carbide is traditionally a compound consisting of carbon and one other element...

The illustration shows the atoms of a gold cone exposed to a strong electric field. We also see the field (around the tip of the cone) that excites the gold atoms. They break almost all their connections to each other and the surface layers begin to melt. Credit: Alexander Ericson

When the tension rises, unexpected things can happen – not least when it comes to gold atoms. Researchers from, among others, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have now managed, for the first time, to make the surface of a gold object melt at room temperature.

Ludvig de Knoop, from Chalmers’ Department of Physics, placed a small piece of gold in an electron microscope...