Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

When two monolayers of WTe2 are stacked into a bilayer, a spontaneous electrical polarization appears, one layer becoming positively charged and the other negatively charged. This polarization can be flipped by applying an electric field.
Credit: Joshua Kahn

Researchers report that the 2D form of tungsten ditelluride can undergo ‘ferroelectric switching.’ Materials with ferroelectric properties can have applications in memory storage, capacitors, RFID card technologies and even medical sensors – and tungsten ditelluride is the first exfoliated 2D material known to undergo ferroelectric switching.

2D materials can be prepared in crystalline sheets as thin as a single monolayer, only one or a few atoms thick...

For the first time, the researchers from MIT and AFFOA have produced fibers with embedded electronics that are so flexible they can be woven into soft fabrics and made into wearable clothing.
Credit: Image courtesy of MIT; Courtesy of the researchers

Researchers incorporate optoelectronic diodes into fibers and weave them into washable fabrics. The latest development in textiles and fibers is a kind of soft hardware that you can wear: cloth that has electronic devices built right into it. Researchers at MIT have now embedded high speed optoelectronic semiconductor devices, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and diode photodetectors, within fibers that were then woven at Inman Mills, in South Carolina, into soft, washable fabrics and made into communication systems...

Researchers at Binghamton University, State University at New York have created a biodegradable, paper-based battery that is more efficient than previously possible.
Credit: Seokheun ‘Sean’ Choi

Proposed design is easy to produce, low-cost, flexible and more efficient than previously proposed paper-based batteries. The batteries of the future may be made out of paper. Researchers at Binghamton University, State University at New York have created a biodegradable, paper-based battery that is more efficient than previously possible.

For years, there has been excitement in the scientific community about the possibility of paper-based batteries as an eco-friendly alternative...

The batteries were made by stacking various layers via thin-film deposition methods. The LNMO/Li3PO4 interface showed spontaneous migration of Li ions and had an unprecedentedly low resistance.
Credit: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology have addressed one of the major disadvantages of all-solid-state batteries by developing batteries with a low resistance at their electrode/solid electrolyte interface. The fabricated batteries showed excellent electrochemical properties that greatly surpass those of traditional and ubiquitous Li-ion batteries; thereby, demonstrating the promise of all-solid-state battery technology and its potential to revolutionize portable electronics.

Many consumers are familiar with rechargeable lithium ion batteries, which ha...