Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

Various configurations of oxygen adsorption with corresponding energies. (a) Sulphur, molybdenum, and oxygen are represented by yellow, blue, and red spheres, respectively. The sulphur vacancy site is represented by the cross. (b) Nudged elastic band calculation of the energy barrier for migration of an oxygen molecule towards a sulphur vacancy and respective trapping. The energy barrier, measured from the starting point, is 56 meV. The calculation was performed in the spin-averaged state. (c) Calculated ionization levels for relevant defects (all energies are in eV). VBM and CBM refer to the valence band maximum and conduction band minima, respectively. (d) Representation of the charge density of the trapped electrons at sulfur vacancies.

Mechanical properties of atomically thin boron nitride and the role of interlayer interactions. Nature Communications, 2017; 8: 15815 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15815

The porosity of the nanostructured Tantalum (in black) enables the formation of silicon channels (in blue) allowing lithium ions to travel faster within the battery. The rigidity of the tantalum scaffold also limits the expansion of the silicon and preserve structural integrity. Credit: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University Nanoparticles by Design Unit

Zeolitic ice ITT (left) and aeroice 4xFAU (right) are illustrated. Their structure can be regarded as combinations of a couple of polyhedral building blocks. In molecular scale, each polygonal face of the polyhedra is made of water molecules (left bottom). Yellow lines are hydrogen bonds. Credit: Masakazu Matsumoto/CC BY 2.0