Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

TagItSmart project

Traceable consumer products and entertaining solutions are about to become part of our everyday lives, particularly in food packaging or, say, textiles and household appliances. Through the TagItSmart project, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is developing functional inks which can be used to add variable codes to products. For example, using such a code a mug can notify a consumer of the temperature of a drink, or packaging can notify of the ‘best before’ date and the product origin and country of production.

Functional inks are used for the printing of 2D codes on various products...

A cross-section of a perovskite solar cell seen through a scanning electron microscope. Credit: M.Grätzel/EPFL

EPFL scientists have stabilized perovskite solar cells by integrating rubidium into them. The innovation pushes power-conversion efficiency to 21.6%, ushering a new generation of perovskite solar cells. Perovskite solar cells have great potential for providing us with cost-effective solar energy. However, heat stability is an issue, and can significantly limit the solar cell’s long-term efficiency, as the cell’s structure can degenerate over time. A solution has been to mix perovskites with other materials, such as cesium, that can improve the cell’s stability without compromising its efficiency in converting light into electrical current.

Michael Grätzel’s lab at EPFL has now in...

The linker histone H1.0 generates epigenetic and functional intratumor heterogeneity.

Scientists have revealed how a genetic switch involved in the packaging of DNA may be key to a cancer cell’s ability to keep growing.The Francis Crick Institute researchers found that production of a protein called H1.0 was frequently switched off in many cancer types and that reactivating this protein halted tumour growth. Studying cancer cells lacking H1.0, they found that DNA becomes uncoiled at key points, activating a series of genes that stall the cell in an ‘immature’ state. This allows the cells to carry on dividing and expanding the tumour.

But as the tumour grows H1.0 can spontaneously become switched back on in some cells...

To make the superstructure, the nanocrystals are dissolved in an oleaginous fluid that floats on a layer of coolant. As the oil evaporates, the nanocrystals appear to form a neat hexagonal structure on the surface of the water. Credit: Image courtesy of Utrecht University

Two years ago, a team led by Utrecht University in Science explaining how they had created a material with unique and extremely interesting electronic characteristics. In this ‘supercrystal’, the electrons move almost with the speed of photons, and the electric current can be switched on and off. This makes it ideal for ultra-fast electronics. But at the time, the researchers were at a loss to explain how this ‘supercrystal’ obtained its unique structure...