Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

A hybrid 3-D optical microscope – mass spectrometry map showing optical brightness (height) and chemical distribution of poly(2vinylpyridine) (red) and poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (blue) signals of a 20 micron-by-20 micron area of a polymer blend. (ORNL/DOE)

The hybrid optical microscope/mass spectrometry-based imaging system developed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory operates under ambient conditions and requires no pretreatment of samples to analyze chemical compounds with sub-micron resolution. One micron is equal to about 1/100th the width of a human hair.

“Knowing the chemical basis of material interactions that take place at interfaces is vital for designing and advancing new functional materials that are important for DOE missions such as organic photovoltaic...

An advance in the storage of concentrated solar thermal energy may reduce reduce its cost and make it more practical for wider use. Credit: Graphic by Kelvin Randhir, courtesy of the University of Florida

New approach for storage of concentrated solar thermal energy has been found, to reduce cost and make it more practical for wider use. The advance is based on thermochemical storage, in which chemical transformation is used in repeated cycles to hold heat, use it to drive turbines, and then be re-heated to continue the cycle. Most commonly this might be done over a 24 hour period, with variable levels of solar-powered electricity available at any time of day, as dictated by demand.

Conceptually, all of the energy produced could be stored indefinitely and used later when the electricity is...

This is a drawing of boron doped graphine. Credit: Torones, Penn State

An international team of researchers, led by Penn State, has developed ultrasensitive gas sensors based on the infusion of boron atoms into graphene. The researchers are from 6 countries and includes the 2010 Noble laureate and graphene pioneer Konstantin Novoselov, and Morinobu Endo, the discoverer of carbon nanotubes.

Graphene is well known for strength and ability to transport electrons at high speed, but it is also a highly sensitive gas sensor. By adding boron atoms, the boron graphene (BG) sensors were able to detect noxious gas molecules at extremely low concentrations, parts per billion in the case of nitrogen oxides and parts per million for ammonia, the two gases tested to date...

A high-quality mixed-organic-cation perovskite (MA)x(FA)1−xPbI3 is prepared from a phase-pure non-stoichiometric intermediate complex (FAI)1−x−PbI2. The phase-pure (FAI)1−x−PbI2 probably facilitates homogenous nucleation and modulates the growth kinetics during the crystallization of (MA)x(FA)1−xPbI3. This strategy can be expected to pave the way for the development of mixed-organic-cation perovskite solar cells.

NIMS researchers have developed the world’s first method to fabricate high-quality perovskite materials capable of utilizing long-wavelength sunlight of 800 nm or longer...