Category Physics

An artist’s rendition (appearing on the cover of the journal Advanced Functional Materials) of the charge carrier “traps” created by the addition of certain molecules to polymer semiconductor materials. Credit: Image courtesy of University of California – Santa Barbara

In what could be called a classic “Eureka” moment, UC Santa Barbara materials researchers have discovered a simple yet effective method for mastering the electrical properties of polymer semiconductors. The elegant technique allows for the efficient design and manufacture of organic circuitry (the type found in flexible displays and solar cells, for instance) of varying complexity while using the same semiconductor material throughout...

1. A near-perfect broadband absorber that’s thin, flexible and transparent in visible light. Credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering
2. SEM images of a nanotube array: side view (left) and top view (right). Credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

Transparent window coatings that keep buildings and cars cool on sunny days. Devices that could more than triple solar cell efficiencies. Thin, lightweight shields that block thermal detection. These are potential applications for a thin, flexible, light-absorbing material developed by engineers at the University of California San Diego...

For the first time, researchers have simulated local magnetic anisotropy at the atomic level in a magnetic material based on experimental data. This figure shows changes in magnetic energy across individual iron and platinum atoms from an FePt nanoparticle.
Credit: Image courtesy of Markus Eisenbach and Nature

Barely wider than a strand of human DNA, magnetic nanoparticles – such as those made from iron and platinum atoms – are promising materials for next-generation recording and storage devices like hard drives. Building these devices from nanoparticles should increase storage capacity and density, but understanding how magnetism works at the level of individual atoms is critical to getting the best performance...

W. Mtangi et al., Control of Electrons’ Spin Eliminates Hydrogen Peroxide Formation During Water Splitting, Journal of the American Chemical Society (30 January 2017). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6b12971

A big obstacle in the production of hydrogen through water splitting is that H2O2 is also formed, which affects the efficiency stability of the reaction and the stability of the production. Researchers have now succeeded in controlling the spin of electrons in the reaction and thereby almost fully suppress the production of hydrogen peroxide in the electrochemical cell.

Led by professors Bert Meijer (Eindhoven University of Technology) and Ron Naaman (Weizmann Institute), the researchers are the first to have specifically investigated the role of the spin – the internal magnetic moment – of electron...