Category Physics

Orange luminous OLED on a graphene electrode. The two-euro coin serves as a comparison of sizes. Credit: © Fraunhofer FEP

New OLEDs can, for example, be integrated into touch displays, and graphene promises many other applications for the future. The graphene electrodes have an area of 2 × 1 sq cm. “This was a real breakthrough in research and integration of extremely demanding materials,” says FEP’s project leader Dr. Beatrice Beyer. The process was developed and optimized in the EU-funded project “Gladiator” (Graphene Layers: Production, Characterization and Integration) together with partners from industry and research.

Graphene is light, transparent and extremely hard and has more tensile strength than steel. It is flexible, conductive for heat or electricity. It is only 0...

Argonne researchers are the first to capture the formation of nanomaterial defects in near-real time. Their work will help other researchers model the behavior of materials, a step that is key to engineering stronger, more reliable materials. Credit: Mark Lopez/Argonne National Laboratory

From blacksmiths forging iron to artisans blowing glass, humans have for centuries been changing the properties of materials to build better tools. In modern life, new materials are created to improve today’s items, such as stronger steel for skyscrapers and more reliable semiconductors for cell phones...

A new type of LED is made with crystalline substances known as perovskites. CREDIT Sameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy

Princeton engineers have refined the manufacturing of light sources made with crystalline substances, perovskites, a moreefficient and potentially lower-cost alternative to materials used in LEDs found on store shelves. The researchers developed a technique in which nanoscale perovskite particles self-assemble to produce more efficient, stable and durable perovskite-based LEDs. The advance, reported January 16 in Nature Photonics, could speed the use of perovskite technologies in commercial applications such as lighting, lasers and television and computer screens.

LEDs emit light when voltage is applied across the LED...

Unlocking the secrets of gold. Credit: Massey University

Gold is prized for its preciousness and as a conductor in electronics, but it is also important in scientific experimentation. Ernest Rutherford utilised it when mapping the atom, in an experiment, which needed a thin metal foil made of gold. However, despite its usefulness in experimentation, scientists found gold would not always perform how they theorised it would at the atomic level. Scientists do not like what they cannot explain, so debate grew amongst the communities best minds to explain this why gold is special, which until now remained unsolved even for the most basic atomic properties.

Acting Head of Institute of the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study, Distinguished Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger, alongside internatio...