Category Technology/Electronics

Illustration of the molecular structure of the graphene nanoribbons prepared by UCLA chemistry professor Yves Rubin and colleagues. Credit: Courtesy of Yves Rubin

Tiny structures could be next-generation solution for smaller electronic devices. As electronic devices have become smaller and smaller, creating tiny silicon components that fit inside them has become more challenging and more expensive. Now, UCLA chemists have developed a new method to produce nanoribbons of graphene, next-generation structures that many scientists believe will one day power electronic devices.

The nanoribbons are extremely narrow strips of graphene, the width of just a few carbon atoms...

The microscopic ribbons lie criss-crossed on the gold substrate. Credit: EMPA

Transistors based on carbon nanostructures: what sounds like a futuristic dream could be reality in just a few years’ time. Scientists have now produced nanotransistors from graphene ribbons that are only a few atoms wide. Graphene ribbons have special electrical properties that make them promising candidates for the nanoelectronics of the future: While graphene is a conductive material, it can become a semiconductor in the form of nanoribbons. This means that it has a sufficiently large energy or band gap in which no electron states can exist: it can be turned on and off – and thus may become a key component of nanotransistors.

The smallest details in the atomic structure of these graphene bands, however, have m...

Schematic illustration of a hybrid information network with two quantum nodes composed by a cold cloud of Rubidium (left red cloud) and a doped crystal with Praseodymium ions (right white cube). Credit: ICFO/Scixel

Researchers report the first demonstration of an elementary link of a hybrid quantum information network, using a cold atomic cloud and a doped crystal as quantum nodes as well as single telecom photons as information carriers. The study demonstrates the communication and transmission of quantum information between 2 completely different types of quantum nodes placed in different labs.

Recent research suggests that this quantum network revolution might be just around the corner...

Structure of the hollow Eu(III)-benzoate nanotubes. a) SEM image; scale bar = 400 nm. b) TEM image; scale bar = 100 nm. A magnified image is given in Figure S2 in the Supporting Information. c) PXRD data. (‘) indicates signals corresponding to the lamellar substructure. Black curve = experiment pattern obtained from the hybrid material. Blue curve = simulated pattern with the structure model presented in (d). Blue = Eu; red = oxygen; dark gray = carbon; light gray = hydrogen; yellow = cell edges of monoclinic Eu2O3.

University of Konstanz has developed a method for synthesising Europium (II) oxide nanoparticles – a ferromagnetic semiconductor that is relevant for data storage and data transport...