Category Technology/Electronics

Sulfur-Rich Molybdenum Sulfides has been found to be useful for Electrolyteless Water Vapor Splitting

Compound catalyses splitting of water atoms. Researchers have developed a solar paint that can absorb water vapour and split it to generate hydrogen – the cleanest source of energy. The paint contains a newly developed compound that acts like silica gel, which is used in sachets to absorb moisture and keep food, medicines and electronics fresh and dry. But unlike silica gel, the new material, synthetic molybdenum-sulphide, also acts as a semi-conductor and catalyses the splitting of water atoms into hydrogen and oxygen.

Lead researcher Dr Torben Daeneke, from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, said: “We found that mixing the compound with titanium oxide particles leads to a sunlight-...

The researchers performed the characterization of graphene-based molecular electronic devices at room-temperature and demonstrated that molecules covalently attached to mechanically robust graphene substrates are ideal candidates for next-generation molecular electronic devices. Credit: © Alexander Rudnev, University of Bern

An international team led by the University of Bern and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has revealed a new way to tune the functionality of next-generation molecular electronic devices using graphene. The results could be exploited to develop smaller, higher-performance devices for use in a range of applications including molecular sensing, flexible electronics, and energy conversion and storage, as well as robust measurement setups for resistance standards.

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Electrons and light are moving in concert along the graphene sheet.
Credit: ICFO/ F. Vialla

Researchers have studied how light can be used to “see” the quantum nature of an electronic material. They managed to do that by capturing light in a net of carbon atoms and slowing down light it down so that it moves almost as slow as the electrons in the graphene. Then something special happens: electrons and light start to move in concert, unveiling their quantum nature at such large scale that it could observed with a special type of microscope.

The experiments were performed with ultra-high quality graphene...

Sangchul Roh, Dishit P. Parekh, Bhuvnesh Bharti, Simeon D. Stoyanov, Orlin D. Velev. 3D Printing by Multiphase Silicone/Water Capillary Inks. Advanced Materials, 2017; 1701554 DOI: 10.1002/adma.201701554

Using the principles behind the formation of sandcastles from wet sand, North Carolina State University researchers have achieved 3D printing of flexible and porous silicone rubber structures through a new technique that combines water with solid and liquid forms of silicone into a pasty ink that can be fed through a 3D printer. The finding could have biomedical applications and uses in soft robotics. Orlin Velev and coll

eagues show that, in a water medium, liquid silicone rubber can be used to form bridges between tiny silicone rubber beads to link them together – much as a small amo...