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A team led by Hongli (Julie) Zhu, an assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern, is using unique nanomaterials derived from cellulose to improve the large and expensive kind of batteries needed to store renewable energy harnessed from sources such as sunlight and the wind.

Scientists from the Skoltech Center for Energy Science and Technology (CEST) and the Institute for Problems of Chemical Physics of Russian Academy of Sciences have developed a novel approach for preparing thin semiconductor fullerene films. The method enables fabrication of organic electronics without using toxic organic solvents and costly vacuum technologies, thus reducing the environmental risks and making organic electronics more accessible.

One of the most promising alternative energy sources is hydrogen, which can be extracted from water and air. A catalyst is needed for a chemical process that releases hydrogen from an H2O molecule.

The EU-funded STRETCHLENS project has contributed to a more advanced solution with possibly major medical benefits. It developed an electrically powered contact lens that has the potential to diagnose and treat age-related reading difficulties while also helping with more serious disorders such as iris perforation and hypersensitivity to light.

Gene-infused nanoparticles used for combating disease work better when they include plant-based relatives of cholesterol because their shape and structure help the genes get where they need to be inside cells.

Researchers described a new strategy of designing metamolecules that incorporates two independently controllable subwavelength meta-atoms. This two-parametric control of the metamolecule secures the complete control of both amplitude and the phase of light.

Scientists develop new method to isolate atomic sheets and create new materials
Two-dimensional materials from layered van der Waals (vdW) crystals hold great promise for electronic, optoelectronic, and quantum devices, but making/manufacturing them has been limited by the lack of high-throughput techniques for exfoliating single-crystal monolayers with sufficient size and high quality.

Gas and water permeation barrier films play a vital part in applications ranging from food and pharmaceutical packaging to electronic devices. Two-dimensional (2D) materials, like graphene, are highly promising as ultra-high barrier materials, and their atomic thinness, mechanical stability, optical transparency and thermal properties offers many new possibilities and device form factors.

The semiconductor industry has been developed for more than 40 years following the Moore’s Law. With the size of transistors being shrinking down to tenth of nanometer scale, the quantum effects start to dominate and cause problems such as operation stability and heat générations.