Showing Spotlights 65 - 72 of 298 in category All (newest first):
Researchers commonly observe a relative rotation between individual layers of 2D materials. Importantly, these interlayer rotation angles, i.e. at what angle two individual layers are oriented towards each other, influence the electronic properties of the resulting material system. In new work, researchers reveal a general moire-driven mechanism that governs the interlayer rotation. At the core of these findings is the concept of the van der Waals dislocation, a term the team uses to describe the commensurability/incommensurability defect in bilayer crystalline materials.
May 31st, 2019
Graphene's outstanding mechanical and electrical properties make it a very attractive material for applications in aerospace and flexible electronics. This, however, requires the assembly of graphene into macroscopic graphene nanocomposites. Researchers report a novel strategy to 'stitch' reduced graphene oxide nanosheets into ultra-strong, super tough, and highly conductive graphene films using only small amounts of cross-linker. Their technique provides substantial improvement in multiple properties including tensile strength, toughness, electrical conductivity, EMI shielding capability, and resistance to mechanical damage.
May 17th, 2019
Borophene, the atomically flat form of boron, differs from graphene and other two-dimensional (2D) materials in an important way: It can't be reduced from a larger natural form because bulk boron is not naturally layered. While graphite is composed of stacks of atomically thin sheets that can be peeled off one at a time to make graphene, there is no such analogous process for making 2D boron. Or so researchers had thought. Now, however, researchers have synthesized free-standing borophene for the first time and in a scalable manner.
May 14th, 2019
Rare earth metals and alloys that contain them are used in many devices that people use in their everyday lives. Whereas the research on two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials such as graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, MXenes, transition metal dichalcogenides, or metal-organic frameworks moves full-steam ahead, overview reports on 2D rare earth materials are, well, rare. However, with the electron confinement within mono- or multi-layers, the optical, magnetic, electric, catalytic, and adsorptive properties of ultrathin 2D rare-earth nanomaterials may also vary remarkably from those of the bulk phase, opening up great opportunities for applications in numerous areas.
May 7th, 2019
Highly compressible graphene aerogels possess extraordinary properties that exceed the performance of natural materials - superior compressive elasticity; ultrahigh porosity; outstanding tolerance for harsh environment; large specific surface area; high electrical and thermal conductivity. Now, researchers have fabricated graphene aerogel 'bricks' that can be assembled into much larger aerogel structures. These highly oriented and dense microstructures possesses arbitrary macroscale, outstanding compressive strength, superelasticity, and high conductivity.
May 6th, 2019
An international team of researchers has demonstrated a simple method for transferring A4-size sheets of CVD graphene from copper foils onto a target substrate using a commercially available polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer foil as a carrier substrate and an off-the-shelf office laminator. This do-it-yourself approach requires few tools and low cost materials - it is safe and easy enough to be carried out in school physics classes. There are no chemicals involved besides water; no spinner; no dangerous etchants.
Mar 25th, 2019
Alpha-synuclein is a protein whose function in the healthy brain is currently unknown. It is of great interest to Parkinson's researchers because it is a major constituent of Lewy bodies, protein clumps that are the pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD). Scientists believe that the self-assembly of alpha-synuclein into oligomers and fibrils is linked to progress and pathogenesis of the disease. A new study suggest that important characteristics of the fibrillation process, such as surface charge and surface functional group, should be considered in the development of nanotechnology-based therapeutic approaches.
Mar 19th, 2019
Recent research in nanofluidics has adopted reconstructed layered two-dimensional (2D) sheets as a promising material platform for nanofluidics. These membranes contain a high volume fraction of interconnected 2D nanochannels. In new work, researchers demonstrate a coupled photon-electron-ion transport phenomenon through graphene oxide membranes. It shows a straightforward way on how to power the transport in 2D layered materials using the energy of light.
Mar 18th, 2019
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