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Nanogenerators based on piezoelectric nanowires have already been demonstrated, but these devices were not mechanically robust. A new approach overcomes such problems by avoiding sliding contacts. Repeatedly stretching and releasing a piezoelectric wire in the new devices can generate electricity with an efficiency of 6.8%.
Previous photodetectors based on solution-processed colloidal quantum dots have demonstrated either rapid response times or high sensitivity. Researchers have now taken advantage of new insights into charge transport in these devices to build photodiodes that offer both rapid response times and high sensitivity.
Graphene is a promising material for the next-generation of nanoelectronic devices, but it has been difficult to produce single-layer samples in bulk quantities. A solution-based process for the large-scale production of single-layer, chemically converted graphene has now been demonstrated and used to make field-effect devices with currents that are three orders of magnitude higher than previously reported for chemically produced graphene.
Carbon nanotubes used as templates for polymerizing lipids into regular ring-shaped water-soluble assemblies that can dissolve various hydrophobic compounds and membrane proteins, could have applications in cosmetics, medicine and materials science.
When a spin-polarized current passes from a ferromagnet into a non-magnetic material, the spins of the itinerant electrons are ‘flipped’ at the interface between the two materials, producing a mechanical torque. A nanoscale torsion oscillator has now measured this torque in a metallic nanowire in which one half is ferromagnetic and the other non-magnetic. The unprecedented torque sensitivity offered by this device could have applications in spintronics and fundamental physics, chemistry and biology.
Most experiments on nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) have so far been performed in the frequency domain, whereas applications in computation and information storage will require such systems to be operated in the time domain. A time-resolved optical approach to the transduction of ultrahigh-frequency NEMS that works at frequencies from less than 10 MHz to over 1 GHz has now been demonstrated.
Fibre lasers are used as light sources in many fields of science and technology, and the inclusion of a saturable absorber inside the laser cavity enables ultrafast pulses to be generated. It has now been demonstrated that single-wall carbon nonotubes are excellent saturable absorbers, especially in the 1.3–1.5 μm wavelength region used for optical communications, enabling the output of ultrafast fibre lasers to be tuned over wide range of wavelengths.
Publishing a paper in a journal has traditionally marked the end of a research project, but increasing numbers of academics are becoming interested in the publication process itself.
Do molecules have beauty? Is it possible to fall in love with one? Based on what Harry Kroto and others have written about buckminsterfullerene, Chris Toumey thinks that the answer to both these questions is yes.
International standards have a crucial role in supporting global trade and protecting human health and the environment. US government agencies and the private sector must become more involved in international efforts to establish such standards, and representatives from all nations must ensure that all standards are based on sound science.
