Nano News: 07/30/15

Black phosphorus could replace silicon computer chips

Silicon Valley in Northern California got its nickname from the multitude of computer chip manufacturers that sprung up in the surrounding area in the 1980’s. Despite its ubiquity as a chip building material, silicon may be facing some competition from a new version of an old substance. Researchers working at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) Center...

A cost-effective solution to tuned graphene production

Mario Hofmann is holding an example set up of the electrochemical synthesis. Today (30 July), in the journal ("Controlling the properties of graphene produced by electrochemical exfoliation"), a team of researchers report that they have developed a simple electrochemical approach which allows defects to intentionally be created in the graphene, altering...

Sol-gel capacitor dielectric offers record-high energy storage

Posted: Using a hybrid silica sol-gel material and self-assembled monolayers of a common fatty acid, researchers have developed a new capacitor dielectric material that provides an electrical energy storage capacity rivaling certain batteries, with both a high energy density and high power density. Samples of the new hybrid sol-gel material are shown...