Bend me, shape me, any way you want me: Scientists curve nanoparticle sheets into complex forms

Scientists have been making nanoparticles for more than two decades in two-dimensional sheets, three-dimensional crystals and random clusters. But they have never been able to get a sheet of nanoparticles to curve or fold into a complex three-dimensional structure. Now researchers from the University of Chicago, the University of Missouri and the U.S....

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Combining graphene and nanotubes to make digital switches

Graphene has been called a wonder material, capable of performing great and unusual material acrobatics. Boron nitride nanotubes are no slackers in the materials realm either, and can be engineered for physical and biological applications. However, on their own, these materials are terrible for use in the electronics world. As a conductor, graphene...

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New design brings world's first solar battery to performance milestone

After debuting the world's first solar air battery last fall, researchers at The Ohio State University have now reached a new milestone. In the ("Aqueous Lithium–Iodine Solar Flow Battery for the Simultaneous Conversion and Storage of Solar Energy"), they report that their patent-pending design--which combines a solar cell and a battery into a single...

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