Nano News: 09/04/15

The multiferroic sandwich

Two properties are particularly sought after in materials for technology (for a variety of devices from sensors to computer memory, etc.): magnetism and ferroelectricity. Obtaining materials with both qualities is highly desirable. At the present time, these properties have shown to be almost entirely mutually exclusive, but a new study conducted by...

Compostable electronics for printing (w/video)

Every year, almost two million tons of electronic scrap arise in Germany. Printed electronics enhances the trend to throw used devices away by reducing production costs and opening up new markets with disposable items, such as interactive packagings or smart band aids. Young researchers at Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT), hence, develop printed...

Spins on the edge

A model system that could allow a range of electron-spin-related phenomena to be experimentally observed—an important step toward realizing practical ‘spintronic’ devices—has been proposed by RIKEN researchers ("Charge and spin transport in edge channels of a v = 0 quantum Hall system on the surface of topological insulators"). Measuring the voltages...