Carving diamonds for optical components

Thanks to a new technique developed at EPFL, optical diffraction gratings can now be made out of pure diamond, with their surfaces smoothed down to the very last atom. These new devices can be used to alter the wavelength ...

Successful filming of fastest aurora flickering

Auroras are typically described as slowly shimmering curtains of light illuminating the sky. However, when an explosive aurora known as a breakup occurs, it sometimes leads to a flickering phenomenon. When an aurora flickers, ...

Feather-light metal cathodes for stable lithium-oxygen batteries

Lithium-oxygen systems could someday outperform today's lithium-ion batteries because of their potential for high energy density. However, a number of important issues, such as their poor electrochemical stability must be ...

Researchers show that enzyme function inhibits battery ageing

It has been known in biology for a long time that the excited oxygen molecule singlet oxygen is the main cause of ageing in cells. To counter this, nature uses an enzyme called superoxide dismutase to eliminate superoxide ...

Researchers pave the way for ionotronic nanodevices

Ionotronic devices rely on charge effects based on ions instead of or in addition to electrons. These devices open new opportunities for creating electrically switchable memories. However, there are still many technical challenges ...

How to to bring lithium-air batteries closer to practice

Scientists from the Faculties of Materials Science and Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, are working on improvement of lithium-air batteries, which can significantly exceed the key parameters of lithium-ion systems. ...

Detecting radioactive material from a remote distance

In 2004 British national Dhiren Barot was arrested for conspiring to commit a public nuisance by the use of radioactive materials, among other charges. Authorities claimed that Barot had researched the production of "dirty ...

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