Solving mysteries of conductivity in polymers

Materials known as conjugated polymers have been seen as very promising candidates for electronics applications, including capacitors, photodiodes, sensors, organic light-emitting diodes, and thermoelectric devices. But they've ...

Paper waste used to make bricks

Researchers at the University of Jaen (Spain) have mixed waste from the paper industry with ceramic material used in the construction industry. The result is a brick that has low thermal conductivity meaning it acts as a ...

Nanotechnology changes behavior of materials

One of the reasons solar cells are not used more widely is cost—the materials used to make them most efficient are expensive. Engineers are exploring ways to print solar cells from inks, but the devices don't work as well.

Electronics play by a new set of rules at the molecular scale

(Phys.org)—In a paper published in Nature Nanontechnology on September 2, 2012, scientists from the DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory and Columbia University's departments of Chemistry and of Applied Physics explore ...

Thermoelectric crystal conductivity reaches a new high

Just as a voltage difference can generate electric current, a temperature difference can generate a current flow in thermoelectric materials governed by its "Peltier conductivity" (P). Now, researchers from Japan demonstrate ...

Silver nanowires demonstrate unexpected self-healing mechanism

With its high electrical conductivity and optical transparency, indium tin oxide is one of the most widely used materials for touchscreens, plasma displays, and flexible electronics. But its rapidly escalating price has forced ...

Ultra-fast photodetector and terahertz generator

Photodetectors made from graphene can process and conduct light signals as well as electric signals extremely fast. Within picoseconds the optical stimulation of graphene generates a photocurrent. Until now, none of the available ...

Researchers find new properties of the carbon material graphene

Graphene has caused a lot of excitement among scientists since the extremely strong and thin carbon material was discovered in 2004. Just one atom thick, the honeycomb-shaped material has several remarkable properties combining ...

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