Science

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Revolutionary new device joins world of smart electronics: Unique properties of graphene and graph Exeter combine to create a new flexible, transparent, photosensitive device

Smart electronics are taking the world by storm. From techno-textiles to transparent electronic displays, the world of intelligent technology is growing fast and a revolutionary new device has just been added to its ranks. Researchers at the University of Exeter have developed a new photoelectric device that is both flexible and transparent. The device, described in a paper in the journal ACS Nano, converts light into electrical signals by exploiting the unique properties of the recently discovered materials graphene and graphExeter. GraphExeter is the best known room temperature transparent conductor and graphene is the thinnest conductive material.

At just a few atoms thick, the newly developed photoelectric device is ultra-lightweight. This, along with the flexibility of its constituent graphene materials, makes it perfect for incorporating into clothing. Such devices could be used to develop photovoltaic textiles enabling clothes to act as solar panels and charge mobile phones while they are being worn.

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Special deal on photon-to-electron conversion: Two for one! New technique developed at MIT could enable a major boost in solar-cell efficiency

Throughout decades of research on solar cells, one formula has been considered an absolute limit to the efficiency of such devices in converting sunlight into electricity: Called the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit, it posits that the ultimate conversion efficiency can never exceed 34 percent for a single optimized semiconductor junction.

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NASA's Hubble Sees a Horsehead of a Different Color

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SN 1006: X-Ray View of A Thousand-Year-Old Cosmic Tapestry

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.A new Chandra image of SN 1006 provides new details about
the remains of an exploded star.
.This explosion was witnessed from Earth over a millennium
ago.
.The Chandra data provides the best map to date of the
debris field including information on important elements
expanding into space.
.SN 1006 belongs to a class of supernova used to measure
the expansion of the Universe.

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Star factory in the early Universe challenges galaxy evolution theory

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Starburst galaxy

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Fluorescence Technique Measures Photoacid Distribution in Photoresists with Nanoscale Resolution

A team of researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the University of Maryland, and Korea University (Seoul, Korea) has measured the nanoscale distribution of photoacid molecules in photoresists using a fluorescence technique originally developed to provide images of biological structures smaller than the wavelength of light.* Photoresists are light-sensitive chemicals used for manufacturing the semiconductor integrated circuits found in computers and other electronics. By measuring the chemical reactions in photoresists at a smaller length scale, this method potentially opens a path to manufacturing smaller electronic devices.

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Schematic showing fluorescence from UV-activated fluorophores excited by 532 nm light that reveals nanoscale photoacid distribution (left). Activated fluorophore concentration corresponds to the inverse of the original photoacid distribution (right).

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A new twist for quantum systems

To maneuver a car into a parking spot parallel to the road can be quite a challenge. It would be an easy task, of course, if only the vehicle could move sideways. As this is not possible, the sideways motion must be pieced together - sometimes elegantly, sometimes less so - in a series of forward and backward movements and turns on the steering wheel. Such a finely tuned sequence of movements also enables cats to almost always land on their feet after a free fall. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now used a similar principle for steering a quantum system into a desired state. This new type of control should be useful in situations in which quantum systems must be precisely controlled, not least in the context of quantum computers.

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Macroscopic quantum objects: A microwave resonator measuring 32 mm x 15 mm x 5 mm (left) contains superconducting circuits (center and right) that display similar quantum behavior as atoms.

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NASA’s Wind Mission Encounters ‘SLAMS’ Waves

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Earth is surrounded by a giant magnetic bubble called the magnetosphere. As it travels through space, a complex system of charged particles from the sun and magnetic structures piles up in front of it. Scientists wish to better understand this area in front of the bow shock, known as the foreshock, as it can help explain how energy from the rest of space makes its way past this boundary into the magnetosphere.

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How to Target an Asteroid

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This spectacular image of comet Tempel 1 was taken 67 seconds after it obliterated Deep Impact's impactor spacecraft.

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Small in size, big on power: New microbatteries a boost for electronics

Though they be but little, they are fierce. The most powerful batteries on the planet are only a few millimeters in size, yet they pack such a punch that a driver could use a cellphone powered by these batteries to jump-start a dead car battery - and then recharge the phone in the blink of an eye.

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The graphic illustrates a high power battery technology from the University of Illinois. Ions flow between three-dimensional micro-electrodes in a lithium ion battery.

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