Science

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Data science helps engineers discover new materials for solar cells and LEDs

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a high-throughput computational method to design new materials for next generation solar cells and LEDs. Their approach generated 13 new material candidates for solar cells and 23 new candidates for LEDs. Calculations predicted that these materials, called hybrid halide semiconductors, would be stable and exhibit excellent optoelectronic properties.

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Schematic illustration of the workflow for the high-throughput design of organic-inorganic hybrid halide semiconductors for solar cells and light emitting diodes.

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Astronomers Capture First Image of a Black Hole

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The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) — a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration — was designed to capture images of a black hole. Today, in coordinated press conferences across the globe, EHT researchers reveal that they have succeeded, unveiling the first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole and its shadow.

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'Deep learning' casts wide net for novel 2D materials: Rice U. engineers show faster techniques to model atom-flat materials for bottom-up design

Scientists are discovering new two-dimensional materials at a rapid pace, but they don't always immediately know what those materials can do.

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Rice University researchers used a microstructure model of radiation-damaged hexagonal boron nitride to help them study the benefits of deep learning techniques in simulating two-dimensional materials to understand their characteristics.

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Asteroids, Hydrogen Make Great Recipe for Life on Mars

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Asteroids, Hydrogen Make Great Recipe for Life on Mars
Data from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover were used in a new paper studying how asteroids impacting the ancient Martian atmosphere could have produced key ingredients to life. Those data were provided by Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars instrument.

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Curiosity Captured Two Solar Eclipses on Mars

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Curiosity Captured Two Solar Eclipses on Mars
This series of images shows the Martian moon Phobos as it crossed in front of the Sun, as seen by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 (Sol 2359).

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Let's not make big waves: A team of researchers generates ultra-short spin waves in an astoundingly simple material

Due to its potential to make computers faster and smartphones more efficient, spintronics is considered a promising concept for the future of electronics. In a collaboration including the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), a team of researchers has now successfully generated so-called spin waves much more easily and efficiently than was previously deemed possible.

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An ultrashort spin wave (red) running through a nickel iron layer. Towards the center of the layer, the magnetic direction (blue arrows) swings only up and down in a sort of knot, while the motion in the other parts remains circular -- with opposing sense of magnetic rotation.

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Tuneable reverse photochromes in the solid state

A new technique allows the design of solid materials that are coloured in the dark. ICN2 researchers from the Nanostructured Functional Materials Group, led by Dr Daniel Ruiz, have developed it in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry of the UAB.

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Fullerenes bridge conductive gap in organic photovoltaics: Efficient cathode interlayers made of ionene polymers refined with pendant fullerenes

Organic photovoltaics have achieved remarkably high efficiencies, but finding optimum combinations of materials for high-performance organic solar cells, which are also economically competitive, still presents a challenge. Researchers from the United States and China have now developed an innovative interlayer material to improve device stability and electrode performance.

In contrast to common silicon-based solar cells, organic photovoltaics (OPVs) involve organic molecules in solar power generation. Materials in OPVs are abundant and processable, cheap and lightweight, and the modules can be made flexible and with tunable properties. The major disadvantage of such materials is that achieving longevity and high performance requires elaborate settings and architectures. Optimized combinations of materials that match the electrodes remain elusive.

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Opportunity's Parting Shot Was a Beautiful Panorama

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This image is a cropped version of the last 360-degree panorama taken by the Opportunity rover's Panoramic Camera (Pancam) from May 13 through June 10, 2018. The view is presented in false color to make some differences between materials easier to see.

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Zips on the nanoscale: New method of synthesising nanographene on metal oxide surfaces

Nanostructures based on carbon are promising materials for nanoelectronics. However, to be suitable, they would often need to be formed on non-metallic surfaces, which has been a challenge - up to now. Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have found a method of forming nanographenes on metal oxide surfaces.

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The desired nanographenes form like dominoes via cyclodehydrofluorination on the titanium oxide surface. All ‘missing’ carbon-carbon bonds are thus formed after each other in a formation that resembles a zip being closed.