Science

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New Los Alamos Approach May Be Key to Quantum Dot Solar Cells With Real Gains in Efficiency: Nanoengineering Boosts Carrier Multiplication in Quantum Dots

Los Alamos researchers have demonstrated an almost four-fold boost of the carrier multiplication yield with nanoengineered quantum dots. Carrier multiplication is when a single photon can excite multiple electrons. Quantum dots are novel nanostructures that can become the basis of the next generation of solar cells, capable of squeezing additional electricity out of the extra energy of blue and ultraviolet photons.

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Core/shell PbSe/CdSe quantum dots (a) and a carrier multiplication (CM) pathway (b) in these nano structures. (a) Transmission electron microscopy image of thick-shell PbSe/CdSe quantum dots developed for this study. (b) A hot hole generated in the shell via absorption of a photon collides with a core-localized valence-band electron, promoting it across the energy-gap, which generates a second electron-hole pair. In thick-shell PbSe/CdSe quantum dots this process is enhanced due to slow relaxation of shell-localized holes into the core.

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Nanion Technologies and Axion Biosystems Announce Strategic Distribution Partnership in Europe and China

Nanion Technologies, a leading provider of automated patch clamp platforms, and Axion Biosystems, originator of the first high throughput microelectrode array system, today announce a distribution partnership in Europe and China. Nanion will immediately carry Axion's MEA-products, supporting a broad range of biomedical applications.

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Mapping Out our Magnificent Brain

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DARPA’s SUBNETS program seeks new neurotechnology for analyzing neuronal activity across sub-networks of the brain to enable next-generation therapies tailored to individual patients.

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NASA's Hubble to Begin Search Beyond Pluto for a New Horizons Mission Target

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This is an artist's rendering of the New Horizons spacecraft encountering a Kuiper Belt object — a city-sized icy relic left over from the birth of our solar system. The Sun, more than 4.1 billion miles (6.7 billion kilometers) away, shines as a bright star embedded in the glow of the zodiacal dust cloud. Jupiter and Neptune are visible as orange and blue "stars" to the right of the Sun.

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New quantum mechanism to trigger the emission of tunable light at terahertz frequencies

Scientists have found that two-dimensional (2D) nanostructures with asymmetric design enable a new quantum mechanism, triggering the emission of tunable light at terahertz frequencies—with unprecedented efficiency.

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This is an optoelectronic device formed of multiple quantum wells, whose design is optimised to maximise the dipole and thus its efficiency, emitting terahertz light.

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Developing an improved liposuction technique that melts fat

Although liposuction is one of the most common and well-established cosmetic surgery procedures in the U.S., it still has its drawbacks. But a new biomedical start-up says it may have found a novel way to improve the procedure using gold nanoparticles to literally melt fat

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Melting fat away could one day become a reality with a new liposuction technique now under development.

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Titan Flybys Test the Talents of NASA's Cassini Team

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Cassini will attempt to bounce signals off of Saturn's moon Titan once more during a flyby on June 18, 2014, revealing important details about the moon's surface.

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Soaring Over Lunar Mt. Hadley

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Dynamic Spectroscopy Duo: 2D Electronic-Vibrational Spectroscopy Technique Provides Unprecedented Look into Photochemical Reactions

From allowing our eyes to see, to enabling green plants to harvest energy from the sun, photochemical reactions - reactions triggered by light - are both ubiquitous and critical to nature. Photochemical reactions also play essential roles in high technology, from the creation of new nanomaterials to the development of more efficient solar energy systems. Using photochemical reactions to our best advantage requires a deep understanding of the interplay between the electrons and atomic nuclei within a molecular system after that system has been excited by light. A major advance towards acquiring this knowledge has been reported by a team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley.

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2D-EV spectral data tells researchers how photoexcitation of a molecular system affects the coupling of electronic and nuclear vibrations that is essential to understanding how the system functions.

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Move over, silicon, there's a new circuit in town

When it comes to electronics, silicon will now have to share the spotlight. How they have overcome a major issue in carbon nanotube technology by developing a flexible, energy-efficient hybrid circuit combining carbon nanotube thin film transistors with other thin film transistors. This hybrid could take the place of silicon as the traditional transistor material used in electronic chips, since carbon nanotubes are more transparent, flexible, and can be processed at a lower cost.

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Hybrid CNT/IGZO circuits fabricated on a polyimide film laminated on a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate