2D materials

Penn State and Université Paris-Saclay researchers report a new way to control light by embedding “nanodots” in ultra-thin, two-dimensional (2D) materials. The team says this precision could lead to higher-resolution screens and advances in quantum computing technologies. In a study published in ACS Photonics, the scientists demonstrated how these nanodots — tiny islands of a…

For decades, probing the electrical activity of living cells has been like listening to a symphony recorded with bulky, imprecise microphones — relying on invasive electrodes and sometimes disruptive dyes. Now, engineers at the University of California, San Diego, have unveiled a potentially life-changing invention: atom-thick semiconductors that can “hear” these faint cellular signals using…

The relentless demand for faster, smaller and more efficient electronic devices is finally pushing existing silicon technology to its physical limits. Decades of phenomenal innovation have largely delivered the prophesy of Moore’s Law, which predicts that the number of transistors that can be crammed onto a silicon chip should double every two years, but there…

Scientists have engineered a promising new quantum defect using computational modeling. Published in Nature Communications, the research highlights how cobalt, a common metal, could be key to building future quantum computers. The team began by simulating more than 700 potential defects in tungsten disulfide (WS2), a material with desirable electronic properties. To sift through this…

A new study published in Nature explores the electrochemical potential of graphene, a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon to function as both memory and logic components. By sandwiching graphene between electrolytes and applying specific voltages, researchers, including Marcelo Lozada-Hidalgo and J. Tong of the University of Manchester, created independent pathways for both protons and electrons to…