Wearable electronic components incorporated directly into fabrics have been developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge. The devices could be used for flexible circuits, healthcare monitoring, energy conversion, and other applications. The Cambridge researchers, working in collaboration with colleagues at Jiangnan University in China, have shown how graphene – a two-dimensional form of carbon […]
Smallest Pixels Ever Created Could Light up Color-Changing Buildings
The smallest pixels yet created – a million times smaller than those in smartphones, made by trapping particles of light under tiny rocks of gold – could be used for new types of large-scale flexible displays, big enough to cover entire buildings. The colour pixels, developed by a team of scientists led by the University […]
Radical Approach for Brighter LEDs
Scientists have discovered that semiconducting molecules with unpaired electrons, termed ‘radicals’ can be used to fabricate very efficient organic-light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), exploiting their quantum mechanical ‘spin’ property to overcome efficiency limitations for traditional, non-radical materials. Radicals are usually noted for their high chemical reactivity and often detrimental effects, from human health to the ozone layer. […]
New Efficiency Record Set for Perovskite LEDs
Researchers have set a new efficiency record for LEDs based on perovskite semiconductors, rivalling that of the best organic LEDs (OLEDs). Compared to OLEDs, which are widely used in high-end consumer electronics, the perovskite-based LEDs, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, can be made at much lower costs, and can be tuned to […]
Some Superconductors Can Also Carry Currents Of ‘Spin’
Researchers have shown that certain superconductors — materials that carry electrical current with zero resistance at very low temperatures — can also carry currents of ‘spin’. The successful combination of superconductivity and spin could lead to a revolution in high-performance computing, by dramatically reducing energy consumption. Spin is a particle’s intrinsic angular momentum, and is […]
Defects in Next-Generation Solar Cells Can Be Healed with Light
Researchers have shown that defects in the molecular structure of perovskites – a material which could revolutionise the solar cell industry – can be “healed” by exposing it to light and just the right amount of humidity. The international team of researchers demonstrated in 2016 that defects in the crystalline structure of perovskites could be healed by […]
World’s Smallest Magnifying Glass Makes It Possible To See Chemical Bonds Between Atoms
For centuries, scientists believed that light, like all waves, couldn’t be focused down smaller than its wavelength, just under a millionth of a metre. Now, researchers led by the University of Cambridge have created the world’s smallest magnifying glass, which focuses light a billion times more tightly, down to the scale of single atoms. In […]
Next-Generation Smartphone Battery Inspired By The Gut
Researchers have developed a prototype of a next-generation lithium-sulphur battery which takes its inspiration in part from the cells lining the human intestine. The batteries, if commercially developed, would have five times the energy density of the lithium-ion batteries used in smartphones and other electronics. The new design, by researchers from the University of Cambridge, […]
Laser Technique Promises Super-fast and Super-secure Quantum Cryptography
Researchers have developed a new method to overcome one of the main issues in implementing a quantum cryptography system, raising the prospect of a useable ‘unbreakable’ method for sending sensitive information hidden inside particles of light. By ‘seeding’ one laser beam inside another, the researchers, from the University of Cambridge and Toshiba Research Europe, have […]
New State of Matter Detected in a Two-Dimensional Material
An international team of researchers have found evidence of a mysterious new state of matter, first predicted 40 years ago, in a real material. This state, known as a quantum spin liquid, causes electrons – thought to be indivisible building blocks of nature – to break into pieces. The researchers, including physicists from the University […]