Electrostatic capacitors play a crucial role in modern electronics. They enable ultrafast charging and discharging, providing energy storage and power for devices ranging from smartphones, laptops and routers to medical devices, automotive electronics and industrial equipment. However, the ferroelectric materials used in capacitors have significant energy loss due to their material properties, making it difficult to provide high energy storage capability.

As an important chemical raw material, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is widely applied in various aspects of industry and life. The industrial anthraquinone method for H2O2 production has the serious flaws, such as high pollution and energy consumption. By using ubiquitous mechanical energy, piezocatalytic H2O2 evolution has been proven as a promising strategy, but its progress is hindered by unsatisfied energy conversion efficiency.

Human mini-lungs grown by University of Manchester scientists can mimic the response of animals when exposed to certain nanomaterials. The study is published in Nano Today.

Making ever smaller and more powerful chips requires new ultrathin materials: 2D materials that are only 1 atom thick, or even just a couple of atoms. Think about graphene or ultra-thin silicon membrane for instance.

Flow-through reactors packed with enzymes can produce certain chemicals in a gentle and careful way. However, their performance has so far been limited. A research team from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon and RWTH Aachen University has now been able to increase the yield a thousandfold.

A small amount of sweat could be all that's needed to power fitness trackers of the future, new research led by Deakin University's Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) reveals.

Silicon-based electronics are approaching their physical limitations and new materials are needed to keep up with current technological demands. Two-dimensional (2D) materials have a rich array of properties, including superconductivity and magnetism, and are promising candidates for use in electronic systems, such as transistors. However, precisely controlling the properties of these materials is extraordinarily difficult.

It is a common hack to stretch a balloon out to make it easier to inflate. When the balloon stretches, the width crosswise shrinks to the size of a string. Noah Stocek, a Ph.D. student collaborating with Western physicist Giovanni Fanchini, has developed a new nanomaterial that demonstrates the opposite of this phenomenon.

Cellulose nanofibers represent a promising resource for multiple industrial sectors, but what is their impact on the marine environment? A study published in Environmental Science: Nano recently addressed this issue in a study on marine organisms considered sentinels of sea health: mussels.

A research team has engineered a "broadband nanogap gold spectroscopic sensor" using a flexible material capable of bending to create a controlled gap. With the developed technology, it is possible to rapidly test various types of materials, including infectious disease viruses, using only a single nano-spectroscopic sensor to find molecular fingerprints. The research findings have been published in Nano Letters.

Chattering squirrels, charming coypus, and tail-slapping beavers—along with some other rodents—have orange-brown front teeth. Researchers have published high-resolution images of rodent incisors in ACS Nano, providing an atomic-level view of the teeth's ingenious enamel and its coating. They discovered tiny pockets of iron-rich materials in the enamel that form a protective shield for the teeth but, importantly, don't contribute to the orange-brown hue—new insights that could improve human dentistry.

Researchers at ICIQ in Tarragona have developed a simple technique to produce microscopic crystals that activate in the presence of light, releasing silver ions with antimicrobial activity.

A recent study from the lab of Tanya Kalin, MD, Ph.D., professor of Child Health and Internal Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine—Phoenix, has shown potential to improve therapeutic outcomes for patients suffering from lung cancers.

In recent advancements, flexible pressure sensors have been developed to mimic human skin's sensitivity, significantly benefiting fields like interactive technologies, health monitoring, and robotics. These innovations leverage a variety of microstructural strategies, including pyramidal, dome, wrinkle, and layered structures, for enhanced sensitivity and durability. Despite their potential, current designs often involve complex manufacturing processes.

A research team has devised a novel method to prepare carbonized polymer nanodots capable of emitting multi-color ultra-long room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) from blue to green.

Ferroelectric binary oxides thin films are garnering attention for their superior compatibility over traditional perovskite-based ferroelectric materials. Its compatibility and scalability within the CMOS framework make it an ideal candidate for integrating ferroelectric devices into mainstream semiconductor components, including next-generation memory devices and various logic devices such as Ferroelectric Field-effect Transistor, and Negative Capacitance Field-effect Transistor.

An international research team led by the University of Göttingen has demonstrated experimentally that electrons in naturally occurring double-layer graphene move like particles without any mass, in the same way that light travels. Furthermore, they have shown that the current can be "switched" on and off, which has potential for developing tiny, energy-efficient transistors—like the light switch in your house but at a nanoscale.

To save on fuel and reduce aircraft emissions, engineers are looking to build lighter, stronger airplanes out of advanced composites. These engineered materials are made from high-performance fibers that are embedded in polymer sheets. The sheets can be stacked and pressed into one multilayered material and made into extremely lightweight and durable structures.

In recent years, the adherence of microorganisms to surfaces or coatings has created major health risks to humans. Among these, microbial attachment and growth on surgical suture lines accounts for more than 20% of health-related infections in patients.

For the first time, scientists have managed to create sheets of gold only a single atom layer thick. The material has been termed goldene. According to researchers from Linköping University, Sweden, this has given the gold new properties that can make it suitable for use in applications such as carbon dioxide conversion, hydrogen production, and production of value-added chemicals. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Synthesis.