Tech
In recent years, topology has emerged as an important tool to classify and characterize properties of materials. It has been found that many materials exhibit a number of unusual topological properties, which are unaffected by deformations, e.g., stretching, compressing, or twisting. These topological properties include quantized Hall currents, large magnetoresistance, and surface excitations that are immune to disorder.
Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) are the heart of plastic electronics. Doping has been proven to improve the performance of OFETs effectively. There are two major ways of doping OSCs.
The first strategy is bulk doping. Bulk doping involves the solution phase blending or vapor phase co-deposition of the dopants with the host OSCs. However, bulk doping introduces structural defects and energetic disorders in the host material, which reduces the mobility of the organic semiconductors.
H2O2 is an important commodity chemical and potential energy carrier, and is widely used for various environmental, medical and household applications. At present, about 99% H2O2 is produced from energy-intensive anthraquinone oxidation process. Its centralized production in this way produces highly concentrated H2O2 that often has to be distributed to and diluted at the site of use, bringing additional complexity and challenges. In addition, H2O2 can also be produced from the direct reaction between H2 and O2 in the presence of Pd-based catalysts.
Metal nanoclusters have been served as an emerging class of modular nanomaterials owing to their atomically precise structures, fascinating properties, and potential applications. The subject of cluster-based supramolecular assembly represents one of the most dynamic areas and has emerged recently as a new "growth point" in the nanocluster science. Such assemblies originate in different types of inter-cluster interactions such as chemical bonding, hydrogen bonding, electrostatic, van der Waals, π* * * π and C-H* * * π interactions.
Plasmon-enhanced molecular spectroscopies have attracted tremendous attention as powerful detection tools with ultrahigh sensitivity down to the single-molecule level. The optical response of molecules in the vicinity of nanostructures with plasmon resonance would be dramatically enhanced through interactions with plasmons. However, beyond the signal amplification, the molecule-plasmon interaction also inevitably induce strong modifications in the spectral lineshapes and distort the implied chemical information of molecules.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., May 19, 2020--For the first time, seismologists can characterize signals as a result of some industrial human activity on a continent-wide scale using cloud computing. In two recently published papers in Seismological Research Letters, scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory demonstrate how previously characterized "noise" can now be viewed as a specific signal in a large geographical area thanks to an innovative approach to seismic data analyses.
For decades, scientists have explored the use of liposomes -- hollow spheres made of lipid bilayers -- to deliver chemotherapy drugs to tumor cells. But drugs can sometimes leak out of liposomes before they reach their destination, reducing the dose received by the tumor and causing side effects in healthy tissues. Now, researchers report in ACS' Nano Letters a way to stabilize liposomes by embedding a stiff nanobowl in their inner cavity.
Fires are one of the greatest threats to forest heritage. According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, on average more than 17,000 fires occur per year in Spain, affecting 113,000 hectares and causing enormous financial and scenic losses.
Delays to cancer surgery and other treatment caused by the Covid-19 crisis could result in thousands of additional deaths linked to the pandemic in England, a major new study reports.
New modelling has revealed the extent of the impact that disruption to the cancer care and diagnosis pathway could have on the survival of cancer patients.
UPTON, NY--Scientists have discovered that the transport of electronic charge in a metallic superconductor containing strontium, ruthenium, and oxygen breaks the rotational symmetry of the underlying crystal lattice. The strontium ruthenate crystal has fourfold rotational symmetry like a square, meaning that it looks identical when turned by 90 degrees (four times to equal a complete 360-degree rotation). However, the electrical resistivity has twofold (180-degree) rotational symmetry like a rectangle.
Small non-coding RNA molecules, called microRNAs (miRNAs), found and measured in the blood plasma of asymptomatic pregnant women may predict development of preeclampsia, a condition characterized by high blood pressure and abnormal kidney function that affects roughly 5 to 8 percent of all pregnancies. Preeclampsia is responsible for a significant proportion of maternal and neonatal deaths, low birth weight and is a primary cause of premature birth.
Psychedelics such as LSD and magic mushrooms have proven highly effective in treating depression and post-traumatic stress disorders, but medical use of these drugs is limited by the hallucinations they cause.
"What if we could redesign drugs to keep their benefits while eliminating their unwanted side effects?" asks Ron Dror, an associate professor of computer science at Stanford. Dror's lab is developing computer simulations to help researchers do just that.
When the Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite passed over the western North Atlantic Ocean, it captured rainfall data on Tropical Storm Arthur as the storm was transitioning into an extra-tropical storm.
Early on May 18, 2020, Tropical Cyclone Amphan was a Category 5 storm in the Northern Indian Ocean. On May 19, satellite data from NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite revealed that the storm has weakened and the eye was covered by high clouds.
Discussions of drought often center on the lack of precipitation. But among climate scientists, the focus is shifting to include the growing role that warming temperatures are playing as potent drivers of greater aridity and drought intensification.