News & Views

Efficiency of power conversion and thermal stability usually don't go together in dye-sensitized solar cells. Now a novel combination of an amphiphilic dye and a polymer gel electrolyte features both these important properties.

In March 2003, ionic liquids came of age with the announcement of BASIL, the first industrial process based on room-temperature ionic liquid technology.

Future high-speed communications devices will require efficient long-wavelength emitters that are compatible with integrated circuits. The development of a 1.5 μm GaAs LED is an important step forward.

A new generation of biocompatible materials may be on the horizon. Building or coating medical devices with materials that release the versatile bioregulatory agent, nitric oxide, can greatly improve their performance when in contact with tissues and physiological fluids.

Composite films of conducting polymers and fullerenes are attractive for making optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells. A new approach mixes the two components at the molecular level.

Intercalation of ions in vanadium oxide is a well-known process that causes this material to swell. Researchers have now used this mechanical deformation effect to build a vanadium oxide artificial muscle that is stronger than human skeletal muscle.

Radiaton damage to graphite cores in nuclear reactors creates defects that store energy, and sometimes — more dangerously — release it. New simulations suggest that our fundamental picture of the behaviour of graphite defects was too simplistic.

Solid-oxide fuel cells are on the verge of commercialization. But several engineering problems — including cheaper technology with a lower operation temperature — have to be solved first. A new all-ceramic anode presents a significant step forward.

The unusual synergy between magnetism and semiconductivity in the ferromagnetic semiconductor GaMnAs makes it an attractive material for 'spintronics'. Reports of a new giant switching effect lend it an even greater allure.

Researchers in the field of 'nanophotonics' are attempting to fabricate the smallest possible structures with optical functionality. The ability to engineer silica–gold nanoshell particles may increase the importance of metals in a range of nanophotonic and biological applications.

Supramolecular structures can be chiral even if made up of entirely achiral components. Now researchers have found a way to maintain supramolecular chirality through a rigid structure that induces a 'memory' effect without the need for a chiral template.

Biomolecular templating uses biomolecules to position nanoscale materials onto substrates. DNA has emerged as an attractive scaffold to which metal nanoparticles can be electrostatically bound to form evenly spaced linear arrays.

For over 15 years, layered copper oxides have held pole position in the race to higher superconducting temperatures. The first layered superconductor to replace copper with cobalt reveals both similarities and differences in their properties.

Interfaces are central to the structures and processes that support life. Molecular assembly provides new capabilities for controlling biomolecular interactions at materials surfaces.

A well-established principle of semiconductor surface science is that chemisorption tends to eliminate intrinsic surface states. But results for cubic SiC show that this is not universally true.

There may be plenty of room at the bottom, but the size of conventional optical elements is restricted by the diffraction limit of light. Plasmon waveguides made from metal nanoparticle chains may allow a drastic reduction in the size of photonic devices.

The rich behaviour of atoms diffusing on surfaces continues to hold surprises. New calculations suggest that some atoms prefer to diffuse just below the surface.