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With the launch of the Quantum Technologies Flagship, the European Union is looking to become a major player in the upcoming quantum revolution, reaping benefits both for technology development and wealth creation for the European society.
Using a biomimetic culture platform to replicate the early biophysical environment of a developing embryo, human pluripotent stem cells can be directed towards amnion formation in vitro.
Borrowing the operating principles of a battery, a three-terminal organic switch has been developed on a flexible plastic substrate. The device consumes very little power and can be used as an artificial synapse for brain-inspired computing.
Nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy is used to map the properties of atomically thin hexagonal boron nitride, with the help of the nitrogen–vacancy colour centres engineered in a diamond layer placed under the 2D material.
Resonance fluorescence from a semiconductor quantum dot unravels a rich two-photon landscape of correlations, and may be used to test their quantum nonlocality.
Hydrogen generation from water and sunlight offers a promising way to produce carbon-free energy. Recent progress in predicting properties of heterogeneous interfaces for solar water splitting using first-principles approaches is now reviewed.
A very slow vortex creep in BaFe2(As0.67P0.33)2 films is found experimentally. The authors also claim the existence of a universal lower limit on vortex creep for any superconductor.
A neuromorphic device based on the stable electrochemical fine-tuning of the conductivity of an organic ionic/electronic conductor is realized. These devices show high linearity, low noise and extremely low switching voltage.
The control of biophysical cues during the culture of human pluripotent stem cells on biomaterial substrates can be used to replicate the in vivo amniogenic environment and direct in vitro generation of early human amniotic tissue.
Topologically protected bound states in parity–time-symmetric non-Hermitian photonic lattices are theoretically predicted and experimentally demonstrated.
In situ atomic-scale imaging of deformation in silver nanocrystals reveals that it is possible to achieve deformability and high strength, attributed to a coupling mechanism between crystal slip and surface diffusional creep.
Electrochemical storage devices in the liquid state are promising but they suffer from low redox species density. An approach based on biredox ionic liquids now demonstrates bulk-like redox density compatible with supercapacitor applications.
Capacitive energy storage is an attractive alternative to batteries, but electrochemical capacitors are limited by their low energy density. Oxygen vacancies are now shown to enhance the electrochemical properties of MoO3−x.
The interaction of water with TiO2 is crucial for applications such as photocatalytic water splitting. The interfacial structure between water and rutile TiO2 is now shown to consist of an array of hydroxyl molecules with water in the second layer.
Laser-excited muon pump–probe spin spectroscopy and analysis of avoided level crossing resonances are used to probe the time evolution of the chemical reactivity of individual carbon atoms in TIPS-pentacene after light excitation.
A solution process for the diffusion of dopants in organic semiconducting films over a limited depth has been developed. The method is applied to single polymers and donor–acceptor mixtures, and for the realization of single-layer solar cells.
Uniform, hierarchical 2D nanostructures with controlled shapes can be prepared from homopolymers with charged end-groups using a crystallization-driven assembly process.
