How Hot Electrons Get Cool

2022-04-20T13:29:56-06:00
04/20
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Thermalizing nanowires

It’s a hot summer day. You desperately want something cold to drink, but unfortunately, your bottle of root beer has been sitting in a hot car all day. You put it into a bucket full of ice to cool it down. But it’s taking forever! How, you wonder, could you speed the process up? The same question is important for understanding how electronic devices work, and how we can make them work better by controlling the temperature of the electrons that power them. Read on to find out what a bottle of root beer in a cooler full of ice and a nanowire in a vat of liquid helium have in common!

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How Hot Electrons Get Cool2022-04-20T13:29:56-06:00

Building Molecular Circuits with DNA

2022-02-23T14:29:49-06:00
02/23
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World's smallest diode

Diodes, also known as rectifiers, are a basic component of modern electronics. As we work to create smaller, more powerful and more energy-efficient electronic devices, reducing the size of diodes is a major objective. Recently, a research team from the University of Georgia developed the world's smallest diode using a single DNA molecule. This diode is so small that it cannot be seen by conventional microscopes.

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Building Molecular Circuits with DNA2022-02-23T14:29:49-06:00

CHASING THE MYSTERIOUS AND ELUSIVE LIGHT HOLE

2021-07-14T10:29:14-06:00
11/05
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Secrets of semiconductors

Semiconductors are materials with properties intermediate between metals and non-conducting insulators, defined by the amount of energy needed to make an electron conductive in the material. The non-conducting electrons occupy a continuum of energy states, but two of these states (the “heavy hole” and “light hole”) are nearly identical in energy. The heavy hole is easy to observe and study, but the light hole eludes most observers.

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CHASING THE MYSTERIOUS AND ELUSIVE LIGHT HOLE2021-07-14T10:29:14-06:00

How to Turn a Metal Into an Insulator

2021-07-14T10:30:43-06:00
11/05
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Locking up electrons

Solids are generally divided into metals, which conduct electricity, and insulators, which do not. Some oxides straddle this boundary, however: a material's structure and properties suggest it should be a metal, but it sometimes behaves as an insulator. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara are digging into the mechanisms of this transformation and are aiming to harness it for use in novel electronic devices.

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How to Turn a Metal Into an Insulator2021-07-14T10:30:43-06:00

The future of solar energy is . . . an inkjet printer?!

2021-07-14T10:38:58-06:00
11/05
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Printable perovskites

To increase our use of solar energy, we need to create more efficient, stable, and cost-effective solar cells. What if we could use an inkjet printer to fabricate them? A new type of solar cell uses a class of materials called perovskites, which have a special crystal structure that interacts with light in a way that produces an electric voltage. We've developed a method to produce perovskite thin films using an inket printer, which in the future could pave the way to manufacture solar cells that are surprisingly simple and cheap.

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The future of solar energy is . . . an inkjet printer?!2021-07-14T10:38:58-06:00

New World Disorder

2021-07-14T10:49:50-06:00
04/26
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Electron movement in disordered nanowires

We tend to think of materials as either electrical conductors or insulators: some materials, like metals, have low electrical resistance and conduct electricity easily, while others, like wood or plastic, have high electrical resistance and do not readily conduct electricity. Strange experimental results, however, reveal large fluctuations in the electrical resistance of thin metallic nanowires when a magnetic field or charge difference is applied to them. Click to learn how a more nuanced understanding of electron behavior helps to explain these variations in electrical resistance that may revolutionize the tech industry!

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New World Disorder2021-07-14T10:49:50-06:00
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