Tech Xplore: A greener internet of things with no wires attached. “Emerging forms of thin-film device technologies that rely on alternative semiconductor materials, such as printable organics, nanocarbon allotropes and metal oxides, could contribute to a more economically and environmentally sustainable internet of things (IoT), a KAUST-led international team suggests.”
Ars Technica: The secret to preventing color fading in art may lie in veils of graphene. “Graphene is the thinnest material yet known, composed of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. That structure gives it many unusual properties that hold great promise for real-world applications: batteries, super capacitors, antennas, water filters, transistors, solar cells, and touchscreens, just to name a few. And now this wonder material might just provide a solution to the fading of colors of many artistic masterpieces, according to a recent paper published in Nature Nanotechnology.”
European Union Observatory for Nanomaterials: Search for over 300 nanomaterials on the EU market. “It is now possible to search for over 300 nanomaterials found in the EU and link them to hazard data. The search uses REACH registrations, the cosmetic ingredients notification portal and the French and Belgian national inventories to make up the most comprehensive search for nanomaterials in the EU.”
Phys .org: Harmless science to heal artworks. “A newly developed ‘diagnostic kit’ that allows to address if an artwork is showing symptoms of deterioration and premature ageing, detecting degradation markers, is presented in the papers published by the group led by Principal Investigator Massimo Lazzari at CiQUS (Center for the research on Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain). The most relevant feature of the kit is the noninvasiveness of the sampling, so that there is no harm for the artwork. “
Now available: a database of crystal surfaces and shapes. “Dubbed Crystalium, this new open-source database can help researchers design new materials for technologies in which surfaces and interfaces play an important role, such as fuel cells, catalytic converters in cars, computer microchips, nanomaterials and solid-state batteries…. The work, published Sept. 13 in the journal Scientific Data, provides the surface energies and equilibrium crystal shapes of more than 100 polymorphs of 72 elements in the periodic table.”
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