The efficiency of solar cells made from a conjugated polymer blended with a fullerene derivative has risen from around 1 % to over 9 % in the last ten years, making organic photovoltaic technology a viable contender for commercialization.
10 October 2011
It has been recently shown that hybrid materials formed by nematic liquid crystals incorporated in complex micro-structured porous matrices are often capable of indefinitely retaining the alignment direction imposed by an electric field. This review examines this new class of material.
10 October 2011
For the first time, a silicon nitride/carbon nanotubes microgear is electrically discharge machined with a remarkably high material removal rate, low surface roughness, and low tool wear.
10 October 2011
Today polymer/carbon nanotube (CNT) composites can be found in sports equipment, cars, and electronic devices. The growth of old and new markets in this area has been stimulated by our increased understanding of relevant production and processing methods, as well as the considerable price reduction of industrial CNT grades.
08 July 2011
Silsesquioxanes are inorganic-organic hybrid materials that combine the mechanical, thermal, and chemical stability of ceramics with the solution processing and flexibility of traditional soft materials. In this review we discuss how these attributes naturally lend themselves to a diverse range of nanoscale patterning applications.
23 February 2011
We focus here on the impact of material science in swimming by measuring the impact of the three successive generations of swimsuits on human performance and estimate the upcoming performance drop consecutive to the decision of the FINA to suspend their use.
04 November 2010
Are you on Facebook? Twitter, perhaps? Maybe LinkedIn? What about a social networking site dedicated to materials science? If you are not, you may be more alone than you think…
16 February 2010
An ageing population and the democratization of high-risk sports have led to a surge of bone-related diseases and bone fractures. As a result, the use of bone graft substitutes has dramatically increased in the last decade.
15 February 2010
Nature is the best example of a system functioning on the nanometer scale, where the involved materials, energy consumption and data handling are optimized. Opening the doors to the nanoworld the emergence of the scanning tunneling microscope in 1982 and the atomic force microscope in 1986 led to a shift of paradigm in the understanding and perception of matter at its most fundamental level.
24 August 2009