Optical materials news, December 2021

Novel organic nanocomposite makes light work of X-rays

A novel organic nanocomposite can absorb X-rays and then re-emit the captured energy as light with nearly perfect efficiency.

Lighting the way to flexible electronics

Researchers have created a polymer-based photodetector that can be stretched by up to 200% without significantly losing its conductivity.

New tool predicts solar cell efficiency and how to improve it

Researchers have developed a simulator that can both predict solar cell efficiency and provide information about what changes will improve it.

Researchers illuminate cool way to modify material properties

Researchers have developed a method for using lasers to modify the properties of materials without producing any excess damaging heat.

Low temperature milling makes hBN active

Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) can be made ‘active’ by ball milling at extremely low temperatures

Gold metamaterial can detect infrared light

By trapping light in tiny crevices of gold, researchers have coaxed molecules to convert invisible infrared light into visible light.

Special Issue on Advanced Welding and Joining Technologies - Call for Papers

New organic material glows in the dark for longer

By applying a new strategy for combining carbon-based molecules, researchers developed an organic material that can emit light for over an hour in air.

Novel electrochromic technology blows hot and cold

Researchers have developed a novel electrochromic technology that can interact with both visible light and mid-infrared light for heating and cooling.

New technique captures first color images of carbon nanotubes

A novel imaging technology that compresses light into a tiny spot can reveal previously invisible details about nanomaterials, including colors.

Perovskite defects can be good, bad and ugly

Researchers have used multiple different microscopy techniques to reveal why perovskite materials are so tolerant of defects in their structure.

Sunlight squeezes more efficiency out of 2D perovskite solar cells

Sunlight can contract the space between atomic layers in 2D perovskites, improving the material’s photovoltaic efficiency by up to 18%.

Researchers solve blinking problem with quantum dots

Researchers have discovered that firing a brief pulse of mid-infrared laser light at quantum dots can stop them from blinking.