If two-dimensional boron can be made at all, the material’s substrate will have a significant impact on its final form, according to scientists.

A group of scientists using computer generated simulation have predicted the existence of a new two-dimensional carbon material, a ‘patchwork.’

The medium is the message. Scientists have now given new meaning to this maxim: An innovative method they have now demonstrated for getting nanoparticles to self-assemble focuses on the medium in which the particles are suspended; these assemblies can be used, among other things, for reversibly writing information.

Researchers have shown that coccolith disks made of calcium carbonate in Emiliania huxleyi, one of the promising biomass resources, potentially perform roles in reducing and enhancing the light that enters the cell by light scattering. Elucidation of the physiological significance of coccolith formation in E. huxleyi can help promote efficient bioenergy production using microalgae.

Scientists fabricated molecular motors on a metal substrate using supramolecules, and successfully reversed rotation of molecular motors by rearranging bonding between molecules that constitute a supramolecule.

A team of scientists have created solar cells that collect higher energy photons at 30 times the concentration of conventional solar cells, the highest luminescent concentration factor ever recorded.

Experimental and theoretical physicists and a polymer scientist have teamed up to use much thinner sheets than before to achieve seeking to encapsulate droplets of one fluid within another. Thinner, highly-bendable sheets lift these constraints and allow for a new class of wrapped shapes.

Researchers have found that molecular machines can be easily manipulated using very small mechanical energy, taking advantage of the property that they aggregate on the surface of water.

Extremely water-repellant surfaces were fabricated that can withstand pressures that are 10 times greater than the average pressure a surface would experience resting in a room. The surfaces resist the infiltration of liquid into the nanoscale pockets, staying drier than similar coatings.

Researchers have developed the first nano/micro-textured highly slippery surfaces able to outperform lotus leaf-inspired liquid repellent coatings, particularly in situations where the water is in the form of vapor or tiny droplets.