A new way to tackle 'forever chemicals'

25-Jan-2023

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are potentially harmful substances known as “forever chemicals” because they are so difficult to destroy. One emerging technique to degrade PFAS involves forcefully grinding them with metal balls in a moving container, but this technique can require ...

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Scientists were able to observe and document the growth of hexagonal boron nitride for the first time

28-Oct-2022

Atomically thin 2D materials for applications in microelectronics or nanotechnology are grown by breaking down gas on a hot metal surface. Due to the high temperatures and rapid transformation of the gas, it is extremely difficult to observe this process. Researchers from TU Graz have now joined ...

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Rice lab's experiments refine processing of hexagonal boron nitride

29-Jan-2021

Just a little soap helps clean up the challenging process of preparing two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Rice University chemists have found a way to get the maximum amount of quality 2D hBN nanosheets from its natural bulk form by processing it with surfactant (aka soap) and water. ...

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Applications in areas such as medicine, besides being used to research new materials

08-Sep-2020

Physicists at the University of Basel have developed a minuscule instrument able to detect extremely faint magnetic fields. At the heart of the superconducting quantum interference device are two atomically thin layers of graphene, which the researchers combined with boron nitride. Instruments ...

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Pollutant-destroying properties surprise Rice engineer: ‘It’s not supposed to work’

10-Jul-2020

Rice University chemical engineers found an efficient catalyst for destroying PFAS "forever" chemicals where they least expected. "It was the control," said Rice Professor Michael Wong, referring to the part of a scientific experiment where researchers don't expect surprises. The control group is ...

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Surprising discoveries regarding the behaviour of electrons

28-Apr-2020

In a material made of two thin crystal layers that are slightly twisted with respect to each other, researchers at ETH have studied the behaviour of strongly interacting electrons. Doing so, they found a number of surprising properties. Many modern technologies are based on special materials, ...

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Largest spectral, color-tuning range from an atomically thin quantum system demonstrated

20-Apr-2020

The researchers say their results, using an atomically thin material, hexagonal boron nitride, constitute a significant step forward in understanding light-matter interactions of quantum systems in 2D materials, and the journey towards scalable on-chip devices for quantum technologies. The study ...

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Extremely porous material made of "white graphene" for new laser light applications

20-Mar-2020

With a porosity of 99.99 %, it consists practically only of air, making it one of the lightest materials in the world: Aerobornitride is the name of the material developed by an international research team led by Kiel University. The scientists assume that they have thereby created a central ...

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12-Mar-2019

Combining an atomically thin graphene and a boron nitride layer at a slightly rotated angle changes their electrical properties. Physicists at the University of Basel have now shown for the first time the combination with a third layer can result in new material properties also in a three-layer ...

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Highly durable aerogel that could ultimately be an upgrade for insulation on spacecraft

19-Feb-2019

UCLA researchers and collaborators at eight other research institutions have created an extremely light, very durable ceramic aerogel. The material could be used for applications like insulating spacecraft because it can withstand the intense heat and severe temperature changes that space ...

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