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• Novel preparation of next-generation anode delivers boost to lithium-ion batteries
  

  The hunt for the next generation of materials for anodes in lithium-ion batteries has long suffered from a series of parasitic chemical reactions for many of the proposed replacements for the graphite that is conventionally used. A novel preparation technique for a silicon-monoxide-carbon composite more

• World record back at HZB: Tandem solar cell achieves 32.5 percent efficiency
  

  The current world record of tandem solar cells consisting of a silicon bottom cell and a perovskite top cell is once again at HZB. The new tandem solar cell converts 32.5 % of the incident solar radiation into electrical energy. The certifying institute European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) in Ita more

• Faster and more Efficient Computer Chips Thanks to Germanium
  

  TU Wien (Vienna) has succeeded in making a new type of material usable for chip technology. This enables faster, more efficient computers and new types of quantum devices. Our current chip technology is largely based on silicon. Only in very special components a small amount of germanium is added. B more

Infographics Silicon

The Chemical Elements of a Smartphone

There are an isolated few graphics online that look at elements involved in the manufacture of a smartphone – for example, this ‘Periodic Table of iPhones’ – but there’s actually remarkably little easily accessible information out there that details the specific compounds used for specific purposes more

Group 4 Elements

This latest infographic focuses on the Group 4 (Group 14 in IUPAC nomenclature) elements. One extra fact to add for the curious: although tin has the greatest number of stable isotopes, Xenon trumps it comprehensively if unstable isotopes are also included in the count, with well over 30 possible is more

The Chemistry of Silly Putty

Silly putty (or science putty, as it’s sometimes referred to) is an odd material. Stretch it slowly and it happily deforms, and can be molded very easily. However, pull it apart with enough force and it’ll snap clean in two. It flows imperceptibly slowly, as if it were a thick liquid, but when rolle more

q&more articles Silicon

• How the Avogadro constant was measured for the last time
  

  Since the 20th of May 2019, the mass unit kilogram is no longer defined by the international kilogram prototype but by the numerical value of the Planck constant, the most important fundamental constant in quantum physics. For this definition, the Planck constant needed to be measured with the greatest possible accuracy by two independent methods. more

• The Best Measurement
  

  It is now more than 30 years since attempts started to find a way of defining the kilogram based on an atomic constant or a fundamental physical constant. Since then, two methods have advanced sufficiently far to make it likely that there will be a new definition within the coming years, namely the Watt balance ­experiment for determination of Planck‘s constant h and the Avogadro experiment for determining the ­Avogadro Constant NA. more