Tag Archives: Nanoscience

Optimizing Solar Cells

Posted on July 6, 2016 by rberkowitz

New materials and innovative synthesis methods address problems with solar cell efficiency and cost. Continue reading →

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Metal migration damages perovskite solar cells

Posted on June 30, 2016 by rberkowitz

Heat-induced migration of metal contacts is one culprit behind the degradation that plagues otherwise efficient perovskite solar cells. Continue reading →

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Sharp images from fuzzy concepts

Posted on June 3, 2016 by rberkowitz

Developments in snapshot imaging and computational processing improve resolution at unprecedented frame rates. Continue reading →

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Fluorescent Colloidal Nanomaterial Rapidly Internalized into Living Cells

Posted on January 26, 2016 by rberkowitz

Researchers have successfully incorporated colloidal nanoplatelets, a disc-like variation on spherical quantum dots, in a biological system. The new “lipoprotein nanoplatelets” were found to be rapidly internalized into living cells while retaining their fluorescence, making them uniquely valuable in live-cell imaging and labelling. Continue reading →

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Simple Technique Produces Pure, High-Quality Nanodiamonds

Posted on January 13, 2016 by rberkowitz

Nanodiamonds, or pure diamonds with a length scale less than a micrometer, are a materials scientist’s best friend in areas such as imaging, spintronics, and quantum computing. Now, researchers have overcome key challenges and developed a straightforward way of producing extremely … Continue reading →

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Some Like it Hot: Simulating Single Particle Excitations

Posted on December 17, 2015 by rberkowitz

Understanding and manipulating plasmons is important for their potential use in photovoltaics, solar cell water splitting, and sunlight-induced fuel production from CO2. Now, for the first time, the interplay between the plasmon mode and the single particle excitation within a small metal cluster has been simulated directly. Read more at Berkeley Lab…my last embargo-held press release written while full-time at LBNL, despite the byline! Continue reading →

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Photonic Crystal Nanolasers Shown to be Highly Sensitive Biosensors

Posted on December 9, 2015 by rberkowitz

Move over, ELISA. While the Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay has long been one of the most popular ways of detecting and quantifying the presence of antibodies or antigens in solution, nanolasers may be poised to share the spotlight on the biosensor stage. Continue reading →

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On the way to Multiband Solar Cells

Posted on November 12, 2015 by rberkowitz

Wladek Walukiewicz of the Materials Sciences Division led the development of the first intermediate band solar cell to demonstrate charge transfer across all three band transitions – valence/intermediate, intermediate/conducting, and conducting/valence. These results open the door to high-efficiency solar cells and multicolor light emitters. Continue reading →

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Computing a Textbook of Crystal Physics

Posted on September 29, 2015 by rberkowitz

Berkeley Lab scientists publish world’s largest database of piezoelectric properties Continue reading →

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Defects Through the Looking Glass

Posted on September 2, 2015 by rberkowitz

Berkeley Lab researchers characterize individual defects inside a bulk insulator using scanning tunneling microscopy. Continue reading →

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