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A "Nano Flower," a 3-D nanostructure grown by controlled nucleation of silicon carbide nanowires on gallium catalyst particles. As the growth proceeds, individual nanowires "knit" together to form 3-D structures. This photomicrograph was taken by Ghim Wei Ho, a Ph.D. student studying nanotechnology at the University of Cambridge. Ho--who works with professor Mark Welland, head of Cambridge's Nanoscale Science Lab--makes new types of materials based on nanotechnology (this "Nano Flower" is an example of new material). Nanometer-scale wires (about one thousandth the diameter of a human hair) of a silicon-carbon material (silicon carbide) are grown from tiny droplets of a liquid metal (gallium) on a silicon surface, like the chips inside our home computers. The wires grow as a gas containing methane flows over the surface. The gas reacts at the surface of the droplets and condenses to form the wires. By changing the temperature and pressure of the growth process the wires can be controllably fused together in a natural process to form a range of new structures, including these flower-like materials. Researchers are investigating possible applications for the structures like water repellant coatings and as a base for a new type of solar cell. This image was taken with a scanning electron microscope. Image color was modified using Adobe Photoshop.
Image credit: ©Ghim Wei Ho and Prof. Mark Welland, Nanostructure Center, University of Cambridge
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Designers of solar cells may soon be setting their sights higher as a discovery by a team of researchers has revealed a class of materials that could be better at converting sunlight into energy than those currently being used in solar arrays. Their research shows how a material can be used to extract power from a small portion of the sunlight spectrum with a conversion efficiency that is above its theoretical maximum -- a value called the Shockley-Queisser limit. This finding could lead to more power-efficient solar cells.
Image credit: Drexel University/Ella Marushcenko
We might have thought that the long-term dimming of “alien megastructure” star, Tabby's Star, had been put to rest as a calibration error, but now, boffins reckon its mysterious dimming can be seen in Kepler data.…
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