"Northwestern University researchers have created a new technique that can transform silver into any color of the rainbow. Their simple method is a fast, low-cost alternative to color filters currently used in electronic displays and monitors.

The filter's secret lies within its "sandwich-like" structure. The research team created a three-layer design, where glass is wedged two thin layers of silver film. The silver layers are thin enough to allow optical light to pass through, which then transmits a certain color through the glass and reflects the rest of the visible spectrum. By changing the thickness of the glass, researchers were able to filter and produce different colors."

"In the search for the improved lithium-ion battery, Boston College, Associate Professor of Chemistry Dunwei Wang has been developing materials that might one day enable the manufacture of new batteries capable of meeting power demands within the size and cost constraints of car makers and other industries.

In a recent report published in the German journal Angewandt Chemie, Wang and a colleague from the University of Massachusetts Amherst unveiled a new method of stabilizing carbon -- a central structural component of any battery -- that could pave the way to new performance standards in the hunt for a lithium-ion components.

Employing a technique called atomic layer deposition (ALD), the researchers grew a thin coating of iron oxide on the carbon, a step that enhanced the reactivity between lithium and oxygen and improved performance on the charge cycle. Next, they used ALD to apply a coating of palladium nanoparticles, which effectively reduced carbon's deteriorative reaction with oxygen and improved the discharge cycle. 

They demonstrated that a particular form of carbon can be used to support a new type of chemistry that allows for energy storage with the promise of five to 10 times more energy density than state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries we see today."

'The future of electronics could lie in a material from its past, as researchers from The Ohio State University work to turn germanium-the material of 1940s transistors-into a potential replacement for silicon. At the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting, assistant professor of chemistry Joshua Goldberger reported progress in developing a form of germanium called germanane.

In 2013, Goldberger's lab at Ohio State became the first to succeed at creating one-atom-thick sheet of germanane-a sheet so thin, it can be thought of as two-dimensional. Since then, he and his team have been tinkering with the atomic bonds across the top and bottom of the sheet, and creating hybrid versions of the material that incorporate other atoms such as tin.

"We've found that by tuning the nature of these bonds, we can tune the electronic structure of the material. We can increase or decrease the energy it absorbs," Goldberger said. "So potentially we could make a material that traverses the entire electromagnetic spectrum, or absorbs different colors, depending on those bonds."

The goal is to make a material that not only transmits electrons 10 times faster than silicon, but is also better at absorbing and emitting light-a key feature for the advancement of efficient LEDs and lasers.'
 

"NanoMend is a collaborative EU-backed, end user led project aimed at developing technologies for in-line detection, cleaning and repair of micro and nanoscale defects on thin films deposited on large area substrates. The aim is to integrate these technologies into systems that work at speeds required for continuous production, thus enabling the new technologies to improve product yield and performance, while keeping manufacturing costs low. They will assess the economic feasibility of these technologies by providing the expertise and capability to test and develop the technologies from lab scale to roll to roll processes at pilot production scale.

The NanoMend project is examining three technologies: ALD, Wavelength Scanning Interferometry and High Sensitivity Water Vapor Transmission Rate (WVTR) testing of ultra-barrier films. The two focused application areas are paper packaging for foods and flexible PV.  The technologies can also be applied to improve manufacturing thin film technologies in the production of packaging materials, flexible solar panels, lighting and indoor and outdoor digital signage and displays.

One accomplishment is the development of a Wavelength Scanning Interferometer, a pilot scale ultra-barrier defect detection tool. "Nano-scale defects in barrier films allow water vapor to pass through, degrading the product over time, and defects in metal interconnects can also cause short circuits, which result in high value products being scrapped."

The consortium includes a mix of 14 industrial and academic partners from 6 European countries."
 
 

"Clinicians assess wound healing through visual inspection and lab tests. But distinguishing a wound that's healing from one that's not is difficult to do early enough to make a difference.

Researchers hope to change that. They are finding biomarkers in the fluid exuded from a wound that can flag whether it's healing properly. In a symposium at Pittcon (Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry & Applied Spectroscopy) organized by Mark H. Schoenfisch, a chemistry professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, analytical chemists described tools they're developing to measure some of those biomarkers. The plan is to incorporate the biomarker sensors into a biodegradable "smart bandage" that can monitor and accelerate wound healing."