Allied Academies

Researchers have created the smallest lens in the world, capable of concentrating light down to dimensions of an atom. Researchers have used gold nanoparticles  as focusing lenses that allow flexing individual chemical bonds in molecules . For centuries, scientists believed that light couldn’t be focussed down smaller than its wavelength, just under a millionth of a meter. Now researchers have created the world’s smallest magnifying-glass which focuses light a billion times more tightly, down to the scale of single atoms. They used highly conductive gold nanoparticles  to make the world’s tiniest optical cavity , so small that only a single molecule can fit within it, opening up new ways to study the interaction of light and matter. The cavity –called a ‘pico-cavity’ by the researchers – consists of a bump in a gold nanostructure  the size of a single atom, and confines light to less than a billionth of a meter. In the same way, as a hand plucks ...

Scientists at the University of Portsmouth have discovered that the teeth of limpets (shelled aquatic snails) are the strongest biological material  on earth. Previously spider silk was believed to be the strongest natural material , however, the strength calculated for this tooth material  was five gigapascals - some five times that of spider silk. To put this in perspective against man-made materials , limpet teeth are stronger than Kevlar and even rivals some high-tensile carbon fibre products. Imagine the possibilities for the next generation of airplanes, tooth implants or high-performance bicycles! To know more about the recent breakthroughs, visit: Materials Physics and Materials Science congress 2018

The isolation of graphene in 2004 from graphite was a defining moment for the “birth” of a field: two-dimensional (2D) materials. Lately, there has been a quickly expanding number of papers concentrating on non-graphene layered materials, including progress metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), because of new properties and applications that develop upon 2D confinement. Researchers made significant recent advances and important new developments in 2D materials  “beyond graphene”. Initially insight into the theoretical modeling and understanding of the van der Waals forces that hold together the 2D layers in bulk solids, as well as their excitonic properties and growth morphologies. Additionally, recent breakthroughs in TMD synthesis and characterization and discussed the newest families of 2D materials , including monoelement 2D materials  (i.e., silicone, phosphorene, etc.) and transition metal carbide- and carbon nitride-based MXenes. Then the researchers discussed ...