News from the NNI Community - Research Advances Funded by Agencies Participating in the NNI

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of New South Wales have achieved a new world-record efficiency for two-junction solar cells, creating a cell with two light-absorbing layers that converts 32.9% of sunlight into electricity. Key to the cell's design is a series of more than 150 ultrathin layers of alternating semiconductors that create quantum wells in the cell's bottom absorber, allowing it to capture energy from a key range of the solar spectrum.

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of New South Wales have achieved a new world-record efficiency for two-junction solar cells, creating a cell with two light-absorbing layers that converts 32.9% of sunlight into electricity. Key to the cell's design is a series of more than 150 ultrathin layers of alternating semiconductors that create quantum wells in the cell's bottom absorber, allowing it to capture energy from a key range of the solar spectrum.

One way to harness solar energy is by using solar electricity to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen produced by the process is stored as fuel, in a form that can be used to generate power upon demand. To split water molecules into their component parts, a catalyst is necessary, but the catalytic materials currently used in the process are not efficient enough to make the process practical. Using an innovative chemical strategy developed at the University of Virginia, a team of researchers has produced a new form of catalyst using the elements cobalt and titanium. The new process involves creating active catalytic sites at the atomic level on the surface of titanium oxide nanocrystals, which results in a durable catalytic material.

One way to harness solar energy is by using solar electricity to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen produced by the process is stored as fuel, in a form that can be used to generate power upon demand. To split water molecules into their component parts, a catalyst is necessary, but the catalytic materials currently used in the process are not efficient enough to make the process practical. Using an innovative chemical strategy developed at the University of Virginia, a team of researchers has produced a new form of catalyst using the elements cobalt and titanium. The new process involves creating active catalytic sites at the atomic level on the surface of titanium oxide nanocrystals, which results in a durable catalytic material.

A team of physicists at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has provided reliable information about which new materials might have desirable properties for a range of applications and could exist in a stable form in nature. The team used cutting-edge computer modeling techniques to predict the properties of 2D materials that have not yet been made in real life.

A team of physicists at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has provided reliable information about which new materials might have desirable properties for a range of applications and could exist in a stable form in nature. The team used cutting-edge computer modeling techniques to predict the properties of 2D materials that have not yet been made in real life.

Physicists at Princeton University have used a material known as magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene to explore how interacting electrons can give rise to rise to surprising phases of matter. By layering two sheets of graphene on top of each other, with the top layer angled at precisely 1.1 degrees, the Princeton researchers produced topological quantum states of matter, which are intriguing classes of quantum phenomena. Topological quantum states first came to the public's attention in 2016 when three scientists – Princeton's Duncan Haldane, who is Princeton's Thomas D. Jones Professor of Mathematical Physics and Sherman Fairchild University Professor of Physics, together with David Thouless and Michael Kosterlitz – were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work in uncovering the role of topology in electronic materials.

Physicists at Princeton University have used a material known as magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene to explore how interacting electrons can give rise to rise to surprising phases of matter. By layering two sheets of graphene on top of each other, with the top layer angled at precisely 1.1 degrees, the Princeton researchers produced topological quantum states of matter, which are intriguing classes of quantum phenomena. Topological quantum states first came to the public's attention in 2016 when three scientists – Princeton's Duncan Haldane, who is Princeton's Thomas D. Jones Professor of Mathematical Physics and Sherman Fairchild University Professor of Physics, together with David Thouless and Michael Kosterlitz – were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work in uncovering the role of topology in electronic materials.

Scientists at Rice University have found that nature’s ubiquitous weak force (Van der Waals) is sufficient to indent rigid nanosheets, extending their potential for use in nanoscale optics or catalytic systems. Without applying any other force, the scientists saw that the silver nanosheets acquired permanent bumps where none existed before.

Scientists at Rice University have found that nature’s ubiquitous weak force (Van der Waals) is sufficient to indent rigid nanosheets, extending their potential for use in nanoscale optics or catalytic systems. Without applying any other force, the scientists saw that the silver nanosheets acquired permanent bumps where none existed before.