2024 New's Items

New Technique Paves the Way for Energy-Efficient Electronics and Quantum Computing

April 9, 2024

Scientists in Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division have taken the first atomic-resolution images and demonstrated electrical control of a chiral interface state – an exotic quantum phenomenon that could help researchers advance quantum computing and energy-efficient electronics.

Accelerating Chemistry Discoveries With Automation

April 8, 2024

A research team led by Kristin Persson, director of Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry, has developed an automated workflow that could accelerate the discovery of new pharmaceutical drugs and other useful products by enabling real-time reaction analysis from a desktop computer instead of in a lab and identifying new chemical-reaction products within a few hours instead of days.

Phonon-Driven Femtosecond Dynamics of Excitons in Crystalline Pentacene from First Principles

Cohen G
Qiu DY
Neaton JB
2024

Nonradiative exciton relaxation processes are critical for energy transduction and transport in optoelectronic materials, but how these processes are connected to the underlying crystal structure and the associated electron, exciton, and phonon band structures, as well as the interactions of all these particles, is challenging to understand. Here, we present a first-principles study of exciton-phonon relaxation pathways in pentacene, a paradigmatic molecular crystal and optoelectronic semiconductor. We compute the momentum- and band-resolved exciton-phonon interactions, and use them...

Chemist Omar Yaghi wins Solvay Prize for climate, materials breakthroughs

January 19, 2024

The award honors chemistry leaders whose discoveries are shaping the future of the field and humanity; Yaghi is being recognized for pioneering materials that can help combat the impacts of climate change.

Scientists Advance Affordable, Sustainable Solution for Flat-Panel Displays and Wearable Tech

January 22, 2024

A team led by Prof. Peidong Yang's group has developed "supramolecular ink," a new technology made of inexpensive,Earth-abundant elements instead of costly, scarce metals. The advance could enable more affordable and environmentally sustainable technologies for flat-panel screens, wearable devices, and 3D-printable light fixtures.