2017 New's Items

Tsu-Jae Liu Named to National Academy of Engineering(link is external)

February 13, 2017
3 professors named to National Academy of Engineering February 13, 2017

Three professors from Berkeley Engineering have been elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering. Their selection brings to 75 the number of active and emeriti professors from the college holding membership in the academy, one of the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.

Those named to the academy’s class of 2017 from Berkeley are:

Gerbrand Ceder, Chancellor’s Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, who was honored for “the development of practical...

Can Nanoscience Quench a Thirsty World?

October 6, 2017
CALIFORNIA'S RECORD-BREAKING DROUGHT may have ended, but for much of the world, shortages of fresh water are the new norm. Within 30 years, at least one out of every four people on Earth will live in countries with “chronic or recurrent” lack of clean water, according to the United Nations.

Two new devices, with powerful nanotechnologies at their core, offer a way to provide safe, plentiful and affordable drinking water where it is scarcest. One...

Injecting Electrons Jolts 2-D Structure Into New Atomic Pattern

October 11, 2017

The same electrostatic charge that can make hair stand on end and attach balloons to clothing could be an efficient way to drive atomically thin electronic memory devices of the future, according to a new study led by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

Schematic shows the...

Yang Group Discovers Critical Role of Nanoparticle Transformation

September 18, 2017

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a new electrocatalyst that can directly convert carbon dioxide into multicarbon fuels and alcohols using record-low inputs of energy. The work is the latest in a round of studies coming out of Berkeley Lab tackling the challenge of creating a clean chemical manufacturing system that can put carbon dioxide to good use.

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Scientists Fine-Tune System to Create 'Syngas' from CO2

September 5, 2017

Scientists have developed a new recipe for creating synthesis gas mixtures, or syngas, that involves adding a pinch of copper atoms sprinkled atop a gold surface. The new material supports a room-temperature electrochemical reaction that can convert carbon dioxide and water into syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and an important precursor in the production of chemicals and synthetic fuels.

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Controlling Traffic on the Electron Highway

August 30, 2017

On an otherwise normal day in the lab, Eva Andrei didn't expect to make a major discovery. Andrei, a physics professor at Rutgers University, was using graphite – the material in pencils – to calibrate a scanning tunneling microscope. As part of the process, she turned on a very powerful magnetic field. When she looked up to see the material's electronic spectrum, she was astonished. "We saw huge, beautiful peaks up there, just incredible. And they didn't make any sense," she recalled.

Remembering a lecture she'd recently attended, she realized the graphite had separated out into...

A Semiconductor That Can Beat the Heat

July 31, 2017

A newly discovered collective rattling effect in a type of crystalline semiconductor blocks most heat transfer while preserving high electrical conductivity – a rare pairing that scientists say could reduce heat buildup in electronic devices and turbine engines, among other possible applications.

A team led by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) discovered these exotic traits in a class of materials known as halide perovskites,...

Noble Gasses Trapped in 2D Porous Structures for First Time

August 24, 2017

Scientists have discovered atoms of argon gas trapped inside a 2-D structure’s nanosized pores. Argon and other noble gases have previously been trapped in 3-D porous materials. This discovery, corroborated at NERSC, could help the design of new materials for gas separation and nuclear waste remediation. Calculations at the NERSC corroborated the research team’s findings. More>

New Class of ‘Soft’ Semiconductors Could Transform HD Displays

June 26, 2017

A new type of semiconductor may be coming to a high-definition display near you. Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown that a class of semiconductor called halide perovskites is capable of emitting multiple, bright colors from a single nanowire at resolutions as small as 500 nanometers.

The findings, published online this week in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,...

Sound Waves Direct Particles to Self-Assemble, Self-Heal

June 19, 2017

An elegantly simple experiment with floating particles self-assembling in response to sound waves has provided a new framework for studying how seemingly lifelike behaviors emerge in response to external forces.

Close up photograph of the self-assembling particles in the clear acrylic tube. These particles consist of cut plastic straws (blue)...