Tuesday 4 October 2016

Astronomy: Discovery of an extragalactic hot molecular core

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Astronomers have discovered a 'hot molecular core,' a cocoon of molecules surrounding a newborn massive star, for the first time outside our Galaxy. The discovery marks the first important step for observational studies of extragalactic hot molecular cores and challenges the hidden chemical diversity of our universe.
via Science Daily
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Modular space telescope could be assembled by robot

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Seeing deep into space requires large telescopes. The larger the telescope, the more light it collects, and the sharper the image it provides. For example, NASA's Kepler space observatory, with a mirror diameter of under one meter, is searching for exoplanets orbiting stars up to 3,000 light-years away. By contrast, the Hubble Space Telescope, with a 2.4-meter mirror, has studied stars more than 10 billion light-years away. Now astronomers are proposing a space observatory that would have a primary mirror with a diameter of 100 meters -- 40 times larger than Hubble's. Space telescopes, which provide some of the clearest images of the universe,
via Science Daily
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Researchers bring theorized mechanism of conduction to life

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Using recent innovations in 2-D materials, scientists have realized a mechanism of conduction that could someday lead to new forms of energy conversion and higher-resolution scanning machines, such as those used in airports and quality control for manufacturing.
via Science Daily

New protein bridges chemical divide for 'seamless' bioelectronics devices

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Peptides that could help bridge the gap where artificial meets biological have been unveiled by researchers, offering the potential to harness biological rules to exchange information between the biochemistry of our bodies and the chemistry of our devices.
via Science Daily

Nanoscale electronic motion sensor could be used as a DNA sequencer

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Researchers have proposed a design for the first DNA sequencer based on an electronic nanosensor that can detect tiny motions as small as a single atom.
via Science Daily

Nest of the Eagle Nebula

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Graphene-Perovskite solar cells exceed 18% efficiency

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Scientists have created hybrid perovskite-graphene solar cells that show good stability upon exposure to sunlight, while still maintaining efficiency over 18% - the highest reported efficiency of graphene perovskite hybrid solar cells to date.

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are rapidly emerging as the most promising photovoltaic technology, gaining attention on the global energy scene and attracting efforts of the scientific community to develop efficient and stable perovskite-based devices. PSCs offer exceptional properties such as a broad absorption spectrum in the visible range, fast charge separation for quick operation, and efficient charge transfer that boosts cell efficiency. Design optimizations allowed up to 22% power conversion efficiency (PCE) which, coupled with the low cost and easy fabrication, makes PSCs serious competitors to other types of solar cells on the market.

Despite tremendous progress in PSC performance, the stability of these devices is still questionable. In particular, air and humidity degrade cell performance, as do continued exposure to sunlight and heat, setting back the advantages over other types of solar cells. Graphene and graphene-related materials (GRMs) are known for their applications as protective layers, and arise as natural candidates to protect PSCs from atmospheric degradation.

In a recent study, published in ChemSusChem (Chemistry & Sustainability, Energy & Materials), a team of researchers from Italy review the protective properties of graphene and GRMs, including graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), have on PSCs. Moreover, the report describes a new type of hybrid perovskite solar cell containing both graphene flakes and a GO layer. The new cell exhibits a PCE of up to 18.2%.

In the novel cell design, graphene plays a double role. The improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) is achieved by using both graphene-doped mesoporous TiO2 (mTiO2 + G) as the electron-transporting photoelectrode (PE) and graphene oxide (GO) as interlayer between perovskite and the hole-transport layer (HTL). The addition of graphene flakes to the mesoporous TiO2 layer improves charge injection and collection in the layer, which directly results in higher cell efficiency. Simultaneously, a layer of GO between the perovskite and the HTL boosts current density, adding further to the total efficiency. In terms of stability, the mTiO2 + G cells retain more than 88% of their efficiency after 16 hours of prolonged sun exposure. This most recent work points to a new direction in graphene-perovskite solar cell design that should lead to highly efficient stable solar cells in the future.


via Graphenea

Beamline for Schools 2016: how to be a CERN scientist

Students from the Beamline for Schools competition in 2016 working at their experiment (Image: Noemí Carabán Gonzalez/CERN)


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2016/10/beamline-schools-2016-how-be-cern-scientist

Our galaxy's most-mysterious star is even stranger than astronomers thought

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A star known by the unassuming name of KIC 8462852 in the constellation Cygnus has been raising eyebrows both in and outside of the scientific community for the past year. In 2015 a team of astronomers announced that the star underwent a series of very brief, non-periodic dimming events while it was being monitored by NASA's Kepler space telescope, and no one could quite figure out what caused them. A new study has deepened the mystery.
via Science Daily
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