INFORMATION:
Microfabricated elastic diamonds improve material's electronic properties
2021-01-02
(Press-News.org) Overcoming a key obstacle in achieving diamond-based electronic and optoelectronic devices, researchers have presented a new way to fabricate micrometer-sized diamonds that can elastically stretch. Elastic diamonds could pave the way for advanced electronics, including semiconductors and quantum information technologies. In addition to being the hardest materials in nature, diamonds have exceptional electronic and photonic properties, featuring both ultrahigh thermal and electric conductivity. Not only would diamond-based electronics dissipate heat more quickly, reducing the need for cooling, they can handle high voltages and do so with greater efficiency than most other materials. Because of a diamond's rigid crystalline structure, practical use of the material in electronic devices has remained a limiting challenge. Subjecting diamond to large amounts of strain, which should alter the material's electronic properties, is one way to potentially overcome these obstacles. However, precisely controlling the strain across amounts of diamond needed for device applications has yet to be fully achieved. Here, Chaoqun Dang and colleagues present an approach for engineering diamond that exhibits uniform elastic strain. In a series of experiments, Dang et al. show how their microfabricated, micrometer-sized, single-crystalline diamond plates can elastically stretch - upwards of 10% - along several different crystallographic directions at room temperature. They could recover their length and shape, following these experiments. What's more, the authors show that this highly controllable elasticity can fundamentally change the diamond's electronic properties, including a near 2 electron volt bandgap reduction.
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Study points the way to boost immunotherapy against breast cancer, other solid tumors
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CHAPEL HILL, NC--Boosting immune system T cells to effectively attack solid tumors, such as breast cancers, can be done by adding a small molecule to a treatment procedure called chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) cell therapy, according to a study by researchers at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. The boost helps recruit more immune cells into battle at the tumor site. The findings are published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
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Desalination breakthrough could lead to cheaper water filtration
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Producing clean water at a lower cost could be on the horizon after researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and Penn State solved a complex problem that has baffled scientists for decades, until now.
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Stretching diamond for next-generation microelectronics
2021-01-02
Diamond is the hardest material in nature. But out of many expectations, it also has great potential as an excellent electronic material. A joint research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has demonstrated for the first time the large, uniform tensile elastic straining of microfabricated diamond arrays through the nanomechanical approach. Their findings have shown the potential of strained diamonds as prime candidates for advanced functional devices in microelectronics, photonics, and quantum information technologies.
The research was co-led by Dr Lu Yang, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (MNE) at CityU and ...
Researchers measure, model desalination membranes to maximize flow, clean more water
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AMES, Iowa - Nature has figured out how to make great membranes.
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Countries led by women haven't fared significantly better in the COVID-19 pandemic
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Countries led by women have not fared significantly better in the COVID-19 pandemic than those led by men- it may be just our Western media bias that makes us think they have!
INFORMATION:
Article Title: "Gender in the time of COVID-19: Evaluating national leadership and COVID-19 fatalities"
Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0244531
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Transfusions with higher red blood cell levels do not improve preterm baby outcomes
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Study: in social media safety messages, the pictures should match the words
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After looking at social media posts, parents of young children were better able to recall safety messages such as how to put a baby safely to sleep when the images in the posts aligned with the messages in the text, the researchers found.
The study appears in the Journal of Health Communication.
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St Petersburg University scientists discover an ancient island arc in the Kyrgyz Tien Shan
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Allergists offer reassurance regarding potential allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccines
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Clinical criteria for diagnosing autism inadequate for people with genetic conditions
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People with certain genetic conditions are likely to have significant symptoms of autism, even if they do not meet all diagnostic criteria, a study concludes.
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