Last July, two EnEx students attended the EuroScience Open Forum 2018 in Toulouse and presented their Grand Challenges: ESR7 Ruben with his card game ChemiProject and ESR11 Mario with his YouTube channel SassyScience.
A quantum dot is a nanometric crystalline structure of semiconductor materials. In a quatum dot electrons are confined in a region of space, thus creating a well defined structure of energy levels that depends very much on the size and shape of the quantum dot. This structure resembles that of atoms, that is why sometimes quantum dots are also called artificial atoms. One variety is that of carbon spherical nanoparticles (less than 10 nm in size), the so-called carbon dots. A unique feature common to the vast variety of polymer carbon dots prepared from carboxylic acid and amine precursors is a mysterious emission of a bright blue fluorescence.
Exfoliated semiconducting MoS2 and WS2 were covalently functionalized with 1,2-dithiolane-modified carbon nanodots (CNDs). Based on electronic absorption and fluorescence emission spectroscopy, modulation of the optoelectronic properties of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) by interfacing with CNDs was accomplished.
Last week the conference NanoteC18 was held at Sussex University in Brighton, where it was first held in 1998. This year’s edition was celebrating the 20th anniversary of the conference and was also dedicated to the late Prof Sir Harry Kroto NL, who received the Nobel prize for discovery of the carbon football molecule, C60.
Ammonium modified MoS2 and WS2 were prepared and characterized by complementary spectroscopic, thermal and microscopic means. The positive charges on functionalized MoS2 and WS2, owed to the presence of ammonium units, were exploited to electrostatically bring in contact an anionic porphyrin bearing a carboxylate moiety, yielding porphyrin/MoS2 and porphyrin/WS2 nanoensembles, respectively.
Los polímeros conjugados constituyen la base de los dispositivos optoelectrónicos en forma de películas finas, como son las celdas solares orgánicas y los dispositivos de emisión de luz orgánicos. Depositados sobre grandes áreas contribuyen al desarrollo de plataformas de comunicación inteligentes, autónomas y ubicuas.
Recent advances in large-scale production of graphene have led to the availability of solution-processable platelets at the commercial scale.
The game‐changing role of graphene oxide (GO) in tuning the excitonic behavior of conjugated polymer nanoparticles is described for the first time.
The preparation, characterization and photophysical and electrocatalytic properties of carbon nanodots (CNDs)/MoS2 ensembles were reported.
Launch of Newco to exploit supercapacitor technology. Sebastian Nufer, PhD student at M-Solv Ltd, supported by Richard Lee of Academatch.
Dissemination of science to the general public and presentation of ESR Ruben Canton-Vitoria’s board game ChemiProject!
Carbon nanofoam (CNF) is a low-density, high-surface-area material formed by aggregation of amorphous carbon nanoparticles into porous nanostructures. We report the use of a pulsed infrared laser to prepare CNF from a graphene oxide (GO) target material.
Ruben is the Marie Curie ITN Fellow of the Week, March 2018. More information on the #MSCA website!
“Enabling Excellence” ITN has organised a two day workshop for users of the AIMPRO code in Exeter, UK, from 26th to 27th March 2018, in conjunction with Strathclyde University. The AIMPRO code uses density functional theory methods to solve the quantum mechanics that controls the distribution of nuclei and electrons in materials.
Manuela Meloni, PhD student at the University of Sussex, participated in the Materials Research Exchange & Investor Showcase (MRE2018) in London. She showed her recent scientific results along with her colleagues in the Materials Physics group.
In celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Ana Santidrián García, PhD student at Instituto de Carboquímica ICB-CSIC in Zaragoza, has collaborated in the exhibition “Women in Science” which is locating in the library La Pantera Rossa (San Vicente de Paúl, 28, 50001 Zaragoza).
As part of the Enabling Excellence project the students have an exercise in communication about nanoscience. It is called the Grand Challenge. Three PhD students: Ana Santidrian Garcia, Lorenzo Vallan and Emin Istif chose to communicate nanotechnology and nanoscience to children and high school students.
Aqueous batteries are an emerging candidate for low‐cost and environmentally friendly grid storage systems. Designing such batteries from inexpensive, abundant, recyclable, and nontoxic organic active materials provides a logical step toward improving both the environmental and economic impact of these systems.
Our latest paper on functional #graphene emulsions published today in @nanoscale_rsc — The most sensitive liquid-based strain sensors ever reported!
Image from partner Renishaw – this Christmas tree is molybdenum disulphide on a silicon substrate, topped off with a 633nm laser. Sample preparation by STEM_LPS in a colaboration through Enabling Excellence, image produced using inVia microscope.
EnEx researchers were strongly present at this year’s HeteroNanoCarb conference in Benasque, Spain, organised by Raul Arenal (INA)
This novel hybrid nanostructures opens new pathways for the design of improved optoelectronic devices.
An interview between Alain Chaillot and Chris Ewels on France Bleu (in French) about nanotechnology, where they discuss a bit of “Enabling Excellence” science. (14/12/2017)
N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) has been shown to be the most effective solvent for liquid phase exfoliation and dispersion of a range of 2D materials including graphene, molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) and black phosphorus.
Wotton-under-Edge (UK), October 30 – November 15, 2017. ESRs Manuela Meloni, Giuseppe Fratta, Yuman Sayed-Ahmad Baraza, Daniel Funes and Sebastian Nufer visited Renishaw plc to learn about state of the art Raman imaging and combined Raman-AFM imaging, including TERS (Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy).
