Materials Science News

Applications for the arrays, which can be printed onto flat or flexible substrates ranging from glass to plastic and rubber, include general illumination, high-resolution home theater displays, wearable health monitors, and biomedical imaging devices.

Researchers the world over are striving to develop organic solar cells that can be produced easily and inexpensively as thin films that could be widely used to generate electricity.

Using a composite metamaterial to deliver a complex set of instructions to a beam of light, Boston College physicists have created a device to guide electromagnetic waves around objects such as the corner of a building.

A research program aimed at using platinum as an exploration guide for nickel has for the first time been able to put a time scale on the planet's large-scale convection processes.

"Jewel beetles" are widely known for their glossy external skeletons that appear to change colors as the angle of view changes. Now they may be known for something else--providing a blueprint for materials that reflect light.

Research at the University of Liverpool has shown it is possible to develop an 'invisibility cloak' to protect buildings from earthquakes.

Researchers are using laser light technology that will help the military create new forms of metal that may guide, attract and repel liquids and cool small electronic devices.

New design grows optically active semiconductors in arrays of nanoscale pillars, each a single crystal, with dimensions measured in billionths of a meter.

Called SunCatchers, the new dishes have a refined design that will be used in commercial-scale deployments of the units beginning in 2010.

Researchers are mimicking nature's small flyers – and developing robotic bats that offer increased maneuverability and performance.