Berkeley Lab researchers at the Molecular Foundry like their solutions shaken, not stirred. In this way they have been able to engineer two-dimensional, biomimetic nanosheets with atomic precision for a wide range of applications, including the creation of platforms for sensing molecules, and membranes for filtration. To enable this self-assembly of 2D nanosheets they have developed a programmable device to rock the vial of solutions. They call it a “SheetRocker.”

Berkeley Lab researchers have developed a solution-based technique for fabricating core/shell nanowire solar cells using the semiconductors cadmium sulfide for the core and copper sulfide for the shell. These inexpensive and easy-to-make nanowire solar cells hold great promise for future solar cell technology.

Berkeley Lab researchers led the development of a technique called HARPES, for Hard x-ray Angle-Resolved PhotoEmission Spectroscopy, that enables the study of electronic structures deep below material surfaces, including the buried layers and interfaces in nanoscale devices. This could pave the way for smaller logic elements in electronics, novel memory architectures in spintronics, and more efficient energy conversion in photovoltaic cells.

Paving the way for fast-as-light, ultra-compact communication systems and optoelectronic devices, Berkeley Lab scientists have developed a technique for steering the curved path of plasmonic Airy beams – combinations of laser light and quasi-particles called surface plasmon polaritons.

As long ago as the Wright Brothers’ first airplane engine, metallurgists were using nanoparticles to make strong aluminum alloys – although they didn’t realize it, because scientific understanding is only decades old. Researchers at Berkeley Lab’s National Center for Electron Microscopy have now solved the mystery of one of the most promising alloys ever for strength, hardness, lightness, and resistance to corrosion and heat, one that includes core-shell nanoparticles all nearly the same size.

Berkeley Lab researchers have found a way to make copper-catalyzed click chemistry biocompatible. By adding a ligand that minimizes the toxicity of copper but still allows it to catalyze the click chemistry reaction, the researchers can safely use their reaction in living cells.

Using the TEAM 0.5 microscope, Berkeley Lab researchers recorded the first direct observation of structural transformations within a single nanocrystal of copper sulfide. The results break new ground for the design of novel materials that will serve next-generation energy storage batteries and solar energy harvesting devices.

By pairing an R&D 100 award-winning remote-detection version of NMR/MRI technology with a unique version of chromatography specifically designed for microfluidic chips, Berkeley Lab researchers have opened the door to a portable system for highly sensitive multi-dimensional chemical analysis that would be impractical if not impossible with conventional technologies.

Berkeley Lab researchers created tetrapod molecules of semiconductor nanocrystals and watched them break a fundamental principle of photoluminescence known as “Kasha’s rule.” The discovery holds promise for multi-color light emission technologies, including LEDs.

Berkeley Lab researchers, working with scientists at Rice University, have developed a technique for mass-producing defect-free boron nitride nanoribbons (BNNRs) of uniform length and thickness. BNNRs are predicted to display magnetic and electronic properties that hold enormous potential for future devices.