Zaps of static electricity might be a wintertime annoyance, but to certain scientists, they represent an untapped source of energy. Using a device called a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), mechanical energy can be converted into electrical energy using triboelectric effect static. Many TENGs contain expensive, specially fabricated materials, but one team has instead used inexpensive store-bought tape, plastic and aluminum metal. The researchers report an improved version of their tape-based TENG in ACS Omega. 

Researchers verified the chiral-induced spin selectivity effect, i.e., the influence of chiral molecules on spin, using spintronic analytical techniques

Muon spin rotation (µSR) spectroscopy is a powerful technique used to study the behavior of materials at the atomic level. In this study, researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo employed µSR to examine phosphorus-containing 12-phosphatetraphene 1 molecule (muoniated radical). Their findings provide new insights into the radical's structure and behavior, advancing understanding of reactive species and radical behavior.

Over three days, leading researchers will discuss the development and application of scientific models in an increasingly interconnected research environment. The upcoming conference, ‘Building Models of Change: Bridging Sciences and Humanities’ comes in, is bringing together leading researchers from diverse disciplines from 12 until 14 March at Bielefeld University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF). 

A team of researchers from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) has developed an innovative technique that allows the production of regular oil lenses of uniform size on the surface of water in a simple and reproducible fashion. The technique will facilitate the study of the behaviour of oily substances dispersed on water surfaces. This discovery is crucial for understanding the dispersion of some liquids floating on water and could have many applications in oil spill mitigation, food and textile industries.