news

Let's first state the obvious: the universe is endlessly fascinating. When the first ever picture of a black hole was released this spring, it easily made front pages.

Exploring the heart (core) of Mars will elucidate the red planet's evolution and thus determine whether life would be possible in the future In 2020 the ExoMars mission will send a platform with the LaRa, a 100% Belgian-made instrument , supervised by UCLouvain researcher Véronique Dehant LaRa's objective  is to observe Mars's rotation in order to understand its core Info: https://lara.oma.be and https://exploration.esa&peri

Researchers from the Photonics Research Group (imec, Ghent University) and MIT have integrated single photon emitters in 2D layered materials with a Silicon Nitride photonic chip. Even for moderate quantum yields, dielectric cavities could be designed such that the single photon extraction into the guided mode can reach unity.

Inleiding: Recent work from CMT researchers (Dr Bacaksiz and Prof Peeters) provide theoretical support for experiments done in Manchester which show that micas are excellent proton conducting membranes. (Physworld News) One-atom thick materials like graphene (a 2D sheet of carbon) conduct protons extremely well but they become impermeable to protons the thicker they get.

UAntwerp researchers from the CMT group, Dr. Mehmet Yagmurcukardes and Prof. Francois Peeters, in collaboration with a team from Manchester have uncovered novel 2D materials. (Nanowerk News) A team of researchers at the National Graphene Institute at The University of Manchester have developed a new method to synthesize 2D materials that are thought to be impossible or, at least, unobtainable by current technologies.

UAntwerp researchers from the CMT group, Dr Jonas Bekaert and Prof Milorad Milosevic, in collaboration with Swedish researchers have predicted that a atomically thin layer of hydrogen will boost the critical temperature of a thin superconductor to above a hundred kelvin. Hydrogen-rich bulk superconducting materials have recently exhibited record-breaking critical temperatures, nearing the ambient temperature and thereby promising a major technological impact on the society.

By stabilizing perovskites -man-made crystals that can convert sunlight into electricity- they absorb sunlight and can be used in efficient solar panels. Perovskites are semiconductor materials that have many applications. They show particular promise in harvesting solar energy. Currently, most solar cells are made with silicon crystals, a relatively straightforward and effective material to process for this purpose.

A study led by KU Leuven for the first time explains how a promising type of perovskites - man-made crystals that can convert sunlight into electricity - can be stabilised. As a result, the crystals turn black, enabling them to absorb sunlight. This is necessary to be able to use them in new solar panels that are easy to make and highly efficient.

What is the impact of weathering processes on microplastics, and how do the particles spread across seas and oceans' Computer models developed by hydraulics engineers from KU Leuven may help to find the answers. Through rivers and wastewater, enormous amounts of minuscule plastic particles end up in our seas and oceans.

UAntwerp researchers from the CMT group, Dr. Mehmet Yagmurcukardes and Prof. Francois Peeters, in collaboration with a team from Manchester have uncovered novel 2D materials. (Nanowerk News) A team of researchers at the National Graphene Institute at The University of Manchester have developed a new method to synthesize 2D materials that are thought to be impossible or, at least, unobtainable by current technologies.

UAntwerp researchers from the CMT group, Dr Jonas Bekaert and Prof Milorad Milosevic, in collaboration with Swedish researchers have predicted that a atomically thin layer of hydrogen will boost the critical temperature of a thin superconductor to above a hundred kelvin. Hydrogen-rich bulk superconducting materials have recently exhibited record-breaking critical temperatures, nearing the ambient temperature and thereby promising a major technological impact on the society.

Belgian research groups from the UCLouvain and WELBIO, VIB and Ghent University, and the biotechnology company argenx elucidated the three-dimensional structure of an assembly of proteins operating on cells that dampen immune responses. They also discovered how an antibody can block this assembly and the immunosuppression it induces downstream.

Clusters of silver atoms captured in zeolites, a porous material with small channels and voids, have remarkable light emitting properties. For instance, they can be used for more efficient lighting applications as a substitute for LED and TL lamps. Until recently, scientists did not know exactly how and why these small particles emit light.

Researchers have achieved a long-sought-after objective of electrically controlling water flow through membranes, as reported in Nature. This is the latest exciting membranes development benfitting from the unique properties of graphene. The new research opens up an avenue for developing smart membrane technologies and could revolutionise the field of artificial biological systems, tissue engineering and filtration.

Inleiding: Mystifying results in excitonic Coulomb drag experiments obtained independently by two research groups in the USA explained by the CMT group (M. Zarenia, D. Neilson and F. Peeters) in a recent Physical Review Letters paper. Taking a multiband approach explains 'electron-hole reverse drag' and exciton formation Mystifying experimental results obtained independently by two research groups in the USA seemed to show coupled holes and electrons moving in the opposite direction to theory.

Ghost particle originates from supermassive black hole An international team of scientists has found the first evidence of a source of high-energy cosmic neutrinos. The measured neutrino originates from a supermassive black hole. Researchers from VUB are among those behind the sensational finding.

Chemists from Belgium and China have produced a new material that changes colour under a flow of human breath. After a while, the colour returns to normal. This creates possibilities for encryption and anti-counterfeiting. Our clothes, food and everyday devices get their colour from dye or pigments that absorb light.

Introduction: Vincent Van Gogh used only two yellows to paint Sunflowers: a light-fast and a light-sensitive type. Researchers from the Universities of Antwerp, Perugia and Delft together with museum staff have painstakingly examined Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam). He painted this iconic work, a composition dominated by yellow tints with some orange and blue accents, in 1889 in Arles, France.

Stephen Hawking's last paper, co-authored by Thomas Hertog, does away with the infinite multiverse and predicts a simpler and finite universe. Find out more in this ERC interview with Thomas Hertog. You put forward a new theory of the origin of the universe. What's wrong with the current one? "The prevailing theory of the Big Bang is called eternal inflation.

An assistant professor at Brussels' Vrije Universiteit and a visiting professor at Harvard, Vincent Ginis is a brilliant scientist who won a Solvay Award in 2014 and was designated as one of the top 50 tech pioneers in Belgium in 2017. His particular area of study is optics, but he makes a strong case for the combination of different scientific disciplines, or "languages", to drive progress in research.