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European researchers have measured the electrical conductance between a single pair of precisely oriented C60 molecules.

For the ultimate in miniaturization, researchers want to learn all they can about using molecules in electronic circuits. They have measured currents between molecules but not with a precise understanding of the configuration and positions of the molecular electrons.

Researchers in the US have developed a new kind of organic solar cell that converts a small but significant fraction of the sunlight that falls onto it into electricity, while still allowing most of the visible part of that light to pass through. Thanks to this transparency, the team says that the cell could be mounted onto windows in buildings or cars in order to tap a currently under-exploited source of energy.

Actuator materials producing rotation are rare and demonstrated rotations are small, though rotary systems like electric motors, pumps, turbines and compressors are widely needed and utilized. Present motors can be rather complex and, therefore, difficult to miniaturize. We show that a short electrolyte-filled twist spun carbon nanotube yarn, which is much thinner than a human hair, functions as a torsional artificial muscle in a simple three-electrode electrochemical system, providing a reversible 15,000° rotation and 590 revolutions/minute. A hydrostatic actuation mechanism, like for nature’s muscular hydrostats, explains the simultaneous occurrence of lengthwise contraction and torsional rotation during the yarn volume increase caused by electrochemical double-layer charge injection. Use of a torsional yarn muscle as a mixer for a fluidic chip is demonstrated.