University of Manchester

Aircraft

New ceramic brings hypersonic travel closer to reality

A team of scientists from Britain and China have developed a new type of ceramic carbide that can withstand the high temperatures of flying at over five times the speed of sound without the degradation experienced by similar materials.

The X-ray crystal structure of a 192-atom-loop molecular 819 knot featuring iron ions (purple), oxygen atoms (red), nitrogen atoms (dark blue), carbon atoms (shown in metallic grey, with one of the building blocks shown in light blue) and a single chloride ion (green) at the center of the structure

Materials

That's not a knot: Scientists tie tightest knot ever

Scientists have tied a molecular knot measuring roughly 20 nanometers long, which its creators claim is the most tightly knotted physical structure ever known and could lead to the development of new advanced materials.

Researchers have created a new graphene-based flexible LED display prototype (not pictured) that is incredibly thin and bright and could be used in next-gen mobile phones, tablets and TVs (Image: Shutterstock)

Electronics

Flexible graphene-based LED clears the way for flexible displays

Researchers have developed a new prototype semi-transparent, graphene-based LED device that could form the basis of flexible screens for use in the next-generation of mobile phones, tablets and televisions.

Researchers have sandwiched layers of graphene between layers of boron nitrate to create a graphene "Big Mac" (Image: Chris Ewels)

Electronics

Graphene “Big Mac” brings next gen computer chips a step closer

University of Manchester researchers claim a graphene "Big Mac" they have created could be a key step in replacing silicon chips in computers.