After graphene, carbon nanocones are now an exciting form of carbon for material scientists. As the name suggests, they are conical structures made up of carbon, where graphene sheets are folded like a party cap with a height and diameter of a few nanometers (1 nanometer = 1/1,000,000,000th of a metre). With unique properties due to their conical shape, they have a wide range of applications, including being used as a tip of the probe of a high precision microscope used to record activity at an atomic level.
In a recent study, a team of researchers from Purdue University, USA, Northrop Grumman, USA, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India, and University of Florida, USA have studied the effect of using computer-aided design (CAD) simulations on teaching engineering design thinking to students.
A team of researchers from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France and Technische Universität München, Germany has provided a material design strategy for polycrystalline piezoelectrics that could achieve electrostrain values larger than 1%. The breakthrough could result in cheaper and efficient piezoelectric actuators.