A technique devised by UCLA researchers could help scientists better understand a tiny, but potentially important, component of next-gen electronic devices.

Over the last decade, advances in the technology of LEDs have helped to improve the performance of devices ranging from television and computer screens to flashlights. As the uses for LEDs expand, scientists continue to look for ways to increase their efficiency while simplifying how they are manufactured.

A team of researchers from the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA has developed a mobile phone-based device that can read ELISA plates in the field with the same level of accuracy as the large machines normally found in clinical laboratories. ELISA, or Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbant Assay, is a diagnostic tool that identifies antigens such as viruses and bacteria in blood samples.

The materials in most of today’s residential rooftop solar panels can store energy from the sun for only a few microseconds at a time. A technology developed by chemists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is capable of storing solar energy for up to several weeks - an advance that could change the way scientists think about designing solar cells.