Electrical engineers are obviously very familiar and comfortable with the basic diode, a passive and vital component that restricts current flow to one direction only, while mechanical engineers ...

However, making single-molecule diodes – the most basic of all electronic elements – has proved to be a difficult task. A single-molecule diode is a two-terminal electronic component that allows ...

This has come to be known as conventional current flow. Then in 1897, British physicist Thompson, discovered that current flow was really electrons as he was doing some research on a crt.

The article describes a series of experiments in which the material developed a preference for current to flow in a particular direction, a phenomenon known as rectification, under a broad range ...

Then the diode was known as a "valve," because it forced current in the tube to travel exclusively in one direction.

Thermal diodes, much like their electrical counterparts, provide unidirectional heat transfer, allowing heat to flow in one direction while blocking it in the reverse. We find this capability ...