News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

Researchers from The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science have developed a machine learning-based model to predict the characteristics of bonded systems. Using the density of states of the individual component reactants, they have achieved accurate predictions of the binding energy, bond length, number of covalent electrons, and Fermi energy. The broadly applicable model is expected to make a significant contribution to the development of materials such as catalysts and nanowires.

Using time- and spin-resolved methods at BESSY II, the physicists explored how, after optical excitation, the complex interplay in the behavior of excited electrons in the bulk and on the surface results in unusual spin dynamics. The work is an important step on the way to spintronic devices based on topological materials for ultrafast information processing.

When a liquid is cooled rapidly, it gains viscosity and eventually becomes a rigid solid glass. The point at which it does so is known as the glass transition. A collaborative research group has furthered our understanding of this phenomenon through the use of high entropy metallic glasses.

Physicists of the Technische Universität Dresden introduce the first implementation of a complementary vertical organic transistor technology, which is able to operate at low voltage, with adjustable inverter properties, and a fall and rise time demonstrated in inverter and ring-oscillator circuits of less than 10 nanoseconds, respectively. With this new technology they are just a stone's throw away from the commercialization of efficient, flexible and printable electronics of the future. Their groundbreaking findings are published in the renowned journal "Nature Electronics".

Science snapshots from Berkeley Lab: Energy-saving windows, microbial fingerprints, lithium-ion batteries & fuel cells

Scientists on the hunt for an unconventional kind of superconductor have produced the most compelling evidence to date that they've found one. In a pair of papers published in Science and Nature Communications, researchers at the University of Maryland's Quantum Materials Center and colleagues have shown that uranium ditelluride displays many of the hallmarks of a topological superconductor--a material that may unlock new ways to build quantum computers and other futuristic devices.

A "tantalizing" principle borrowed from nature turns harmful methane into useful methanol at room temperature. With their latest study, U.S. and Belgian scientists have brought this process an important step closer to realization.

A new study shows that it is possible to use mechanical force to deliberately alter chemical reactions and increase chemical selectivity - a grand challenge of the field.

Two-dimensional "nanosheets" made of bonds between metal atoms and organic molecules are attractive candidates for photoelectric conversion, but get corroded easily. In a new study, scientists from Japan and Taiwan present a new nanosheet design using iron and benzene hexathiol that exhibits record stability to air exposure for 60 days, signaling the commercial optoelectronic applications of these 2D materials in the future.

Shining a beam of light into potentially contaminated water samples may hold the key to real-time detection of hydrocarbons and pesticides in water. UBC Okanagan researchers are testing the use of fluorescence to monitor water quality. The results, they say, show great promise.