Phys.org February 7, 2022 Hysteresis underlies many phase transitions in solids, giving rise to exotic metastable states that are otherwise inaccessible. An international team of researchers (USA – MIT, UC Berkeley, Stanford University, SLAC Linear Accelerator Laboratory, Cornell University, Argonne National Laboratory, Clemson University, China, Russia, Germany) reported an unconventional hysteretic transition in a quasi-2D material, EuTe4. They observed that the hysteresis loop has a temperature width of more than 400 K, setting a record among crystalline solids. The transition has an origin distinct from known mechanisms, lying entirely within the incommensurate charge density wave (CDW) phase of EuTe4 with […]
Scientists engineer new material that can absorb and release enormous amounts of energy
Phys.org February 2, 2022 Solid–solid phase transformations can affect energy transduction and change material properties. A team of researchers at UMass Amherst developed elasto-magnetic metamaterials that display phase transformation behaviors due to nonlinear interactions between internal elastic structures and embedded, macroscale magnetic domains. They also developed the design algorithms that allow these materials to be programmed with specific responses, making them predictable. Using predictive model, they developed a quantitative phase map that relates the geometry and magnetic interactions to the phase transformation. According to the researchers their work demonstrates that the new material holds great promise for a very wide […]
Study raises new possibilities for triggering room-temperature superconductivity with light
Phys.org February 9, 2022 An international team of researchers (South Korea, USA – SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Germany, Japan) explored a photoinduced normal state of YBCO through a charge density wave (CDW) with time-resolved resonant soft x-ray scattering, as well as a high magnetic field x-ray scattering. In the nonequilibrium state where people predict a quenched superconducting state based on the previous optical spectroscopies, they experimentally observed a similar analogy to the competition between superconductivity and CDW shown in the equilibrium state. Their results provide a critical clue that the characteristics of the photoinduced normal state show a solid resemblance […]
Super-elastic high-entropy Elinvar alloy discovered with potential for aerospace engineering
EurekAlert February 9, 2022 An international team of researchers (Hong Kong, China, USA- Argonne National Laboratory, France) has discovered a high-entropy alloy called Co25Ni25(HfTiZr)50, (high-entropy Elinvar alloy) reveals the Elinvar effect, that is the alloy firmly retains its elastic modulus over a very wide range of temperature changes. It becomes slightly stiffer than, it is at room temperature, and it expands without any notable phase transition. The experiment verified that the microstructure and mechanical properties of the alloy were insensitive to annealing at 1,273 K (1,000 °C) for different time durations. Because of the combination of the unique structural features, […]
Sustainable batteries roadmap to 2030 and beyond
Nanowerk February 9, 2022 A team of EU researchers has developed a roadmap that presents the research ideas proposed by BATTERY 2030+, the European large-scale research initiative for future battery chemistries. A “chemistry-neutral” roadmap to advance battery research is outlined with a time horizon of more than ten years. The roadmap is centered around six themes: 1) accelerated materials discovery platform, 2) battery interface genome, with the integration of smart functionalities such as 3) sensing and 4) self-healing processes. Beyond chemistry related aspects also include crosscutting research regarding 5) manufacturability and 6) recyclability. The roadmap should be seen as an […]
Tiny electrical vortexes bridge gap between ferroelectric and ferromagnetic materials
EurekAlert February 9, 2022 An international team of researchers (UK, Ireland, USA – Argonne National Laboratory) created a thin film of the ferroelectric lead titanate sandwiched between layers of the ferromagnet strontium ruthenate, each about 4 nanometres thick. The structure of the combined layers revealed that the domains in the lead titanate were a complex topological structure of lines of vortexes, spinning alternately in different directions. Almost identical behaviour has also been seen in ferromagnets where it is known to be generated by the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMi). According to the researchers the difference between ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity becomes less and […]
Towards self-sensing soft robots with electrochemically driven pumps
Science Daily February 8, 2022 Researchers in Japan based the electrochemical dual transducer (ECDT) design on the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) pump they had previously designed. The pump consisted of a symmetrical arrangement of planar electrodes, which allowed easy control of the flow direction by simply changing the voltage. The arrangement enabled an obstruction-free even flow in each direction due to the same strength of the electric field on either side. They evaluated sensing performance in terms of range of detectable flow, rate, sensitivity, response, and relaxation times, and used mathematical modeling to understand the sensing mechanism. The ECDT does not require […]
With a little help, new optical material assembles itself
Phys.org February 4, 2022 To overcome a longstanding problem of molecular impurities in nanoscience a team of researchers in the US (MIT, UC Berkeley, Argonne National Laboratory) developed a new technique that coaxes diverse blends of polymers and nanoparticles into spontaneously forming tiny, nested rings within minutes of adding an impurity. They hypothesized that diversifying the blend’s composition can overcome these limitations. Increasing the number of components increases mixing entropy, leading to the dispersion of different components and, as a result, enhances interphase miscibility. The molecular migration would unlock the system’s entropy that helps to distribute the material’s building blocks, […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of February 4, 2022
01. Nano-architected material refracts light backward – an important step toward one day creating photonic circuits 02. A nanoscale 3D structure to control light 03. A new amplifying technique for weak and noisy optical signals 04. New approach transports trapped ions to create entangling gates 05. A new method for quantum computing 06. New power transfer technology provides unprecedented freedom for wireless charging 07. Physicists manipulate magnetism with light 08. Scientists develop insect-sized flying robots with flapping wings 09. Scientists weave atomically thin wires into ribbons 10. Tiny materials lead to a big advance in quantum computing And others… Bacteria […]
Bacteria Communicate Using Chemical Signals Comparable to Radio Waves
SciTech Daily January 31, 2022 Researchers at UCLA elucidated how bacteria communicate about the existence of a surface using a messenger molecule called cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP) signals which are analogous to, AM radio and FM radio which encodes signals by the number of oscillations in the wave over a given period. The signal acts like a knob. They identified three important factors that control the formation of biofilm: average levels of c-di-GMP, the frequency of oscillations in c-di-GMP levels, and the degree of cell movement on the surface where the biofilm is forming. According to the existing paradigm one input […]