Phys.org May 7, 2024 Underwater adhesion processes have faced challenges to uniformly transfer nanoparticles into a monolayer, particularly those below 100 nm in size, over large areas. Researchers in South Korea have developed a scalable “one-shot” self-limiting nanoparticle transfer technique, enabling the efficient transport of nanoparticles from water in microscopic volumes to an entire 2-inch wafer in a remarkably short time of 10 seconds to reach near-maximal surface coverage in a 2D mono-layered fashion. They used proton engineering in electrostatic assembly which accelerated the diffusion of nanoparticles resulting in a hundredfold faster coating speed than the previously reported results in […]
Scientists demonstrate the potential of electron spin to transmit quantum information
Phys.org May 9, 2024 Recently, transduction was shown in a van der Waals antiferromagnet, where strong spin-exciton coupling enabled readout of the amplitude and phase of coherent magnons by photons of visible light. This discovery shifted the focus of research to transmission, specifically to exploring the non-local interactions that enable magnon wave packets to propagate. An international team of researchers (UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, South Korea, Czech Republic) demonstrated that magnon propagation was mediated by long-range dipole–dipole interaction. This coupling was the consequence of fundamental electrodynamics and, as such, will likely mediate the propagation of spin at long […]
Scientists discover a new type of porous material that can store greenhouse gases
Phys.org April 29, 2024 Researchers in the UK have developed a two-step, hierarchical synthesis that assembled a trigonal prismatic organic cage into a more symmetric, higher-order tetrahedral cage. Both the preformed [2+3] trigonal prismatic cage building blocks and the resultant tetrahedral [4[2+3]+6]cage molecule were constructed using ether bridges. This strategy afforded the tetrahedral cage molecule excellent hydrolytic stability that was not a feature of more common dynamic cage linkers. Despite its relatively high molar mass, tetrahedral cage exhibited good solubility and crystallized into a porous superstructure. By contrast, the [2+3] building block was not porous. The tetrahedral cage molecule showed […]
Stable magnetic bundles achieved at room temperature and zero magnetic field
Phys.org May 10, 2024 Through a combination of pulsed currents and reversed magnetic fields, researchers in China experimentally achieved skyrmion bundles with different integer Q values in the chiral magnet Co8Zn10Mn2. They demonstrated the field-driven annihilation of high-Q bundles and presented a phase diagram as a function of temperature and field. Their findings were corroborated by micromagnetic simulations… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Solid-state reaction among multiphase multicomponent ceramic enhances ablation performance, study finds
Phys.org May 8, 2024 While investigating a three-phase multicomponent ceramic consisting of Hf-rich carbide, Nb-rich carbide, and Zr-rich silicide phases, an international team of researchers (Germany, China) discovered solid-state reaction process among multiphase multicomponent ceramic during ablation. They found that this solid-state reaction occurred in the matrix/oxide scale interface region where metal cations were counter-diffused between the multicomponent phases resulting in their composition evolution, which allowed the multicomponent phases to exist stably under a higher oxygen partial pressure, leading to the improvement of thermodynamic stability of three-phase multicomponent ceramic. The solid-state reaction process appeared synergistic with the preferential oxidation behavior […]
Topological phonons: Where vibrations find their twist
Phys.org May 9, 2024 Phonons play a crucial role in many properties of solid-state systems, and it is expected that topological phonons may lead to rich and unconventional physics. Based on the existing phonon materials databases an international team of researchers (USA – Princeton University, Spain) compiled a catalog of topological phonon bands for more than 10,000 three-dimensional crystalline materials. Using topological quantum chemistry, they calculated the band representations, compatibility relations, and band topologies of each isolated set of phonon bands for the materials in the phonon databases. They also calculated the real-space invariants for all the topologically trivial bands […]
Transforming common soft magnets into a next-generation thermoelectric conversion materials by 3 minutes heat treatment
Science Daily May 9, 2024 Nernst effect, a promising transverse thermoelectric phenomenon for energy harvesting and heat sensing, has been challenging to utilize due to the scarcity of materials with large anomalous Nernst coefficients. Researchers in Japan have shown how nanostructure engineering enables transforming simple magnetic alloys into spin-caloritronic materials displaying significantly large transverse thermoelectric conversion properties. They demonstrated a remarkable ~ 70% improvement in the anomalous Nernst coefficients and a significant enhancement in the power factor in flexible Fe-based amorphous materials by nanostructure engineering without changing their composition. This surpassed all reported amorphous alloys and was comparable to single crystals showing large […]
Ultrasound experiment identifies new superconductor
Phys.org May 9, 2024 Uranium ditelluride (UTe2) has previously been inferred to have a multi-component order parameter, in part due to the apparent presence of a two-step superconducting transition in some samples. However, recent experimental observations in newer-generation samples have raised questions about this interpretation, pointing to the need for a direct probe of the order parameter symmetry. An international team of researchers (USA – Cornell University, University of Maryland, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, NIST, France, Canada) measured the elastic moduli of UTe2 in samples that exhibited both one and two superconducting transitions. They demonstrated the absence of thermodynamic discontinuities in […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of May 10, 2024
01. Research team discovers new property of light 02. Groundbreaking microcapacitors could power chips of the future 03. When does a conductor not conduct? 04. A leap toward carbon neutrality: New catalyst converts carbon dioxide to methanol 05. New quantum sensing scheme could lead to enhanced high-precision nanoscopic techniques 06. This sound-suppressing silk can create quiet spaces 07. Bacteria ‘nanowires’ could help develop green electronics 08. Marriage of synthetic biology and 3D printing produces programmable living materials 09. Researcher: Climate models can run for months on supercomputers—but my new algorithm can make them ten times faster 10. Physicists arrange atoms […]
The academic sleuth facing death threats and ingratitude
Phys.org April 30, 2024 An international team of researchers (Morocco, France, Australia, Sweden) presented an investigation of the ethics and legal aspects of 456 studies published France. They identified a wide range of issues with the stated research authorization and ethics of the published studies with respect to the Institutional Review Board and the approval presented. Among the studies investigated, 248 were conducted with the same ethics approval number, even though the subjects, samples, and countries of investigation were different. Thirty-nine did not even contain a reference to the ethics approval number while they presented research on human beings. They […]