A group of researchers have made a significant breakthrough which could revolutionize next-generation electronics by enabling non-volatility, large-scale integration, low power consumption, high speed, and high reliability in spintronic devices. Details of their findings were published in the journal Physical Review B on August 25, 2023. Spintronic devices, represented by magnetic random access memory (MRAM), utilize the magnetization direction of ferromagnetic materials for information storage and rely on spin current, a flow of spin angular momentum, for reading and writing data. Conventional…
Two-dimensional materials like graphene show fascinating properties such as superconductivity, extraordinary strength and exotic quantum phenomena. Scientists at Forschungszentrum Jülich, together with partners from the Indian Institute of Technology in Patna and the Australian University of Newcastle, have now created a special material of this kind that exhibits a metallic character. It consists of just one atomic layer of molybdenum atoms and is also referred to as “molybdenene”. The scientists succeeded in producing a thin sheet of the metal molybdenum,…
Embedded with organic crystals, hybrid membranes use “smart separation” approach that is more effective and environmentally sustainable. A team of NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) researchers has developed a new kind of self-cleaning, hybrid membrane that provides a solution that overcomes significant challenges that have, until now, limited desalination technologies. The most energy-efficient desalination technologies are based on membrane desalination. However, the membranes used for desalination are prone to fouling, the accumulation of scale that results in decreased membrane performance, shorter…
Paper published in ‘Nature Communications’ details how applying magnetic forces to individual ‘microroller’ particles spurs collective motion—with counterintuitive results. Engineering researchers at Lehigh University have discovered that sand can actually flow uphill. The team’s findings were published today in the journal Nature Communications. A corresponding video shows what happens when torque and an attractive force is applied to each grain—the grains flow uphill, up walls, and up and down stairs. (Two clips, GIF1 and GIF2, also show the uphill granular flow.) “After using equations that describe the flow of granular…
Turning mixed plastic into useful chemicals. Almost 80% of plastic in the waste stream ends up in landfills or accumulates in the environment. Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists have developed a technology that converts a conventionally unrecyclable mixture of plastic waste into useful chemicals, presenting a new strategy in the toolkit to combat global plastic waste. The technology, invented by ORNL’s Tomonori Saito and former postdoctoral researcher Md Arifuzzaman, uses an exceptionally efficient organocatalyst that allows selective deconstruction of various…
Researchers reveal how photonic crystals were created by corrosion and crystallization over centuries. Some 2,000 years ago in ancient Rome, glass vessels carrying wine or water, or perhaps an exotic perfumes, tumble from a table in a marketplace, and shatter to pieces on the street. As centuries passed, the fragments were covered by layers of dust and soil and exposed to a continuous cycle of changes in temperature, moisture, and surrounding minerals. Now these tiny pieces of glass are being…
– research project aims for rapid industrial implementation. Stationary energy storage systems aiming to relieve the public power grid during peak loads play an important role in the implementation the energy transition. Zinc-ion batteries have been the focus of attention for these and other applications for some time – but so far without commercial success. The BMBF-funded research project “Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries ZIB2” is now investigating how an industrial implementation can be successful. The use of non-critical, low-cost materials, an…
IKST researchers develop analysis model using magnetic transport characteristics of molecules attached to the surface of MXene. Establishment of property prediction and classification system is expected to be utilized to produce uniform quality MXene. Developed in 2011, MXene is a two-dimensional nanomaterial with alternating metal and carbon layers, which has high electrical conductivity and can be combined with various metal compounds, making it a material that can be utilized in various industries such as semiconductors, electronic devices, and sensors. To…
The neuron, developed by Penn State researchers, processes visual and tactile input together. The feel of a cat’s fur can reveal some information, but seeing the feline provides critical details: is it a housecat or a lion? While the sound of fire crackling may be ambiguous, its scent confirms the burning wood. Our senses synergize to give a comprehensive understanding, particularly when individual signals are subtle. The collective sum of biological inputs can be greater than their individual contributions. Robots…
A team of scientists with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has investigated the behavior of hafnium oxide, or hafnia, because of its potential for use in novel semiconductor applications. Materials such as hafnia exhibit ferroelectricity, which means that they are capable of extended data storage even when power is disconnected and that they might be used in the development of new, so-called nonvolatile memory technologies. Innovative nonvolatile memory applications will pave the way for the creation of…
New material concept allows more cost-effective production of blue organic light-emitting diodes. Blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), which can be used in smartphones, televisions or other devices, are still difficult to manufacture today. A team of researchers led by Gert-Jan Wetzelaer of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research has now developed a new material concept that allows blue OLEDs to be manufactured easily and cost-effectively. The efficiency of the developed light-emitting diode is already comparable to commercially available ones…
… forming a new phase of matter. A study led by Brown University scientists begins to address a longstanding question in condensed matter physics on whether disorder mimics or destroys the quantum liquid state in a prominent compound. Quantum spin liquids are difficult to explain and even harder to understand. To start, they have nothing to do with everyday liquids, like water or juice, but everything to do with special magnets and how they spin. In regular magnets, when the…
KIMS-POSTECH joint research team develops a unified microstructure segmentation approach. The research team led by Dr. Se-Jong Kim and Dr. Juwon Na of the Materials Data Management Center in the Materials Digital Platform Division together with the research team led by Professor Seungchul Lee of POSTECH has developed a technology that can automatically identify and quantify materials microstructure from microscopic images through human-in-the-loop machine learning. KIMS is a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT. Microscopic imaging…
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new type of material that could offer a sustainable and eco-friendly solution to clean pollutants from water. Dubbed an “engineered living material,” it is a 3D-printed structure made of a seaweed-based polymer combined with bacteria that have been genetically engineered to produce an enzyme that transforms various organic pollutants into benign molecules. The bacteria were also engineered to self-destruct in the presence of a molecule called theophylline, which is…
Materials researchers significantly improve the performance of hydrogel actuators. Robots made of metal and other solid materials are already widely used in industry. But they are too rigid and cumbersome for fine-motor activities and interaction with people, such as in nursing or medicine. Intensive research is therefore already being carried out into robots made of soft materials: inspiration from nature, such as jellyfish, earthworms, fish or the human body should enable “soft robots” that can move flexibly and adapt to…
Collaboration between Duke and Purdue explores the fabrication and optoelectronic characterization of multilayered perovskites. By controlling the arrangement of multiple inorganic and organic layers within crystals using a novel technique, researchers at Duke University and Purdue University have shown they can control the energy levels of electrons and holes (positive charge carriers) within a class of materials called perovskites. This tuning influences the materials’ optoelectronic properties and their ability to emit light of specific energies, demonstrated by their ability to…
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