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  New findings are published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Chemists and engineers from around the world have joined up. They have developed a supramolecular fluorophore nanocomposite. It is a fabrication technology that uses nanomaterials. They have created a sustainable solar organization biohydrogen production system. Tannic acid based metal polyphenol polymers have good nano surface absorption. They were used to control the optical and self assembly properties of florescent dyes. They also observed the photo excitation and electron transfer mechanisms. Their findings show a solar-based biohydrogen production system using bacteria with hydrogenase enzymes. Using photosynthesis, light energy is absorbed by chlorophyll. It transfers electrons to convert it with chemical energy.  Artificial photosynthesis uses sunlight to create resources, like hydrogen.  Scientists used a supramolecular photocatalyst to transfer electrons. They used rhodamine, a fluorescent ...

  1.5 trillion dollars a year is spent on adverse health effects related to the toxic chemicals in plastic. An interesting study from 38 countries and including the University of Massachusetts Amherst, concludes this expense is from premature deaths, chronic diseases and lower IQs. Yongjoon Park is from UMass Amherst. He is an assistant professor of resource economics. He explains,  "More than 16,000 chemicals are incorporated into plastics to produce color, flexibility and durability, but we know very little about how most of them affect human health. Looking at just three chemicals, we found significant health and economic costs-and we believe these estimates to be quite conservative." The three toxic chemicals in plastic are bisphenol A (BPA), Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers.. (PBDE). BPA: Is in most food packaging. It is an endocrine disruptor, promotes cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and reproductive disorders. DEHP: Used in industri...

  Metamaterials do not occur in nature. They function like atoms, but have special optical, electrical and magnetic properties. Interactions between particles is important to the functionality of a metamaterial . Typically, a metamaterial could only interact with its direct neighbors. Researchers have developed a mechanical metamaterial that can be triggered into action at a distance. Researchers at Karlsruhe institute of technology (KIT) have published their findings in the journal Nature Communications.  Professor Martin Wegener at KIT’s institute of applied physics (APH) is working with a large group of scientists that have overcome a limitation of  metamaterials. Dr Yi Chen is lead author of the study. He compares his work to a well-known “telephone game”. When individual people speak through a chain of people, the message received by the last person is quite different. The same principal can be applied to metamaterials. Chen explaines, “ The material we designed has ...

 Tokyo Metropolitan University has published in the journal Nano Letters. The team has made a tungsten disulfide nanotube. For the first time, the nanotubes point in the same direction as when formed. A sapphire surface was used to form the tungsten disulfide nanotubes, employing chemical vapor deposition.   Nanotubes are made up of sheets of atoms. The atoms are rolled into a nanoscale tube. This turns a two-dimensional sheet into a one-dimensional tube. The tubes properties depend on the way the ends of the sheet meet together. Carbon nanotubes can either be conducting or semiconducting if there is a twist in the structure when rolled up. Tungsten disulfide nanotubes are made up of nanosheets that are rolled multiple times. They are known to be semiconducting no matter which way they are rolled. The problem with real world applications is it would require a specified amount of nanotubes in the same place. This is possible, but the tubes point in random directions. No ma...

  Scientists at Nagoya University in Japan have released a new study in the journal Microscopy. The team have been studying surfaces. Surfaces are important in chemical reactions like catalysts and corrosion. The researchers used atomic-resolution secondary electron (SE) imaging. They captured the atomic structure of the top layer of materials. They did this to understand the differences between it's lower layers.  There is a phenomenon called "surface reconstruction." This happens when the surface atoms are organized differently from the interior atoms. To observe this at the atomic level, surface reactivity techniques are needed. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is what is typically used by scientists to observe nanoscale structures. It works by scanning a sample with a very focused electron beam. It captures the SEs coming from the surface. SEs are usually emitted from a depth of just below the surface. It makes it very difficult to observe the reactions on the surfa...

  Hydrogen is becoming more important in the clean energy sector. It can be burned, only producing water as a by product. Hydrogen is highly flammable, even at concentrations as low as 4%. Hydrogen is both odorless and colorless, making leak detection a high priority. Professor Yutaka Majima is from the Institute of Science Tokyo. His team have been working on a sensor that detects hydrogen in very low concentrations within a short response time. Advanced Functional Materials published the research on November 5, 2024.  The sensor is created from nanopatterned polycrystalline CuONWs. These are very sensitive to hydrogen gas. They are placed on a silicon substrate and platinum or titanium electrodes are added.  Professor Majima explains, "We employed electron-beam lithography and two step ex-situ oxidation to develop a reliable and reproducible process fr preparing high-performance, nanopatterned CuO nanowire-nanogap hydrogen gas sensors with voids, which is considerably d...

 It takes time and numerous steps to cool atomic gases to the quantum realm.  Quantum gas is a newly discovered non-classical state of matter. Many advancements and achievements have been recently discovered in quantum gas studies.  A recent study was published in Nature Physics. A team was led by Associate Professor Shau-Yu Lan at National Taiwan University's Department of Physics. They created a novel method for efficiently making a quantum gas. The technique requires trapping atoms in a 3-D optical lattice. The lattice is created by laser interference. It uses electromagnetically  induced transparency (EIT). It also uses adiabatic expansion, which quickly cools the atoms. This improves the efficiency to nearly 100% with 100% faster speed over conventional techniques. This new method has huge potential. It could enhance cold atom platforms. These are used in both quantum computing and quantum sensing. 

  Photonic time crystals are exotic materials that exponentially amplify light. A huge team from around the world are involved, as it opens up possibilities across fields like imaging and sensing and other optical devices. The study was published in Nature Photonics. Viktar Asadchy is from Aalto University in Finland. He reports, "This work could lead to the first experimental realization of photonic time crystals, propelling them into practical applications and potentially transforming industries from high-efficiency light amplifiers and advanced sensors to innovative laser technologies, this research challenges the boundaries of how we can control the light-matter interactions." Photonic time crystals are in a unique class of optical materials. Normal crystals have spatially repeating structures. Photonic time crystals are uniform in space but show an occasional oscillation in time. This creates "momentum band gaps." These are unusual states where light momentaril...

Gases are important for many chemical reactions. Bubbles are a way for these gases to be held in solution. Nanobubbles are more stable than larger bubbles and they can remain in a solution longer without popping. The nanobubbles increased stability allows more time for chemical reactions to occur.  Scientists at Texas A&M University are studying nano bubbles. They have released their study to the Journal of Physical Chemistry. Samouei is a research assistant professor in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering. He reports, "When we inject gas at the industrial scale, we don't want to waste that gas. We want to maximize its use for chemical reactions. That's the main purpose, to keep the gas in solution for a very, very long time, ideally infinite time; to keep the gas in solution without bursting." Scientists discovered why nanobubbles are so stable. It is based on their electric charges and the interactions between the charges of the bubbles and the ...

 Millions of tons of floating marine litter is in our oceans. The litter is mostly plastic. It has pushed the need for effective waste management. The team at UPV/EHU's Materials have made good progress. Cristina Pena is a lecturer in the Department of Environmental Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, Gipuzkoa. (UPV/EHU). The work was published in the journal Waste Management Bulletin. She is author of the paper and explains, "We assessed a practical approach: the possibility of integrating plastics collected from the sea into the urban waste system. This pioneering study, which is part of a Ph.D. thesis, explores the possibility of managing this waste efficiently in current urban recycling infrastructures." Maine litter does not have a systemized management program. It is managed on a very ad hoc basis. It is included into the framework of a few very specific projects. Amaia Mendoza is a researcher in the UPV/EHU's Materials and Technologies research group. Sh...

  1,3-butadiene is a feedstock that is used for synthetic rubber. Chemists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have created a sustainable method to electrosynthesize the material, which is made from acetylene.  A common practice in green technologies is called electrification. It uses renewable electricity to convert feedstocks like water and carbon dioxide into more valuable chemicals and fuels. This goal requires clear target molecules and synthesis options. One target is 1,3 butadiene. Today it is a minor by-product similar to  ethylene from the cracking of napthaorethane. 18 million tons of this feedstock is made each year. A team from around the world published in the journal Nature Catalyst. The catalyst produced 1,3 butadiene at -0.85V versus the Standard Hydrogen Electrode (SHE) and faradaic efficiency of 93%. The partial current density of 1,3 butadiene is an indicator of catalytic activity. It was 20 times higher than reported in past studies. Associ...

  Scientists from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have released a study to Nature Communications. They have efficiently constructed a gold microsphere array-based anisotropic conductive adhesive film (ACF). It is used in advanced packaging of electronics. Scientists in the study designed a new method to create gold microsphere arrays within one minute. They used a positioned self assembly and laser irradiated ripening strategy. It works because of a rapid layer-by-layer melting and fusion process. This avoids the anisotropic growth theory. There is a big advantage to this strategy. The size of the gold nanoparticles can be precisely controlled and also work with lithography techniques. The new technique is flexible. It can be used to make different types of microspheres. These include other alloy nanoparticles made from gold or other metals. When the microspheres are zapped with a laser, they fuse together. This creates durable and stable mat...

  New research in the journal Applied Materials Today suggests that scientists have created a deep learning approach to identifying two dimensional materials. It is performed through Raman spectroscopy. Traditional Raman techniques are slow and are subjective in interpretation. Yaping Qi is from Tohoku University and is the lead researcher of this study. He reports, "Sometimes, we only have a few samples of the 2D material we went to study, or limited resources for taking multiple measurements. As a result, the spectral data tends to be limited and unevenly distributed. We looked towards a generative model that would enhance such datasets. It essentially fills in the blanks for us." The spectral data using three distinct stacked combinations of seven different 2D materials were placed into a learning model. The scientists used a data augmentation framework and the framework used Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models (DDPM). This created more synthetic data to address the c...

  Scientists from the University of California, Irvine have enhanced superconductivity in an iron-based material. They published the work in a journal called Nature. The team at UC Irvine Materials Research used spectroscopy instruments. They were able to view atom vibrations, and also observed new phonons. Phonons are quasi-particles that carry thermal energy. The phonons were visible at the junction of an iron selenide (FeSe) very thin layer on a substrate of strontium titanate (STO).  XiaoQing Pan is an UC Irvine Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. He is lead author of the paper. He explains, "Primarily emerging from the out-of-plane vibrations of oxygen atoms at the interface and in apical oxygen in ST, these phonons couple with electrons and phonon wave functions at the interface. Our vibrational spectroscopy approach enabled us to achieve highly detailed imaging of the vibrations at the superconducting material's interface with its substrate.”...

  The first precise mass measurements of several exotic atomic nuclei has been achieved. A team of scientists at the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has published in  Physical Review Letters on November 27. Using the mass data they have proposed a new approach to uncover halo structures. They have also uncovered a proton drip line for aluminum, sulfur, phosphorus, and argon elements.  The atomic nucleus is described as a quantum many-body system made up of protons and neutrons. Typically, they are the same size as a neighbor nuclei. A halo is found in a weakly bonded nuclei. It is an exotic nuclear structure that has one or more valance nucleons that show spatial distribution. Because of this spacing it has a radius larger than that of a neighbor nuclei. Neutron halos are frequently observed, however proton halos are rare. YuYue is a Ph.D. student from IMP. He is first co-author of this study. He reports, "It is challenging to experime...

 There is an AI based decoder that identifies quantum computing errors. It is being introduced from the AI researchers at Google Deep Mind, working with a team of quantum researchers at Google Quantum AI. The paper was published in the journal Nature. The team used machine learning to help find qubit errors more effectively than previous ways. Nadia Haider is with Delft University of Technology's Quantum Computing Division of QuTech. The team published a News and Views piece in the same journal outlining the work done at Google. The main problem with developing a useful quantum computer error correction. Qubits are fragile, and their quality is not great, often resulting in errors. The team at Google have developed an AI based decoder to identify these errors.  Google's Artificial Intelligence division has worked on a quantum computer called Sycamore. It creates single logical qubits that use multiple hardware qubits. These are used to run programs while carrying out error cor...

  A new study was published the journal ACS Applied Nano Materials.  It discusses a  novel imaging  technique that clearly displays nanoscale structures in rubber materials. Electron microscopy creates noisy imagines that hide rubber's internal curves. The new technique shows the mesh-like molecular network structure of rubber. Rubber has very unique properties like softness and stretchability. These properties are used in tires and even medical materials. Molecular bonding creates a complicated network that influences the physical properties of rubber. The precise structure of rubber is obscured in the conventional microscope images.  Scientists have created a new image processor. It enhances the visibility of places where rubber molecules change into network structures. The network region is identified manually by conventional methods. Using the new method, it can be calculated automatically. This eliminates the need for randomness and allows for the testing o...

 A large team of scientists from Switzerland and the United States have released information about drinking water. It’s estimated that over 113 million people in the US are drinking chloraminated water.  Researchers have discovered what they call chloronitramide anion. It is chemically written as Cl-N-NO(2)- It is known to be the end product of inorganic chloramine decomposition. The toxicity is not fully understood, although its prevalence and sameness to other toxic compounds is extremely concerning. Just identifying this new compound has been a big challenge for scientists. The new information was published in the journal Science.  Julien Fairey is first co-author on the paper. He is an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Arkansas. Fairey explains that scientists have known about the compound for a few decades. Fairey himself began to work on the project about 10 years ago. Fairey claims, “ It’s a very stable chemical with a low molecular weig...

 Acoustic metamaterials are architected materials that have premade geometry that are designed to control the creation of acoustic or elastic waves through a medium. Scientists have studied acoustic materials through theory and complex computer models. Creation of these materials is restricted due to large size and low frequencies. Carlos Portela ia the Robert N. Noyce Career Development Chair And the assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. He reports, “ The multifunction of metamaterials, being simultaneously lightweight and strong while having tunable acoustic properties makes them great candidates for use in extreme condition engineering applications. But challenges in miniaturizing and characterizing acoustic metamaterials at high frequencies have hindered progress towards realizing advanced materials that have ultrasonic wave control capabilities.” The paper was published in the journal, science advances, and entitled, “ Tailored ultrasound, propagation, and micr...

  Polymers have gained notoriety because of their use in wearable electronics. While they are flexible and lightweight, their low electrical conductivity is a major drawback.  Scientists have improved conductivity and are working on performance degradation in extreme environments.   A study from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) was published as a paper in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. The research is attracting attention as a way to develop next generation high performance chemical sensors.  The scientists used the ionic pendant group introduced into polymer structures. It synthesized conjugated polymers that can easily dissolve into eco-friendly solvents. The possibility of applications will bring improvements to wearable devices, portable electronics and other devices that can operate reliably in extreme environments.  While the old polymers use toxic solvents to dissolve, new polymers improve electrical conductivity through th...

  New research from Northeastern University that will significantly impact our environment. Researchers have developed a new plastic that dissolves in water. The research was posted in the journal Nature Communications. The study uses living materials, those that use living cells to create functional materials.  Researchers explain that nature inspired solutions can be created to regenerate, regulate and respond to stimuli. Amazing experiments have been conducted to adhere, catalyze, and remediate these living materials. The attempts have not been scalable for widespread production. There is a new product to pick up the torch. It's called MECHS, it's an E-coli bacteria with a fibrous matrix. It creates a film-like material. It can stretch like plastic wrap or become less stiff.  It's healable, water can detangle the fibers and drying can retangle them. Lastly, the material can be easily mass produced just like paper manufacturing.  Manjula Basavanna is lead researche...

 Researchers at Martin Luther university Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in Halle have created a new way to observe magnetism with high resolution. This novel method attained resolution of 70 nm, where normal light microscopes have a resolution of 500 nm. The scientists released the data in the current issue of ACS Nano.  Normal optical microscopes are limited by light wavelength. Details below the 500 nm mark are not resolved. Scientist used the anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) and a metallic nano scale tip. The ANE creates an electrical voltage in a magnetic metal. It is perpendicular to the magnetization and the temperature gradient. Professor Georg Woltersdorf is from the Institute of physics at MLU. He reports “ A laserbeam focuses on the tip of a force microscope, and thus causes a temperature gradient on the surface of the sample that is specially limited to the nano scale. The metallic tip acts like an antenna and focuses the ...

  A new research article was published in the journal Nature Communication. A group of scientists invented a platform that creates uniform production of organoids that mimic biology. Organoids are a cell like material that replicate the functions of human organs. The heterogeneity and low reproducibility of organoids prevent them from being scaled up into production. The team created a platform called UniMat (Uniform and Mature Organoid Culture Platform). This platform enables the production of mature organoids. A 3D engineered membrane made of fine nano fibers provided a structured framework for organoid formation. Nutrient and differentiation factors were enhanced, both crucial for organoid maturation. Professor Kim is from POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology). He led the research. He summarizes, "Though these research outcomes, we not only accelerate organoid- based R and D that requires high reproducibility and reliability but we also expect to make significan...

Graphene is a very promising material for the development of spintronic devices. Spintronic devices use the intrinsic angular momentum of electrons to transmit and process data. There is a new approach to create and observe spins. It relies on how close graphene is to a nearby material. The approach is difficult.  Scientists at CIC nanoGUNE BRTA have created a spintronic device that leverages proximity effects alone. It is essentially a 2-D graphene based spin valve. The paper was published in Nature Electronics. Haozhe Yang his first author of the paper. He reported in a recent interview, “ The field of spintronics has evolved significantly since the pioneering discoveries of spin injection and giant magnetoresistance in the 1980s. These discoveries, which relied on spin polarized electron injection in a 3-D structure from a ferromagnetic metal to a normal metal earned Albert. Fert and Peter Grunberg The 2007 Nobel prize in physics. Their groundbreaking achievement laid the founda...

  Quasicrystals are materials with non-periodic symmetry. It separates them from conventional crystals.  Approximant crystal are precursor materials. They are closely related to quasicrystals. They share structural features, but retain atomic arrangements.  These materials can  display unique physical properties. These features can be unique temperature, dependencies, and electrical and thermal conductivity. There is no comprehensive database and it is a huge barrier in machine learning.  Development of the quasicrystal database Will stimulate the growth of new materials. The goal is within reach, and published in the journal Scientific Data. Scientists developed the world first database for quasicrystals and their approximants. It’s called “HYPOD-X”. Hypermaterials open database for X. (This is where X represents a quirk for application targets, like machine learning) HYPOD-X Has three data sets. They are composition, data set, the phase diagram, data set, and ...

  The search for stronger more adaptable adhesives is going on. Researchers have added a dash of salt to two special Polymer ingredients called polyzwitterions. (P PZLs).  The work was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.  A team was led by Hoyong Chung, an associate professor at the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Engineering at FAMU-–FSU College of Engineering. The scientist created a new adhesive by using natural attraction between positive and negative charged materials. Chung reports, “ We want to create stronger and more versatile adhesive using a strategy involving electrostatic interactions. Our research centers around two special polymers, called PZLs, with the goal of getting them to bond more effectively.” Scientists compared bottlebrush polymers to straight chain polymers. Bottle brush have branches coming off the main chain wall straight chains are linear. The different shapes can improve the physical properties. One st...

 A new proposal for Bell testing quantum entanglement was released in Physical Review X. Quantum entanglement is the puzzling concept of 'spooky action at a distance'. This is where grouped particle's quantum states can not be described independently of each other.  The Bell test will prove no hidden variables are actively involved in quantum entanglement. In the past, the Bell test had only been done for pairs of entangled photons. This led to the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics.  The team included Dr. Marco Ruberti, Professor Vitali Auerbukh and Professor Florian Mintert. They have invented a way to use the Bell test for the process of photoionization. This is where a photon causes an electron to be ejected from an atom. This leaves the electron and the ion quantum entangled.  The team used advanced theories to quantify their beliefs. They proved it can be done by simultaneously measuring the spin of the photo electron and the photo emission of the remaining ion. More ...