News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

JST PRESTO researcher developed a MEMS resonator that stably operates even under high temperatures by regulating the strain caused by the heat from gallium nitride (GaN). This device is small, highly sensitive and can be integrated with CMOS technology promising for the application to 5G communication, IoT timing device, on-vehicle applications, and advanced driver assistance system.

Scientists from Osaka University, The University of Queensland, and the Faculty of Engineering at the National University of Singapore have created polymer-coated nanodiamonds that can be absorbed into cells. Based on changes in their fluorescence properties, the internal thermal conductivity of the cell can be measured, which may lead to new heat treatments that attack cancer cells.

Although magnesium diboride (MgB2) is an interesting superconductor made from abundant materials, increasing its critical current density through easily accessible means has proven challenging. In a recent study, scientists form Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan, used ultrasonication to turn cheap commercial boron into a fine powder. With it, bulk MgB2 with enhanced superconducting properties can be produced, paving the way to affordable superconducting magnets for medical and transportation applications.

The reproductive cycle of viruses requires self-assembly, maturation of virus particles and, after infection, the release of genetic material into a host cell. New physics-based technologies allow scientists to study the dynamics of this cycle and may eventually lead to new treatments.

Tsukuba University scientists show that the effectiveness of hydrogen-producing metal catalysts protected by graphene depends on the ability of protons to penetrate into the inner metallic surface. This work may lead to widely available hydrogen-powered cars.

A new method to analyze chemical status of lithium was developed by using a synchrotron-based scanning transmission soft X-ray microscope (STXM). A key of the method is installation of a newly designed X-ray lens, a low-pass filtering zone plate, to the STXM to improve quality of a monochromatic X-ray. 2-dimensional chemical state of a test electrode of Li-ion battery was successfully analyzed with spatial resolution of 72 nm.

Researchers have achieved, for the first time, electronically adjustable interactions between microwaves and a phenomenon in certain magnetic materials called spin waves. This could have application in quantum and classical information processing.