News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

Scientists at the University of Tsukuba create a theoretical carbon-based material that would be even harder than diamond. This work may have industrial applications for cutting and polishing in place of current synthetic diamond.

Materials scientists have synthesized a new type of perovskite--one of the most common crystal structures of materials deployed for a range of uses, from superconductors to photovoltaics--that goes against conventional thinking about how such structures behave at extreme pressures such as those that exist deep in the Earth.

Standard semiconductor technology is reaching its limit in miniaturization, but the demand for smaller electrical devices with higher performance continues to grow. The research group introduced the widest graphene nanoribbon prepared by the bottom-up approach with electrical properties surpassing those of silicon semiconductors, promising a new generation of miniaturized electronic devices.

Superconducting coils in a fusion power reactor exert a huge electromagnetic force. The coils are supported by a structure of solid build. A group of fusion engineering researchers of the National Institute for Fusion Science, National Institute of Natural Sciences first applied topology optimization to the design of a helical fusion reactor. The group succeeded in reducing the weight of the coil support structure by about 25% while maintaining the strength.

NIMS and AIST have developed a small sensor capable of continuously monitoring the plant hormone ethylene. Ethylene gas promotes ripening in fruits and vegetables, but excessive exposure promotes them to rot. The new small sensor can be used to monitor fruits and vegetables by continuously detecting ethylene gas, ensuring the freshness during transportation and storage, and helping reduce food waste.

A team led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory used a simple process to implant atoms precisely into the top layers of ultra-thin crystals, yielding two-sided structures with different chemical compositions. The resulting materials, known as Janus structures after the two-faced Roman god, may prove useful in developing energy and information technologies.

Indium nitride is a promising material for use in electronics, but difficult to manufacture. Scientists at Linköping University, Sweden, have developed a new molecule that can be used to create high-quality indium nitride, making it possible to use it in, for example, high-frequency electronics. The results have been published in Chemistry of Materials.

An Australian has published an extensive review of spin-gapless semiconductors (SGSs), a new class of 'zero bandgap' materials which have fully spin polarised electrons and holes, and first proposed in 2008 by the review team's lead, Professor Xiaolin Wang (University of Wollongong). The study tightens the search for materials that would allow for ultra-fast, ultra-low energy 'spintronic' electronics with no wasted dissipation of energy from electrical conduction.