Materials

We're 'green chemists'—why we think this emerging science can transform the way the world uses its resources

Society depends on chemistry far more than we consciously realize, from medicines to energy to electronics. However, chemistry is viewed with as much apprehension as gratitude, because of the pollution and health problems that some chemicals cause. There is a strong desire to have all the benefits of chemistry, but none of the downsides. This has led to terms like "chemical free product" coming into popular usage. Of course it's impossible to have a chemical-free product—the ingredients in these products are still chemicals. But they employ a different approach, using benign ingredients from nature. These innovative products are examples of "green chemistry."

Nickelate reveals nodeless gap, providing key clue to high-temperature superconductivity

The mechanism of high-temperature (TC) superconductivity is a key challenge in condensed matter physics. Recently, Chinese scientists made significant progress in the study of high-TC nickelate superconductors. Landmark observations in nickelate films For the first time, scientists observed a nodeless superconducting gap and discovered electron-boson coupling by measuring the electronic structures of Ruddlesden-Popper bilayer nickelate superconducting thin films. These results provide crucial evidence for two fundamental issues in the mechanism of high-TC nickelates: "superconducting gap symmetry" and "superconducting pairing mechanism."

Imaging ellipsometry tracks MXene thin-film quality during fabrication without damage

A German–Israeli research team led by Dr. Andreas Furchner has demonstrated how imaging ellipsometry enables non-destructive characterization and quality control of microstructured MXene thin films during device fabrication. The authors used two complementary ellipsometry approaches for precise, multi-scale access to key material properties. The work positions imaging ellipsometry as a powerful platform for monitoring thin-film uniformity, device integrity, and functionality throughout processing, including critical lithographic steps. The study was published in Applied Physics Letters and selected as an Editor's Pick.

Complexity isn't subjective—the right amount results in new material properties

Complexity may seem subjective, but a quantitative measure of the complexity of nanomaterials was recently developed by a team of researchers from the University of Michigan Engineering, the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Their metric promises to take nanomaterials engineering from a process of discovery to one of design, enabling engineers to produce combinations of properties not seen in natural or existing man-made materials. The findings also take nanomaterials beyond randomly distributed coatings of nanoparticles or tightly packed crystals, in which building blocks are arranged with a uniform pattern and spacing. Instead, a tunable combination of ordered crystals and randomness—considered the essence of complexity—provides a new knob for designing material properties.

IRAA doping could reshape organic semiconductors with cleaner, faster charge control

Semiconductors are an indispensable part of modern-day technologies ranging from computers and smartphones to solar panels and LED lighting. Their ability to control the flow of electrical charge makes them essential for how devices generate, process, and use energy. In renewable energy technologies such as solar cells, semiconductor performance directly determines how efficiently sunlight can be converted into electricity. Conventional semiconductor materials are mostly silicon-based, while new age semiconductors (such as perovskite-based and organic semiconductors) address the challenges associated with conventional silicon-based semiconductors.

New semiconductor building blocks make power converters smaller, more affordable

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory incorporated gallium nitride semiconductors to create a high-efficiency power converter that is more compact, affordable, and efficient. A power converter is a type of device that manages semiconductor switching and transforms current or voltage, so electricity flows smoothly and safely among equipment, power sources, and users. Silicon semiconductors are the fundamental building blocks of conventional converters. Manufacturer ROHM Semiconductor provided the ORNL research team with gallium nitride semiconductors that enable switching 10 to 20 times faster than silicon while losing less energy in the process.

Physicists finally solve the strange mystery of “breathing” lasers

An international team of researchers, including a scientist from Aston University, has developed a new mathematical framework that explains the strange behavior of so called "breather" laser pulses. The breakthrough unites two very different types of laser dynamics under a single model for the first time. Ultrafast lasers generate incredibly short bursts of light that last only picoseconds or femtoseconds. These lasers are widely used in technologies such as eye surgery, biomedical imaging, advanced manufacturing, and precision materials processing. A deeper understanding of how these lasers behave could help scientists improve their stability and tailor them more effectively for specialized applications.

Piezoelectric effect in diamond membranes challenges century-old scientific dogma

A research team in China has reported a significant piezoelectric effect in ultrathin and ultra-flexible polycrystalline diamond membranes. This pioneering discovery challenges a century-long scientific dogma that diamonds are strictly non-piezoelectric. The team was led by Professor Zhiqin Chu, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Professor Yuan Lin, Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Their study is published in Science Advances.

Unusual nonlinear thermoelectric effect appears in chiral tellurium, confirming theoretical predictions

An unusual thermoelectric effect has been observed in the semiconductor tellurium by RIKEN physicists for the first time. This demonstration points to the potential of similar materials to be used in applications such as energy harvesting and advanced heat management. Thermoelectric materials can convert electricity into heat and vice versa. For most of them, doubling the voltage across them will double the heat they produce. But for some special thermoelectric materials, there is a nonlinear relationship between voltage and heat. Such nonlinear thermoelectric materials are useful for applications that require heat to flow in one direction and for generating electricity from thermal fluctuations. Some theoretical calculations have predicted that even more exotic nonlinear thermoelectric effects will occur in materials where the atoms or molecules have a chiral arrangement. But they hadn't been observed in the lab—until now.

Why promising CO₂-to-fuel catalysts keep falling short of copper

Technology that converts carbon dioxide (CO₂) into fuels and plastic feedstocks using electricity is gaining attention as a core technology in the era of carbon neutrality. In particular, ethylene and ethanol are high-value materials widely used in the production of plastics, fuels, and chemical products, but until now, the only metal that has effectively produced them has essentially been copper (Cu). Through this study, Korean researchers have revealed the limitations of existing catalyst theories that have explained this principle. A research team led by Professor Jihun Oh from KAIST's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, through joint research with Professor Stefan Ringe's team from the Department of Chemistry at Korea University, has identified a new operating principle of the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂ reduction reaction, a reaction that uses electricity to convert carbon dioxide into other chemical substances). The study is published in the journal Nature Catalysis.

Scientists discover massive natural hydrogen source beneath Canada

Scientists have discovered that ancient rocks deep beneath Canada are naturally releasing hydrogen gas, offering new evidence that Earth itself may contain significant untapped sources of clean energy. Researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa studied the Canadian Shield, a vast region of some of the oldest rock formations on the planet. For the first time, they directly measured hydrogen escaping from these billion-year-old rocks, tracked how it builds up over time, and mapped where the gas is concentrated.

Chiral carbon nanotube films deliver giant light-conversion effect

A sheet of twisted carbon nanotubes has revealed a hidden talent scientists suspected for decades but had never managed to measure. Researchers at Rice University have created large, highly ordered films of chiral carbon nanotubes (CNTs), hollow cylinders of carbon atoms with either a left- or a right-handed twist. Measurements showed the crystalline films can convert the color of light at a rate two to three orders of magnitude greater than conventional materials. The findings, reported in ACS Nano, confirm a long-standing theoretical prediction and point toward a future in which ultrathin carbon nanotube films could help power faster optical communications, flexible photonic chips and light-based computing systems that today exist mostly as prototypes.

The complete evolution of spin glass from order to chaos

How come our universe is full of disorder, when all elementary particles appear to follow strictly ordered laws of physics? And are there organizing principles behind disorder and apparent chaos? One avenue of studying these fundamental questions is through an assembly of spins: the quantum property that makes electrons behave like tiny bar magnets, with a preferred orientation of either up or down. Neighboring spins align either in parallel (up-up) or antiparallel (up-down-up-down), as in ferromagnets and antiferromagnets, respectively. This simple ruleset makes spin systems very attractive for studying the emergence of order.

Toward power-generating displays: A single device that harvests and emits light

A newly developed organic semiconductor device can both generate electricity from light and emit bright visible light, as reported by researchers from Science Tokyo. By carefully designing a material where energy losses are suppressed, the team achieved efficient power conversion and electroluminescence simultaneously, demonstrating a multifunctional platform with potential applications in displays, sensors, and energy-harvesting technologies. Reimagining what a diode can do At the foundation of modern electronics lies the semiconductor diode, serving as one of the main building blocks of integrated circuits, displays, camera sensors, and solar panels.

Imperfect polymer sequences still control protein function, revealing new design rules

What happens when a scientific problem seems too complex to solve precisely, yet understanding it could reshape how researchers design new materials and medicines? For decades, much of the polymer science community has relied on a "good enough" approach to a stubborn problem: binding a polymer to a protein in a precise way that reliably controls how the protein behaves. Polymers—long chains built from repeating small molecules called monomers—make up much of the material world, from plastic bags and clothing to advanced medicines. Designing those chains to interact with proteins, however, has pushed the limits of precision chemistry. In a study published in Angewandte Chemie, chemist Darwin Gomez, a member of Adrian Figg's lab, and fellow Virginia Tech researchers Ronnie Mondal and Swarnadeep Seth demonstrated that even when a polymer lacks a perfectly tailored sequence, the protein it binds to can still function as intended.

Light-Induced Tuning of Twisted Quantum Materials

A laser-based approach rapidly injects charge into moiré materials and drives metal-to-insulator transitions. [...] By twisting stacks of atomically thin crystals, scientists have created structures called moiré materials, which can host useful, exotic electronic states. But switching between these states on ultrashort timescales remains a big challenge. Now Xiaoyang Zhu at Columbia University and his colleagues have demonstrated a way to use laser pulses to quickly inject charge into moiré materials and adjust their electronic behavior [1]. In a companion study, the team has shown that this process can induce certain metal-to-insulator phase transitions that had not previously been observed [2]. The new method could help scientists build ultrafast quantum devices based on moiré materials.