[Image above] Credit: ACerS
NANOMATERIALS
New microscopy technique allows scientists to see single-atom-thick boron nitride
Fritz Haber Institute researchers found a new way to image layers of boron nitride that are only a single atom thick. This material is usually nearly invisible in optical microscopes because it has no optical resonances. So, the team used nonlinear microscopy with infrared light, making the material shine very brightly and even reveal its crystal orientation.
Researchers stabilize MXenes in one stage
Researchers led by National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University developed a method to stabilize MXenes in one stage. The method uses laser processing to improve the adhesion of MXenes to both rigid (glass) and flexible (thermoplastic polyurethane) substrates.
ENERGY
China’s ‘artificial sun’ breaks long-standing barrier in fusion science
Researchers working with China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak successfully reached a long-theorized “density-free regime” in fusion plasma. In this state, the plasma remains stable even when its density rises far beyond traditional limits. This finding challenges decades of assumptions about how tokamak plasmas behave at high density.
Nonlinear controller keeps power flowing smoothly in fusion reactor
Israeli startup nT-Tao and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev developed a new nonlinear controller that keeps power flowing smoothly in a fusion reactor even as the plasma inside the reactor changes rapidly.
Liquid-based system generates hydrogen without power
Researchers in China showed that sunlight can be stored inside a liquid using simple chemical materials and later converted into hydrogen gas in complete darkness. This method does not require wires, batteries, or power grids to transport energy.
Carbon–titanium composite material enhances the performance of lithium–sulfur batteries
Researchers at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology developed a new electrode material that can significantly enhance the performance of lithium–sulfur batteries. The material is a honeycomb-structured highly graphitized porous carbon containing titanium monoxide nanoparticles and nitrogen, produced using magnesium reduction.
Breakthrough in carbon-based battery materials improves safety, durability, and power
Tohoku University researchers created a covalently bridged fullerene framework and showed that carbon can store lithium in a completely different and much more stable way, avoiding structural collapse and preventing the loss of active material that has long hindered fullerene anodes.
BIOMATERIALS
Researchers develop two-layer scaffold to repair joint injuries
Researchers in India developed a cell-free, two-layer ceramic scaffold that could offer a new way to treat joint injuries caused by trauma, aging, and arthritis. In successful animal studies, the scaffold led to near-complete healing of osteochondral defects in rat knee joints within 12 weeks.
ENVIRONMENT
Researchers attempt to tackle concrete carbon emissions with lithium leftovers
Cardiff University researchers are testing whether lithium mining waste can be used to replace cement in concrete.
Researchers bring forgotten underground mines into a 3D future
Michigan Technological University researchers are transforming stacks of century-old mine maps into 3D digital models that serve as research tools for evaluating energy storage potential, water flow modeling, and mine safety assessments.
Enhanced rock weathering shows little climate benefit in large trial
Interest in enhanced rock weathering as a carbon removal technique has grown in recent years, but a three-year field trial in Switzerland found relatively low rates of carbon dioxide removal—less than 10% of the rates reported by some other studies. The findings underscore how soil chemistry and local climate strongly influence this technique’s efficiency.
Researchers want to find out why quick clay is so unstable
Parts of coastal Norway have marine deposits from the last glaciation that can suddenly slide, with catastrophic results. Researchers are working to understand the exact nature of the clay’s instability.
MANUFACTURING
Additive manufacturing accelerates nuclear construction for Kairos Power
In collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Kairos Power and the University of Maine designed and 3D printed specialized sinusoidal concrete form liners to fit into a steel frame, creating a hybrid casting system for prefabricated structural elements that cuts costs and accelerates nuclear site construction.
3D-printed ceramic composite bends under load
Virginia Tech researchers used additive friction stir deposition to embed functional ceramic particles into metal. The resulting composite can shift phases under stress to dissipate energy, and it can be 3D printed in bulk with full density in the as-printed state.
OTHER STORIES
Detecting the hidden magnetism of altermagnets
Chiba University researchers developed a technique using circularly polarized light to reveal the unique magnetic structure of altermagnets.
Surface-only superconductor is the strangest of its kind
Researchers in Germany found that in the crystal platinum-bismuth-two, only the crystal’s outer surfaces become superconducting while the interior remains ordinary metal. Even stranger, the electrons on the surface pair up in a highly unusual pattern that breaks all known rules of superconductivity.
Physicists push superconducting diodes to high temperatures
Researchers in China demonstrated a superconducting diode effect, which allows a supercurrent to flow in both directions, at temperatures above a liquid nitrogen temperature of 77 Kelvin. They created the Josephson junction using stacks of two cuprate flakes.
Large Hadron Collider finally explains how fragile matter forms
In collisions at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, scientists finally solved a long-standing mystery: how delicate particles such as deuterons and their antimatter twins can exist at all. Instead of forming in the initial chaos, these fragile nuclei are born later from the decay of very short-lived, high-energy particles.
The history of glass in Venice does not start from the Renaissance but has older origins
Researchers in Italy studied 45 glass samples datable between the 6th and 9th centuries and revealed a surprisingly dynamic early medieval Venice, embedded in wide-ranging trade networks and equipped with advanced technological skills.
Ancient pottery workshop reveals Iron Age production chain
Researchers at the Universities of Tübingen and Munich discovered a well-preserved, 3,000-year-old workshop in northern Iraq’s Dinka Settlement Complex. The site provided new insights into Iron Age ceramics production, from clay to kiln to finished ceramics.