21-Dec-2021

NIMS, Asahi Kasei, Mitsubishi Chemical, Mitsui Chemicals and Sumitomo Chemical have used the chemical materials open platform framework to develop an AI technique capable of increasing the accuracy of machine learning-based predictions of material properties (e.g., strength, brittleness) through ...

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20-Jun-2018

For the first time in the world, NIMS and Tohoku University jointly observed an anisotropic magneto-Peltier effect--a thermoelectric conversion phenomenon in which simple redirection of a charge current in a magnetic material induces heating and cooling. Thermoelectric heating and cooling are ...

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13-Apr-2018

When power generators like windmills and solar panels transfer electricity to homes, businesses and the power grid, they lose almost 10 percent of the generated power. To address this problem, scientists are researching new diamond semiconductor circuits to make power conversion systems more ...

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12-Oct-2017

Over the last few years, researchers have demonstrated that light can serve as a spin-current generator, creating currents of angular momentum, in optical nanostructures known as plasmonic absorbers, opening up a new branch of spintronics called opto-spintronics. Recently, researchers have begun ...

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Elemental Boron is an effective photothermocatalyst for the conversion of carbon dioxide

13-Apr-2017

A "self-heating" boron catalyst that makes particularly efficient use of sunlight to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) serves as a light harvester, photothermal converter, hydrogen generator, and catalyst in one. Researchers introduce a photothermocatalytic reaction that requires no additives beyond ...

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05-Dec-2016

An alliance between six organizations is setting a de facto standard for smell sensors employing a small, sensitive and versatile sensor element called the Membrane-type Surface stress Sensor (MSS) Six organizations including NIMS, Kyocera, Osaka University, NEC, Sumitomo Seika and NanoWorld ...

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22-Nov-2016

A highly-efficient, nanoparticle-based method for heating water and generating water vapor from sunlight is demonstrated by WPI-MANA scientists. Solar energy could provide a renewable, sustainable source of power for our daily needs. However, even the most state-of-the-art solar cells struggle to ...

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18-Aug-2016

Physicists at the University of Basel have succeeded in watching a silver catalyst at work for the first time with the aid of an atomic force microscope. The observations made during an Ullmann reaction have allowed the researchers to calculate the energy turnover and, potentially, to optimize ...

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13-Feb-2012

One common reason that people with fillings experience toothache is that their fillings expand at a different rate to the original tooth when, for example, drinking a hot drink. Contrary to intuition, however, not all materials expand when heated - some actually contract. Recent research on these ...

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06-Jan-2012

Researchers of the International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA) at the National Institute for Material Science have developed the world's highest performance thin-film capacitors using a new high-permittivity (high-k) dielectric sheet with molecular-level thickness (~1 nm). This ...

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