Study finds nickelate superconductors are intrinsically magnetic

Waves of magnetic excitation sweep through this exciting new material whether it’s in superconducting mode or not

03-Aug-2022 - Electrons find each other repulsive. Nothing personal – it’s just that their negative charges repel each other. So getting them to pair up and travel together, like they do in superconducting materials, requires a little nudge. In old-school superconductors, which were discovered in 1911 and ...

A new leap in understanding nickel oxide superconductors

27-Jul-2022 - A new study shows that nickel oxide superconductors, which conduct electricity with no loss athigher temperatures than conventional superconductors do, contain a type of quantum matter called charge density waves, or CDWs, that can accompany superconductivity. The presence of CDWs shows that ...

How a soil microbe could rev up artificial photosynthesis

The secret is an enzyme that “juggles” reaction ingredients

04-May-2022 - Plants rely on a process called carbon fixation – turning carbon dioxide from the air into carbon-rich biomolecules ­– for their very existence. That’s the whole point of photosynthesis, and a cornerstone of the vast interlocking system that cycles carbon through plants, animals, microbes and the ...

In a first, scientists capture a ‘quantum tug’ between neighboring water molecules

The work sheds light on the web of hydrogen bonds that gives water its strange properties, which play a vital role in many chemical and biological processes

27-Aug-2021 - Wateris the most abundant yet least understood liquid in nature. It exhibits many strange behaviors that scientists still struggle to explain. While most liquids get denser as they get colder, water is most dense at 39 degrees Fahrenheit, just above its freezing point. This is why ice floats to ...

Scientists discover how oxygen loss saps a lithium-ion battery's voltage

Measuring the process in unprecedented detail gives them clues to how to minimize the problem and protect battery performance

16-Jun-2021 - When lithium ions flow in and out of a battery electrode during charging and discharging, a tiny bit of oxygen seeps out and the battery's voltage - a measure of how much energy it delivers - fades an equally tiny bit. The losses mount over time, and can eventually sap the battery's energy ...

First closeups of how a lithium-metal electrode ages

Scientists have documented a process that makes these next-gen batteries lose charge - and eventually some of their capacity for storing energy - even when a device is turned off

26-Mar-2021 - The same process that drains the battery of your cell phone even when it's turned off is even more of a problem for lithium-metal batteries, which are being developed for the next generation of smaller, lighter electronic devices, far-ranging electric vehicles and other uses. Now scientists at ...

Scientists home in on pairs of atoms that boost a catalyst's activity

They discovered that the messy environment of a chemical reaction can actually change the shape of a catalytic nanoparticle in a way that makes it more active

24-Jun-2020 - Replacing the expensive metals that break down exhaust gases in catalytic converters with cheaper, more effective materials is a top priority for scientists, for both economic and environmental reasons. Catalysts are required to perform chemical reactions that would otherwise not happen, such as ...

How iron carbenes store energy from sunlight -- and why they aren't better at it

These inexpensive photosensitizers could make solar power and chemical manufacturing more efficient

13-Feb-2020 - Photosensitizers are molecules that absorb sunlight and pass that energy along to generate electricity or drive chemical reactions. They're generally based on rare, expensive metals; so the discovery that iron carbenes, with plain old iron at their cores, can do this, too, triggered a wave of ...

Cause of cathode degradation identified for nickel-rich materials

Combination of research methods reveals causes of capacity fading, giving better insight to design advanced batteries for electric vehicles

18-Mar-2019 - A team of scientists including researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have identified the causes of degradation in a cathode material for lithium-ion batteries, as well as possible remedies. Their findings, ...

Scientists film exploding nanoparticles

Imaging nanoscale dynamics with unparalleled detail and speed

08-Feb-2016 - Using a super X-ray microscope, an international research team has “filmed” the explosion of single nanoparticles. The team led by Tais Gorkhover from Technische Universität Berlin, currently working at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the U.S. as a fellow of the Volkswagen Foundation, ...