Chiral superconductors are unconventional superconducting materials with distinctive topological properties, in which time-reversal symmetry is broken. Two of the first materials to be identified as chiral superconductors are UPt3 and Sr2RuO4. So far, experimental evidence for broken time-reversal symmetry in both these materials was based primarily on surface measurements collected at a magnetic field equal […]
Metals Tech
Researchers demonstrate the missing link for a quantum internet
A quantum internet could be used to send unhackable messages, improve the accuracy of GPS, and enable cloud-based quantum computing. For more than twenty years, dreams of creating such a quantum network have remained out of reach in large part because of the difficulty to send quantum signals across large distances without loss. Now, Harvard […]
Government must address hurdles putting people off electric cars
Ambitious targets have been set by the UK and Scottish governments to become net-zero carbon economies by 2050 and 2045 respectively. But a variety of initiatives will be required on the part of government, industry and society to achieve this target. Every industry will be required to have carbon reduction at the centre of what it does and rapidly […]
How to get conductive gels to stick when wet
Polymers that are good conductors of electricity could be useful in biomedical devices, to help with sensing or electrostimulation, for example. But there has been a sticking point preventing their widespread use: their inability to adhere to a surface such as a sensor or microchip, and stay put despite moisture from the body. Now, researchers […]
Device could ‘hear’ disease through structures housing cells
Similarly to how a picked lock gives away that someone has broken into a building, the stiffening of a structure surrounding cells in the human body can indicate that cancer is invading other tissue. Monitoring changes to this structure, called the extracellular matrix, would give researchers another way to study the progression of disease. But […]
Electrified nanocarbon cleanses polluted water of toxic heavy metals
The presence of toxic metals in water stemming from industrial sources makes treatment a tall order, with these polluted liquids capable of contaminating groundwater supplies for years or even decades thereafter. Scientists at Japan’s Nagoya University have come up with a new technology that may help stem the tide, using electrically charged nanocarbons to more […]
A strategy to achieve ultrahigh power and energy density in lithium-ion batteries
In recent years, lithium-based batteries have become widely used to power a wide range of electronic devices, including tablets, smart phones and portable computers. These batteries have different compartments, called cells, each of which contains a positive electrode and a negative electrode separated by a chemical known as an electrolyte. Positive electrodes are generally composed […]
One tough power source: Creating a lithium-ion battery that cannot catch fire
The popular myth that a spider is never more than a few feet away is arguably more true of lithium-ion batteries than of arachnids. Powering everything from smartphones and laptops to electronic cigarettes, lithium-ion batteries beat out alternative sources of power because of their top-notch energy density and long life cycle, meaning they can be […]
Nature-inspired green energy technology clears important development hurdle
Scientist Heinz Frei has spent decades working toward building an artificial version of one of nature’s most elegant and effective machines: the leaf. Frei, and many other researchers around the world, seek to use photosynthesis—the sunlight-driven chemical reaction that green plants and algae use to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into cellular fuel—to generate the kinds […]
A cyclic phosphate-based electrolyte for safe and high voltage lithium-ion batteries
In light of the ongoing shift toward renewable energy technologies and the growing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, researchers worldwide have been trying to develop batteries that can operate more efficiently and for longer periods of time. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are currently the preferred energy-storage technology for portable electronics, as they contain organic […]
