Science

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Ethylene Nanosorbent, a Novel Product to Decrease Agricultural Waste

Ethylene nanosorbent is a product whose application in fruit and agricultural products storehouses and refrigerators significantly decreases the loss of agricultural products.

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Better battery imaging paves way for renewable energy future

In a move that could improve the energy storage of everything from portable electronics to electric microgrids, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Brookhaven National Laboratory researchers have developed a novel X-ray imaging technique to visualize and study the electrochemical reactions in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries containing a new type of material, iron fluoride.

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Chemical phase map shows how the electrochemical discharge of iron fluoride microwires proceeded from 0 percent discharge (left), to 50 percent (middle), to 95 percent (right).

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Quantum model reveals surface structure of water: National Physical Laboratory, IBM and Edinburgh University have used a new quantum model to reveal the molecular structure of water's liquid surface

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK's National Measurement Institute in collaboration with IBM and the University of Edinburgh, has used a new quantum model to reveal the molecular structure of water's liquid surface.

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This shows the heterogeneous electronic density created by the diverse molecular orientations at the liquid-vapor interface of water.

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How to maximize the superconducting critical temperature in a molecular superconductor: International team led by Tohoku University opens new route for discovering high Tc superconductors

An international research team, led by Professor Kosmas Prassides of Tohoku University, has investigated the electronic properties of the family of unconventional superconductors based on fullerenes*1 which have the highest known superconducting critical temperature (Tc) among molecular superconductors*2.

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The fullerene molecules consist of 60 carbon atoms arranged in a truncated icosahedral shape (a soccer ball) and pack in a regular cubic-close-packed array in three dimensions. Alkali metal ions (blue spheres) occupy vacant interstitial holes of octahedral and tetrahedral symmetry.

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New Biological Nano-Fertilizers Presented in Iran as Appropriate Replacements for Chemical Fertilizers

The product is a product of the knowledge-based Fanavar Nano-Pazhoohesh Markazi Company, which has been designed and produced in Iran to improve the fertility of soils and various agricultural plants.

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Newly-Developed Nanocatalysts Increase Performance of Fuel Cells

Iranian researchers used nanotechnology and produced a type of nanocatalyst which modifies the performance of fuel cells.

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Lanthanide-Organic Framework Nanothermometers Prepared by Spray-Drying

A work in Advanced Functional Materials shows how spray-drying prepared MOF nanoparticles containing lanthanide metals may be used as nanothermometers operative over a wide range of temperatures, in particular, in the cryogenic range.

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Harvesting energy from electromagnetic waves: In the future, clean alternatives such as harvesting energy from electromagnetic waves may help ease the world's energy shortage

For our modern, technologically-advanced society, in which technology has become the solution to a myriad of challenges, energy is critical not only for growth but also, more importantly, survival. The sun is an abundant and practically infinite source of energy, so researchers around the world are racing to create novel approaches to "harvest" clean energy from the sun or transfer that energy to other sources.

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The metasurface used for collecting electromagnetic energy is shown.

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Cobalt film a clean-fuel find: Rice University discovery is efficient, robust at drawing hydrogen and oxygen from water

A cobalt-based thin film serves double duty as a new catalyst that produces both hydrogen and oxygen from water to feed fuel cells, according to scientists at Rice University.

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A side view of a porous cobalt phosphide/phosphate thin film was created at Rice University. The robust film could replace expensive metals like platinum in water-electrolysis devices that produce hydrogen and oxygen for fuel cells. The scale bar equals 500 nanometers.

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Quantization of 'surface Dirac states' could lead to exotic applications

Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science in Japan have uncovered the first evidence of an unusual quantum phenomenon--the integer quantum Hall effect--in a new type of film, called a 3D topological insulator. In doing this, they demonstrated that "surface Dirac states"--a particular form of massless electrons--are quantized in these materials, meaning that they only take on certain discrete values. These discoveries could help move science forward toward the goal of dissipationless electronics--electronic devices that can operate without producing the vast amounts of heat generated by current silicon-based semiconductors.

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Schematic showing the integer quantum Hall effect on the surface of a topological insulator The effect allows dissipationless current, without energy loss, along the edge of the material.