NEWSROOM

All-solid-state batteries (ASSB) are widely recognized as a safer and potentially more energy-dense alternative to conventional lithium-ion technologies. Their performance critically depends on fast ionic conduction within solid electrolytes. Traditional methods to identify such materials involve labour-intensive synthesis and characterization processes, often hampered by the limitations of existing computational models in accurately capturing disordered, high-temperature ion

Electrons can be ‘kicked across’ solar materials at almost the fastest speed nature allows, scientists have discovered – challenging long-held theories about how solar energy systems work. The finding could help researchers design more efficient ways of harvesting sunlight and converting it into electricity. In experiments capturing events lasting just 18 femtoseconds – less than 20 quadrillionths of a second – researchers at the University of Cambridge observed charge separa

Most space missions rely on chemical rockets for propulsion. Rockets must carry fuel, which increases spacecraft mass and limits their speed and travel distance. For decades, researchers have explored light sails as an alternative. These devices use radiation pressure—the force exerted when light reflects from a surface—to generate thrust. When driven by a powerful laser, a light sail can accelerate continuously without onboard propellant, enabling faster travel across the so

Published recently in Science, it is the first experimental observation of a half-Möbius electronic topology in a single molecule. To the scientists’ knowledge, a molecule with such topology has never before been synthesized, observed, or even formally predicted. Understanding this molecule’s behavior at the electronic structure level required something equally fundamental: a high fidelity quantum computing simulation. The discovery advances science on two fronts. For chemist

Every chemical reaction faces a barrier: for substances to react with one another, it is first necessary to supply energy. In many cases, this energy barrier is low – such as when striking a match. For many key reactions in industry, however, it is much larger – and increased energy requirements drive up production costs. To lower this barrier, chemists use “reaction helpers” known as catalysts. The best of these substances contain metals – including, in some cases, rare meta

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a new way to determine atomic structures from nanocrystals previously considered unusable, a breakthrough that could transform how researchers study materials too small or imperfect for conventional crystallography. Crystalline materials have enabled advances in computing, communications, energy technologies, and pharmaceuticals. Many of these materials’ unique proper

In 2024, researchers in the Laboratory of Nanoscience for Energy Technology (LNET) in EPFL’s School of Engineering reported a platform for studying the hydrovoltaic (HV) effect – a phenomenon that allows electricity to be harvested when fluid is passed over the charged surface of a nanodevice. Their platform consisted of a hexagonal network of silicon nanopillars, the space between which created channels for evaporating fluid samples. Now the LNET team, led by Giulia Tagliab

Researchers at Delft University of Technology have demonstrated for the first time that even realistic, small amounts of disorder in modern quantum simulators can cause the system to exhibit completely different physical behaviour. Quantum simulators play a central role in the development of future quantum technologies, including quantum computers and advanced materials design. For these technologies to work reliably, we must understand how sensitive they are to imperfections

A new study by NYU chemists finds that DNA tiles can assemble into 3D structures without the sticky cohesion of hydrogen bonding. This finding, published in Nature Communications, turns a fundamental paradigm in the field of DNA self-assembly on its head.

Nonreciprocal interactions between light and matter lie at the heart of many exotic physical phenomena, from magnet-free optical isolation to axion-inspired electrodynamics. One particularly intriguing example is the Tellegen effect, a nonreciprocal magnetoelectric coupling predicted more than 75 years ago but long considered weak and negligible at optical frequencies. “In natural materials, the optical Tellegen effect is extraordinarily weak, making it challenging to observe

Strange things happen to materials when you peel them down, layer by layer, from thick chunks all the way to sheets just an atom thick. Reporting in the journal Nature Materials, a team led by physicists at The University of Texas at Austin has experimentally demonstrated a sequence of exotic magnetic phases in an ultrathin material that for the first time fully realize a theoretical model of two-dimensional magnetism first proposed in the 1970s. The researchers say the advan

Air cavities help atom-thin semiconductors shine brighter