NEWSROOM

“We now have a better sense of how the protons behave in the crystal,” says HPSTAR researcher Ho-Kwang Mao. “This gives us hope that the metallic state can actually be achieved – and we now have a fuller understanding of how this may happen.” In future, the team hopes to get even closer to its goal by using sophisticated technology to cool the diamond anvil cell.

Empa researchers from the Cellulose and Wood Materials laboratory have now developed a bio-based material. Not only is it completely biodegradable, it is also tear-resistant and has versatile functional properties. All this with minimal processing steps and without chemicals – you can even eat it. Its secret: It's alive.

Recently, two scientists from the ICN2 Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors Group participated in a perspective article analysing advances and challenges of the use of 2D materials in sensing technologies. This work represents an international collaboration as part of the European Graphene Flagship initiative, aimed at advancing graphene research and its application in society.

Until now, physicists have struggled to provide a theoretical framework explaining why cracks often branch out and deviate from their expected path, slowing down as a result. Two recent studies from the Weizmann Institute of Science bring order to the disorderly propagation of cracks and show that, although each crack may seem unique, there are quantitative physical parameters that shape the propagation process and explain the formation of asymmetrical crack patterns.

In a new study, an international team led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids have created three dimensional superconducting nanostructures using a technique similar to a nano-3D printer. They achieved local control of the superconducting state in a 3D bridge-like superconductor, and could even demonstrate the motion of superconducting vortices – nanoscale defects in the superconducting state – in three dimensions.

RIKEN chemists have hit upon a fast and easy way to combine so-called nanobelts of carbon with sulfur-containing functional groups. This new material has intriguing properties that make it promising for use in novel optoelectronic devices.