Researchers at Tianjin University develop a potential-tuned strategy for efficient synthesis of azoxy, azo- and amino-aromatics via aqueous selective reduction of nitroarene feedstocks over a CoP nanosheet cathode. The method yields products with up to 99% selectivity and 99% yield.
Researchers develop novel template-directed approach to create hollow metal-organic framework (MOF) capsules for encapsulating soluble active species. The resulting yolk-shell MOF capsules exhibit superior activity, combining the merits of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts.
Researchers from Chinese Academy of Sciences report discovery of Pr3Cr10-xN11, a chromium-based nitride superconductor with bulk superconductivity at 5.25 K, exhibiting a large upper critical field and strong electronic correlations. The material is the first Cr-based superconductor found in Chromium Nitrides.
Researchers discovered a law of joint climb in sustainable development of urban agglomerations. The study found that cities unite to enhance each other's sustainability, with a limited number of cities needed for maintenance. By 2015, Beijing's comprehensive unite strength was still lower than the threshold of 6.14.
Researchers design novel carbon electrodes with efficient ionic channels for improved energy storage performance. They propose graphene stacking as an ideal model of 2D ionic channels, enabling fast electrolyte transport and excellent accessibility.
Lithium-ion batteries face limitations including flammability, fast charging degradation and overcharging issues. Developing alternatives to liquid electrolytes is a promising strategy to address these challenges.
Scientists create a metal oxide@MOF composite with enhanced durability and capacitance, showing promise for electrochemical capacitor energy storage devices. The composite exhibits high cycling stability, specific capacitance, and energy density.
Researchers Xu Dahai and Chen Junming investigated the physical and chemical origin of secondary fine particles in haze. They defined atmospheric self-purification ability and established equations to analyze key factors forming secondary fine particles, revealing their macro mechanism and synergistic effect. The study provides a quant...
Scientists at the University of Hong Kong and Hunan Normal University have realized a giant magnetic field through moiré pattern engineering. The magnetic flux per supercell is quantized, and the field magnitude scales inversely with the square of the moiré period.
A team of scientists found that heat energy can transfer from a node with lower temperature to another node with higher temperature in certain complex network structures. This phenomenon becomes more evident when the network assortativity decreases. The study may shed new light on the search for good thermoelectric materials.
Researchers observe anomalously large superconducting gap (~3.8 meV) in thin films of β-Bi2Pd, compared to bulk single crystals with a smaller gap. First-principle calculations suggest Dirac-fermion-mediated parity mixing may cause this enhancement.
Researchers have designed a new member of the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) family using 1,1,2,4-tetraphenyl-1,3-butadiene derivatives. These TPB derivatives exhibit strong fluorescence in aggregates and variable emission wavelengths due to conformational sensitivity.
Scientists have discovered log-periodic quantum oscillations in topological material ZrTe5, exhibiting discrete scale invariance. The phenomenon is attributed to supercritical atomic collapse and quasi-bound states, offering new insights into the universality of this effect.
Researchers developed a method to immobilize nanoparticles in living bacterial biofilms, enabling scalable and tunable catalysis. The approach utilizes engineered amyloid monomers to anchor functional nano-scale catalysts, demonstrating efficient degradation of pollutants and organic dyes.
Scientists create a physical model of porpoise echolocation using hybrid metamaterials, which improves detection accuracy and suppresses environment noise. This breakthrough bridges the gap between biosonar and artificial systems, paving the way for bioinspired technology in underwater sensing and nondestructive testing.
Recent developments in COFs' postsynthetic functionalization have introduced wide ranges of organic to inorganic functional constituents, enhancing stability and performance. The authors emphasize the importance of functionalization for creating COF-based smart materials, highlighting challenges in their future development.
Researchers have demonstrated a ternary organic solar cell with a power conversion efficiency of 14.3%, beating the typical drop in fill factor upon increasing the thickness of the active layer. The addition of PC61BM improves hole and electron mobilities, facilitating charge transport and leading to improved efficiencies.
Researchers designed a quinoxaline-based acceptor that enables efficient organic solar cells with low energy losses. The devices achieved high power conversion efficiencies and improved short-circuit current, fill factor, and open-circuit voltage.
Researchers from China have updated the soybean genome to a golden reference, improving its assembly quality and completeness. The new genome has increased accuracy in gene annotation and expression profiling, facilitating fundamental research and molecular breeding.
Researchers have developed a general method to prepare ultrathin MOF NRBs with high surface area, highly active surface and excellent catalytic efficiency. The proposed method is simple, efficient and versatile, which could be used for the preparation of a series of ultrathin MOF NRBs.
Researchers have developed all-polymer photodetectors with single carrier transport property, exhibiting high external quantum efficiency and low dark current density. The photomultiplication type PPDs demonstrate improved performance and versatility for applications in biological detection and image sensing.
Researchers found 'switches' between continental rupture, collision, and oceanic subduction initiation in the Tethyan evolution. Oceanic slabs drove continental fragments into their final positions, controlling supercontinent assembly and breakup cycles.
Researchers have discovered a crossover in PtTe2 films from a 2D metal to a 3D Dirac semimetal with spin texture induced by local Rashba effect. The work reveals a metallic band dispersion of PtTe2 thin films even down to 2 ML, showing a strong thickness-dependent evolution.
Researchers developed a novel laser-driven programmable non-contact transfer printing technique that eliminates temperature increases and enables precise assembly of micro-scale objects. This innovation opens up engineering opportunities in flexible electronics, paper-based electronics, bio-integrated electronics, and MicroLED displays.
Scientists have discovered that ionic thermal up-diffusion can significantly improve the efficiency of nanofluidic salinity gradient energy harvesting by promoting selectivity and suppressing ion concentration polarization. This innovative approach enables the creation of tunable ionic voltage sources, leading to enhanced power output.
Researchers have developed a novel culture method for 3D multicellular spheroids, utilizing a durable superamphiphobic surface. This method enables efficient, safe, and in-situ observation of cell growth, with potential applications in drug screening, stem cell differentiation, and regenerative medicine.
Researchers have developed polyoxometalate-based coordination frameworks that selectively reduce CO2 to methane with high photocatalytic activity. The integration of polyoxometalates and metalloporphyrin coordination frameworks enhances the reduction efficiency, allowing for the efficient conversion of CO2 to a valuable hydrocarbon fuel.
Researchers designed a novel robotic jellyfish capable of 3D motion, leveraging reinforcement learning-based control to achieve high-order structure flexibility and yaw maneuverability. The system, inspired by Aurelia aurita, has great implications for bioinspired design of jet propulsion systems with agility.
Scientists at Huazhong University of Science & Technology have created a bio-inspired untethered fully soft robot in liquid that can actuate using environmental energy gradients. The robot achieves an impressive speed of 7 times higher than the best reported value for untethered soft robotic fish.
Researchers have developed amorphous/crystalline heterophase PdCu nanosheets with high chemoselectivity and catalytic activity. The phase transformation behavior of these nanosheets affects their properties, leading to improved catalysis in hydrogenation reactions.
Researchers developed biomimetic hierarchical helical nanocomposite macrofibers with improved strength, elongation, and toughness. They used bacterial cellulose nanofibers and sodium alginate to create a new class of strong and tough nanocomposite fiber materials.
A new class of lead-free double perovskites has been developed, showcasing broad emission across the entire visible spectrum and achieving a record-high photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE) of 70.3%. The material's stability and potential for efficient warm white-light emission make it promising for LED applications.
Researchers have developed a wax-based composite coating that protects lithium metal anodes from air and water, achieving high capacity retention rates. The coating prevents dendrite growth and maintains electrochemical performance under humid conditions.
Seismic and electrical conductivity observations suggest water is present in the Earth's mantle, affecting dynamics and causing earthquakes. Hydrogen and water play key roles in lower internal friction, magma generation, and mantle convection.
Researchers developed a scalable method for fabricating planar zinc-manganese oxide (Zn//MnO2) batteries, which deliver high volumetric capacity and notable energy density. The batteries also exhibit long-term cyclability and flexibility without capacity decay.
Researchers developed colorful perovskite solar cells by depositing a uniform perovskite thin layer into arrayed nanobowls acting as a structured electron transport layer. The cells exhibited high-efficiency photovoltaic performance with up to 16.94% efficiency, overcoming previous color limitations.
Researchers discovered that millet farmers from northern China introduced cold-tolerant barley to the plateau around 3600 years ago. This genetic legacy has contributed significantly to the current genetic landscape of Tibetans.
Researchers developed a new method to create OER catalysts with rich defects, enhancing their intrinsic activity and promoting mass transfer. This breakthrough provides a new direction for large-scale preparation and application of efficient OER catalysts.
Ice lithography offers advantages in efficient 3D nanofabrication, including processing non-flat surfaces and observing nanostructures under the ice resist. The technology has great potential for further research and development.
Researchers developed an analytical model to validate the capability of break junction techniques in extracting conductance information from single-molecule systems. The study explores the feasibility of using this technique to analyze molecular assembly, diffusion, and reaction processes in weak interaction systems.
Scientists have made a breakthrough in fulfilling perfect diamagnetism of sulfur hydride system under high pressure, using a highly sensitive magnetic susceptibility technique. The research confirms high-temperature superconductivity and determines the superconducting phase diagram of sulfur hydrogen system.
Researchers propose a new graph theory-based paradigm to improve material identification, focusing on topological relationships rather than bond length and angle. This method achieves automatic deduplication for the first time, identifying 626,772 unique structures from 865,458 original structures.
Researchers have successfully integrated optoelectronics into three-dimensional (3D) structures using femtosecond laser direct writing. The technique allows for the creation of hybrid microlaser modules with selective electric modulation, paving the way for more compact and efficient integrated circuits.
Researchers found that using a binary solvent mixture can improve the efficiency of polymer solar cells. By varying the casting solvent, they were able to control the molecular organization and nanoscale morphology of fluorinated non-fullerene acceptors, resulting in higher power conversion efficiencies.
Researchers have discovered a fundamental limit on the transition probabilities of linear optical systems, constraining their ability to transfer bosons. This discovery leads to a negative answer to Professor Scott Aaronson's open problem on quantum supremacy in decision problems.
Researchers explore new methods for describing complex networks using algebraic topology tools, highlighting the importance of totally homogeneous subnetworks, cycle numbers, and topological invariants.
Researchers have observed an electric-field controlled reversible transition from superconductor to ferromagnetic insulator in (Li,Fe)OHFeSe thin flake. This work provides a unique platform to study the relationship between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in Fe-based superconductors.
Researchers found highly efficient triplet pair state separation in polycrystalline films of dibenzopentalene derivatives, exceeding 100% yield. This breakthrough suggests feasibility of converting correlated singlet excited states to two free triplets efficiently for organic solar cells.
Researchers observe acoustic spin in airborne sound waves, leading to new physics and applications for emerging topics in fundamental physics and acoustics. The discovery enables the control of particle rotation with torque and holds promise for acoustic communication.
A new study reveals that Asia-Africa-Australia monsoon and arid regions evolved differently over time, influenced by continental drift and the Tibetan Plateau. The research found distinct formation patterns for different monsoons and arid regions in Africa, Asia, and Australia.