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Physicists and material scientists have been trying to metallize hydrogen for many decades, but they have not yet succeeded. In 1968, British physicist Neil Ashcroft predicted that atomic metallic hydrogen would be a high-temperature semiconductor.

Most recent studies also suggested that this elusive and hypothetical form of hydrogen would also conduct electricity with no resistance when its temperature exceeds that of boiling water. This prediction ultimately paved the way for the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in hydrides (i.e., compounds containing hydrogen and a metal).

Researchers at Sapienza University of Rome, Sorbonne University, CNRS, and the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) have recently carried out a study aimed at thoroughly characterizing the behavior and properties of hydrogen at high pressures. Their paper, published in Nature Physics, outlines a highly accurate phase diagram of high-pressure hydrogen, which could inform ongoing efforts aimed at creating atomic metallic hydrogen.

Two-dimensional (2D) magnetic insulators, which are electrically insulating materials with long-range magnetic order, could be used to fabricate compact magneto-electric or magneto-optical devices. Efficiently and reliably controlling the properties of these atomically thin magnets through electrical means, however, has so far proved to be highly challenging, as the materials’ charge levels often cannot be largely adjusted and their crystal fields cannot be considerably altered using external electric fields.

Researchers at University of Maryland and their collaborators recently devised a new strategy that could be used to efficiently control 2D magnetic insulators. This strategy, outlined in a paper in Nature Electronics, relies on the use of a thin ferroelectric polymer that can modulate the 2D materials’ magnetic responses.

“When it comes to electronic devices, people are primarily pursuing a smaller form factor (relating to higher integration density, which means more devices can be integrated on the unit area/volume of a chip), lower energy consumption, and higher performance,” Cheng Gong, the lead principal investigator for the study, told Tech Xplore.

An entirely new display technology!

Scientists have discovered yet another amazing aspect of the weird and wonderful behavior of water—this time when subjected to nanoscale confinement at sub-zero temperatures.

The finding that a crystalline substance can readily give up water at temperatures as low as −70 °C, published in the journal Nature on April 12, has major implications for the development of materials designed to extract water from the atmosphere.

Continue reading “Scientists identify new benchmark for freezing point of water at —70 C” »

The protoplanet was found surrounding HD 169,142, a star located 374 light years from our solar system.

Astronomers have caught a rare glimpse of a planet’s formation. This is only the third time scientists have discovered a protoplanet — an early stage in forming a planet, where cosmic material clumps in a disk surrounding newborn stars.

The observation of new protoplanet.

Continue reading “Astronomers confirm presence of third protoplanet about 374 light years away” »

A team led by Prof. Zeng Changgan and Associate Researcher Li Lin from the University of Science and Technology (USTC) / Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, collaborating with Prof. Feng Ji’s team from Peking University, revealed significant quantum interference effect in inter-layer transport process for the first time using graphene-based electronic double-layer systems. Their work was published in Nature Communications.

Coulomb drag is an effect that occurs between two conductive layers in proximity but insulated from each other, wherein moving carriers in one layer (active layer) induces the transport of carriers in the other layer (passive layer), thereby generating an open-circuit voltage in the passive layer.

Coulomb drag has been widely applied in previous studies of long-range interactions between carriers, such as the Bose-Einstein condensation of indirect excitons. However, there is a lack of research on the external field response and possible quantum effects of the Coulomb drag.

A new material was used in a simple snail robot, but it could one day make artificial nervous systems for more complex machines.

Nearly 200 years since its discovery, industry rarely uses the carbon–carbon bond-forming Kolbe reaction – but now US researchers have shown it can sustainably make valuable substances.

Phil Baran’s team at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla has done away with high voltages and platinum electrodes best established in the Kolbe reaction. In doing so, the researchers have made it much more versatile. ‘The most important feature is the ability to take waste or similarly priced products convert them into extremely high value materials,’ Baran tells Chemistry World.

Scientists are still getting to grips with the ins and outs of strange materials known as time crystals; structures that buzz with movement for eternity. Now a new variety might help deepen our understanding of the perplexing state of matter.

Just as regular crystals are atoms and molecules that repeat over a volume of space, time crystals are collections of particles that tick-tock in patterns over a duration of time in ways that initially seem to defy science.

Theorized in 2012 before being observed in the lab for the first time just four years later, researchers have been busy tinkering with the structures to probe deeper foundations of particle physics and uncover potential applications.