Category Physics

Researchers recently made a groundbreaking discovery on the nanoscale: a new type of quasiparticle found in all magnetic materials, no matter their strength or temperature. These new properties shake up what researchers previously knew about magnetism, showing it’s not as static as once believed.

“Emergent topological quasiparticle kinetics in constricted nanomagnets,” was published in Physical Review Research. The researchers include Deepak Singh and Carsten Ullrich from the University of Missouri’s College of Arts and Science, along with their teams of students and postdoctoral fellows.

“We’ve all seen the bubbles that form in sparkling water or other carbonated drink products,” said Ullrich, Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy...

Electrocatalytic water splitting, a process that entails breaking down water into hydrogen and oxygen, is a promising approach to produce clean hydrogen for fuel cells, which could in turn be used to power large electric vehicles. So far, the real-world use of this process has been limited by the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a key chemical reaction occurring at the anode.

Researchers at Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Weizmann Institute of Science and other institutes recently introduced an innovative approach to accelerate this reaction, using topological chiral semimetals as electrocatalysts.

Their findings, published in Nature Energy, demonstrate that spin-orbit coupling (SOC) inherent in these materials ...

How does the Earth generate its magnetic field? While the basic mechanisms seem to be understood, many details remain unresolved. A team of researchers from the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Sandia National Laboratories (U.S.) and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission has introduced a simulation method that promises new insights into the Earth’s core.

The method, presented in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, simulates not only the behavior of atoms, but also the magnetic properties of materials...

Case Western Reserve University researcher advances zinc-sulfur battery technology. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries power everything from electric vehicles to wearable devices. But new research from Case Western Reserve University suggests that a more sustainable and cost-effective alternative may lie in zinc-based batteries.

In a study published recently in Angewandte Chemie, researchers announced a significant step toward creating high-performance, low-cost zinc-sulfur batteries.

“This research marks a major step forward in the development of safer and more sustainable energy storage solutions,” said Chase Cao, a principal investigator and assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Case School of Engineering...