Category Technology/Electronics

SrTiO3 mesocrystal light emission. Credit: Image courtesy of Kobe University

Hydrogen is an alternative source of energy that can be produced from renewable sources of sunlight and water. A group of Japanese researchers has developed a photocatalyst that increases hydrogen production tenfold. The discovery was made by a joint research team led by Associate Professor TACHIKAWA Takashi (Molecular Photoscience Research Center, Kobe University) and Professor MAJIMA Tetsuro (Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University). Their findings were published on April 6 in the online version of Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

When light is applied to photocatalysts, electrons and holes are produced on the surface of the catalyst, and hydrogen is obtained when these electro...

This is an artistic view of the decay of a quantum-mechanical monopole into a Dirac monopole.
Credit: Image by Heikka Valja

1st experimental observations of the dynamics of isolated monopoles in quantum matter have been made by scientists at Amherst College (USA) and Aalto University (Finland). The new study provided a surprise: the quantum monopole decays into another analogue of the magnetic monopole. Understanding monopole dynamics may help in the future to build even closer analogues of the magnetic monopoles. Unlike usual magnets, magnetic monopoles are elementary particles that have only a south or a north magnetic pole, but not both. They have been theoretically predicted to exist, but no convincing experimental observations have been reported...

Akihiro Nomura, Kimihiko Ito, Yoshimi Kubo. CNT Sheet Air Electrode for the Development of Ultra-High Cell Capacity in Lithium-Air Batteries. Scientific Reports, 2017; 7: 45596 DOI: 10.1038/srep45596

A NIMS team led by Yoshimi Kubo and Akihiro Nomura, team leader and researcher, respectively, Lithium Air Battery Specially Promoted Research Team, C4GR-GREEN, developed lithium-air batteries with very high electric storage capacity 15X greater than the capacity of conventional lithium-ion batteries using carbon nanotubes (CNT) as an air electrode material. Demand for rechargeable batteries is expected to increase rapidly as electric vehicle power sources and joint sources of household electricity with solar cells.

The current lithium-ion batteries have advantages of being compact, producing h...

Nelson Sepulveda is a nanotechnology researcher and associate professor of engineering at Michigan State University. Credit: Michigan State University

A paper-thin, flexible device created at Michigan State University not only can generate energy from human motion, it can act as a loudspeaker and microphone as well, nanotechnology researchers report in the May 16 edition of Nature Communications. The audio breakthrough could eventually lead to such consumer products as a foldable loudspeaker, a voice-activated security patch for computers and even a talking newspaper...