Physical Sciences & Mathematics

A combination of dwindling oil reserves and increasing pollution means that the plastic industry must be urgently transformed before it’s too late. The efforts of researchers, including Dr Jinwen Zhang and his colleagues at Washington State University, mean that solutions are becoming increasingly available. Through the development of malleable and self-healable plastics, created from both existing petrochemical and renewable chemical feedstocks, Dr Zhang’s team is creating stronger, more resilient plastics that can be easily recycled.

Despite the numerous opportunities presented by quantum computers, their practical use has so far been hindered by their vulnerability to the surrounding environments. Dr Badih Assaf, Dr Xinyu Liu and their colleagues at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, show how these problems could be overcome, through the use of an exotic class of hybridised materials named ‘topological superconductors’. Through the optimised fabrication of these materials, and a detailed analysis of their quantum properties, the team’s results could pave the way for the widespread use of topological superconductors in robust and practical quantum computers.

Modern microelectronics is currently facing a profound challenge. The demand for even smaller and more closely packed electronics has hit a stumbling block: the power emitted in these devices releases more heat than can be efficiently removed. Now, Professors Valerii Vinokur, Anna Razumnaya, and Igor Lukyanchuk propose a solution based on the seemingly counterintuitive phenomenon of ‘negative capacitance’. The effect is surprisingly linked to an intriguing topological structure, which is found time and again across a broad range of scientific fields.

Quasicrystals are among the newest and most exciting discoveries in the wider field of materials physics – but to date, many aspects of their exotic physical properties remain entirely unexplored. Since soon after their initial discovery, Dr Zbigniew Stadnik at the University of Ottawa has made important contributions to our understanding of quasicrystals, including their magnetic and electronic characteristics. Building on his decades of experience in the field, he now hopes to gain a complete understanding of the fundamental properties of these materials – potentially opening up a broad new range of real-world applications.

As fundamental components of our electronic and optical devices, semiconductors are essential to our modern way of life. Dr Yasuo Koide of the National Institute for Material Science in Japan has an extensive history of researching and developing these unique materials. Alongside his colleagues, Dr Koide continues to break through the boundaries of our existing knowledge to create new and exciting technologies.

The ability to produce high-quality beams of fast-moving electrons is crucial, both to everyday technologies and scientific experiments. Today, there is a growing need for electron sources that can better meet the stringent demands of these applications. Michigan State University graduate student Mitchell Schneider, together with colleagues at Argonne National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory, has now made significant strides towards meeting these demands. Drawing from the latest advances in materials science, nanotechnology, and computational modelling, his team has now demonstrated some of the most advanced electron sources ever developed.

The process of inventing new and exciting technologies often begins with the development of unique and novel materials. The road to creating a new material has many stages, ranging from how we acquire the raw components, to how they are processed, and how they are ultimately used. Dr Mauricio Morel Escobar and his team at the Universidad de Atacama, Chile, have been investigating the synthesis, properties and optimisation of materials, towards the development of clean, energy-efficient technologies and manufacturing methods. They are also working to address the energy crisis, by exploring how materials can be used to store sustainable fuels.

By measuring the frequencies emitted as atoms transition between energy levels, atomic clocks are among the most advanced devices available for keeping time. In his research, Professor Lijun Wang at Tsinghua University, Beijing, explores how the stringent requirements for these devices can be met using easily transportable apparatus. By combining the latest technological advances in ion trapping, laser cooling, and magnetic shielding, his team has now achieved a design that far exceeds the performance of existing transportable clocks – potentially leading to new capabilities for both high-speed scientific measurements, precision time-keeping, and applications in satellite-based navigation.

Before oxygen was widely available in Earth’s atmosphere, ancient microbes looked to other elements to obtain electrons for photosynthesis. Some of these microbes are called ‘photoferroautotrophs’ – which can take up electrons from iron available in their surrounding environment and use them to transform carbon dioxide (CO2) into biomolecules. In their research, Dr Arpita Bose and her team at Washington University in St Louis, explore the mechanisms these microbes exploit to produce biomolecules, using the electrons they take in. Their discoveries are leading to sustainable new ways to produce both plastic and fuel – and could soon prove to reduce our reliance on the compounds derived from crude oil.

Organic materials that can emit light in response to certain stimuli hold great promise for numerous real-world applications. So far, however, their diminished performance on exposure to water has presented numerous challenges. In their research, Dr Jianmei Lu at Soochow University and Dr Quan Li at Southeast University present a new series of compounds that instead display improved light emission when they are transformed into ‘hydrated’ crystals. By assessing the mechanisms responsible for this unique behaviour, the researchers now present new routes towards the widespread use of smart organic materials.

In the extreme environment of the primordial universe, fundamental particles that are now tightly bound into larger groups were, for the briefest moment, free to wander individually. Using the latest particle accelerator facilities, researchers today can recreate fluids of these particles, named ‘Quark Gluon Plasmas’, through high-energy collisions between heavy ions. In his research, Dr Rene Bellwied at the University of Houston uses results from these experiments to explore the fascinating dynamics of the plasmas, and the products that emerge in their aftermath. His team’s findings are now shedding new light on the enigmatic nature of matter itself.