Colorado State University researchers have published a paper that describes a new and more efficient light-based process for transforming fossil fuels into useful modern chemicals. In it, they report that their organic photoredox catalysis system is effective even at room temperatures. That advantage could lower energy demands around chemical manufacturing in a variety of instances and could also reduce associated pollution.

Several hundred thousand chemicals are considered as potentially environmentally relevant. Scientists from the RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau in Germany show that monitoring data for surface waters are only available for a very small fraction of these chemicals. In their article, published in the latest issue of Science, the authors also demonstrate that the environmental risks of highly toxic chemicals might be overlooked, because these chemicals affect ecosystems at concentrations that cannot be detected on a regular basis.

Researchers have explored the phenomenon of shape coexistence in nuclei surrounding ¹⁷²Hg, revealing the interplay between nuclear pairing interactions and complex shape dynamics. The study provides theoretical insights into shape isomers and structural evolution and refines models of nuclear behavior in mid-shell regions.

In recent years, low-dimensional materials have become a hot spot for nonlinear optics research due to their unique electronic structure and optical properties. However, how to achieve more significant nonlinear optical responses in low-dimensional materials and actively modulate their properties remains an important challenge in current research. To this end, researchers have explored various strategies such as electric field modulation, excitation resonance and heterostructure construction to enhance the ultrafast nonlinear optical response of materials.

Polarons, as quasiparticles formed by the strong interaction between carriers and lattice vibrations, can significantly modulate the band gap, carrier mobility, diffusion, composite and other properties of functional materials, which has become a research hot research topic in recent years. Soft lattice lead halide chalcogenides exhibit strong electron-phonon coupling effects due to their unique polarity and dynamic disorder, which provides an ideal environment for the formation of this polarons. Polarons can also achieve the modulation of the optical properties of materials, such as the formation of polarons can promote the efficient upconversion of photons. However, the direct correlation between polaronic states and nonlinear optical response of low-dimensional has not been fully investigated.