For the first time, a team at BESSY II has succeeded in demonstrating the one-dimensional electronic properties of a material through a highly refined experimental process. The samples consisted of short chains of phosphorus atoms that self-organise at specific angles on a silver substrate. Through sophisticated analysis, the team was able to disentangle the contributions of these differently aligned chains. This revealed that the electronic properties of each chain are indeed one-dimensional. Calculations predict an exciting phase transition to be expected as soon as these chains are more closely packed. While material consisting of individual chains with longer distances is semiconducting, a very dense chain structure would be metallic.

People who use both cannabis and tobacco show distinct brain changes compared to those who use cannabis alone, according to a new study led by McGill University researchers at the Douglas Research Centre.

The finding may help explain why people who use both cannabis and tobacco often report increased depression and anxiety, and why quitting cannabis is harder for them than for people only using cannabis

A new study published in JACS by research groups led by Martín Fañanás and Manuel Souto at CiQUS presents a more sustainable photocatalytic method that combines reusable solid materials with low-energy red light.

The inherent interdependence among the device footprint, resolution, and bandwidth of spectrometers poses a challenge for further miniaturization of on-chip spectrometers. Scientists in China report an ultra-miniaturized chaos-assisted spectrometer that breaks the trade-off limitation of current spectrometers. Optical chaos is introduced into the spectrum via cavity deformation. By utilizing a single chaotic cavity, chaotic behavior can be employed to effectively eliminate periodicity in resonant cavities and de-correlate the response matrix. A broad operational bandwidth of 100 nm can be attained with a high spectral resolution of 10 pm. Additionally, the footprint of the spectrometer is compacted to a mere 20×22 μm², in the meantime addressing the three-way trade-off of resolution-bandwidth-footprint metric in prior-art spectrometers.

Scanning near-field optical microscopy encounters difficulties in characterizing sub-10-nm confined light fields due to significant disturbances of the optical field caused by the probe. Here, by employing a high spatial-resolved photoemission electron microscopy, we succeeded in imaging the ultra-confined near fields of a nanoslit mode in a coupled nanowire pair with weak disturbance. Meanwhile, a PEEM image can identify fabrication defects that are influential to the confined field but are imperceptible to many other means.

High costs have long held back hydrogen production from water, with electrolyzers priced at $2,000–$2,600 per kilowatt in 2024. Now, researchers from Japan have found that modifying platinum cathodes with naturally occurring purine bases can boost the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity, the key step where water is split into hydrogen, up to four times. This approach can significantly reduce platinum requirements, bringing affordable, large-scale hydrogen production closer to reality.

Anode-free metal batteries offer high energy densities, but suffer from dendritic growth and short circuits, arising from non-uniform metal deposition. To address this, researchers from South Korea have developed a new facet-driven metal plating strategy that employs a facet-oriented zinc (Zn) host with a physicochemically polished surface to ensure uniform, horizontal Mg growth during plating, preventing dendrite formation and improving stability.