Reported recently in a new study published in Nature, a team of researchers, led by JILA and NIST Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder Physics professor Jun Ye, in collaboration with Professor Eric Hudson’s team at UCLA’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, have found a way to make nuclear clocks a thousand times less radioactive and more cost-effective, thanks to a method creating thin films of thorium tetrafluoride (ThF₄).

MIT physicists have created a new and long-lasting magnetic state in a material, using only light. The results provide a new way to control and switch antiferromagnetic materials, which are of interest for their potential to advance information processing and memory chip technology. 

A study of more than 26,000 white dwarf stars has confirmed a long-predicted but elusive effect in these ultra-dense, dying stars: Hotter white dwarfs are slightly puffier than cooler ones, even when they have the same mass.

In a recent paper published in Science Bulletin, researchers discovered for the first time that stable polymeric nitrogen samples could be prepared at ambient pressure using a simple one pot thermal treatment technique. High resolution Raman spectroscopy measurements revealed a strong characteristic vibrational peak of N-N single bonds, indicating the successful preparation of polymeric nitrogen materials composed of N-N single bonds in the polymerized sample. The approach is promising for further scale up production of polymeric nitrogen materials.

In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Chemistry, based on the design of a composite lithium metal anode (Li-10% ZnF₂), the effect of hybrid SEI (LiCl/LiF/LiZn) on the interface between lithium metal anode and sulfide electrolyte was studied. The research results showed that hybrid SEI can effectively induce uniform deposition of lithium ions, inhibit the growth of lithium dendrites, and achieve a more stable anode/electrolyte interface.

In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Chemistry, a bifunctional electrocatalytic sulfur matrix that simultaneously accelerates sulfur reduction and ZnS oxidation is proposed to realize a highly efficient Zn-S cell. It is revealed that the N-heteroatom hotspots are more favorable for facilitating the conversion of S to ZnS while the CoO nanocrystal substantially lowers the ZnS activation energy barrier thereby suppressing the formation of disproportionation species (e.g., SO₄²⁻) and accumulation of inactive ZnS.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, UCF Florida Space Institute (FSI) scientists recently led a team that found, for the first time, that Chiron has surface chemistry unlike other centaurs. Its surface it has both carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide ice along with carbon dioxide and methane gases in its coma, the cloud-like envelope of dust and gas surrounding it.