With a carefully-designed experiment and a handful of tin atoms, University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s physicists have found a long-sought form of superconductivity, taking one more step toward creating custom quantum materials.

Binghamton University, State University of New York Assistant Professor Robert Wagner will receive $569,573 to fund research that could close the gap between what’s going on molecularly and what we can observe, incorporating machine learning with both simulated and real-world experiments to analyze the behavior of polymer chains.

Membranes with nanometer-sized pores can filter the herbicide glyphosate and its metabolite AMPA out of water. The success of the process not only depends on the size and charge of the molecules, but also on their hydration: The thicker their hydration shell, the harder it is for them to pass through the membrane. These findings made by researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will help further improve nanofiltration in order to provide people worldwide with clean water. The results of their study have been published in Nature Communications. (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-71492-y).

Researchers at Shaanxi Normal University have developed a flexible electrode with atomically tuned the composition of Ti_xCr_1−xN solid-solution nanoparticles for lithium-sulfur batteries. Such cathode enhances polysulfide trapping and conversion via d-band electronic regulation, achieving high-rate capacity (801 mAh g⁻¹ at 3 C) and ultralow capacity decay (0.012% per cycle at 2 C). This work provides a practical strategy for the preparation of composite cathode in high-energy Li-S batteries.

A new review explores the counterintuitive phenomenon of negative thermal expansion (NTE) in two-dimensional (2D) materials, where heating causes them to shrink instead of expand. The work, published in a peer-reviewed journal, synthesizes recent advances in understanding and controlling this behavior in materials like graphene and boron nitride. By leveraging mechanisms such as specific atomic vibrations and magnetic interactions, researchers are developing strategies to engineer materials with zero or custom-tailored thermal expansion, which is crucial for preventing heat-induced damage and performance drift in high-precision nanoelectronics, aerospace components, and quantum devices.

A novel catalyst developed by the research team offers a powerful solution for combating hard-to-degrade organic pollutants. By skillfully combining metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), the team created a cobalt-based catalyst that efficiently activates peroxymonosulfate (PMS) through a highly selective non-radical pathway. This innovative approach ensures effective pollutant degradation across a wide pH range with strong anti-interference ability, marking a significant advance in green and sustainable water treatment technology.

Scientists at TU Wien have uncovered a surprisingly fast way for rocks to lock away CO₂: a thin layer of water on mineral surfaces can activate CO₂ and trigger its direct conversion into solid carbonate—without the slow dissolution steps long thought necessary. Using atomic-scale microscopy, they provide the first direct evidence for this mechanism. The finding helps explain why CO₂ can mineralize much faster in nature than expected—and could inform more efficient carbon storage technologies.