Chemistry

Mon 16 Apr. 2018. New sodium-ion electrolyte may find use in solid-state batteries. A newly discovered structure of a sodium-based material allows the materials to be used as an electrolyte in solid-state batteries, according to researchers working on fine-tuning the material using an iterative design approach that they hope will shave years off the time from research to everyday use. The electrolyte, one of three main parts of a battery, is responsible for transferring charged ions in a solid-state battery. This creates an electrical current once the other two parts of the battery, the anode and cathode, are connected in a circuit. Most rechargeable batteries in smart-phones, computers and other consumer electronics use a liquid, lithium-based electrolyte. More

  Medicine

Wed 11 Apr. 2018. Researchers have developed a technique which could increase the sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for patient diagnosis. The new technique works by increasing the strength of the magnetic field produced by molecules, and hence increasing their signal when measured by MRI. The team engineered specific defects in diamond crystals that exert a controlled quantum mechanical influence over the nuclear spins in nearby molecules, including potentially those used in metabolic imaging of brain tumours, making them 'line up' (polarise) in a specific orientation. This hyperpolarised state of nuclear spins is highly ordered and increases the magnetic field that can be detected by techniques like MRI. It is the first time that this polarisation of molecular nuclei has been shown using such a diamond-based quantum probe. More

  Physics

Mon. 12 Mar 2018. A milestone in petahertz electronics. In a semiconductor, electrons can be excited by absorbing laser light. Advances during the past decade enabled measuring this fundamental physical mechanism on timescales below a femtosecond (10^-15 s). Physicists now for the first time resolved the response of electrons in gallium arsenide at the attosecond (10^-18 s) timescale, and gained unexpected insights for future ultrafast opto-electronic devices with operation frequencies in the petahertz regime. More

  Nuclear

Tue. 20 Feb 2018. New Approach Can Help Authorities Respond More Quickly to Airborne Radiological Threats. At present, emergency responders who are characterizing potential radiological risk need to take an air sample and ship it to a radiochemistry lab after preliminary screening analysis. The process means it can take days or weeks to get quality results that authorities can use to make informed decisions. The new approach uses existing technologies to detect potential airborne radiological materials in hours instead of days. It involves using a radiation detector to take multiple periodic measurements of an air sample for at least two hours. The measurements are then run through a computer model that uses the data to estimate the potential worst case scenario regarding “transuranic” activity in the area. More