Materials

What if you could tell if your surroundings contained COVID-19 particles or droplets the moment they or you entered the vicinity? This is now closer to reality. A research group has engineered a battery-less, self-powering device that can wirelessly transmit the detection of coronavirus in the air.

Tin sulfide (SnS) solar cells have shown immense promise in the rush to develop more environmentally friendly thin-film solar cells. Yet for years SnS solar cells have struggled to achieve a high conversion efficiency. To overcome this, a SnS interface exhibiting large band bending was necessary, something a research group has recently achieved.

Machine learning and robotic process automation combine to speed up and simplify a process used to determine crystal structures.

Precise control of quantum systems, such as quantum computers, is of great importance for modern quantum science. One way this has been done is via spin echoes. A research group has discovered a new type of echo, labelling them “energy-band echoes.”

Scientists from 4 Asian universities, namely Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, and Newcastle University in Singapore have reported a novel way to produce lightweight reinforced resin composite materials using clay particles with the potential to lower carbon emission, compared to conventional carbon particles.

Most metal and alloys possess a high elastic strain rate at the micro level. But this changes when they are in their bulk shape, as they are for everyday engineering applications. Now, a research group has developed a bulk copper-based alloy boasting the largest tensile elastic strain at room temperature to date.

Practised in only three countries in the world, the process of making double Ikat is intricate and demands a degree of mathematical precision while weaving the textile on the loom.

A multinational team of researchers, co-led by a City University of Hong Kong (CityU) physicist, has found that a novel metallic crystal displays unusual electronic behaviour on its surface, thanks to the crystal’s unique atomic structure. Their findings open up the possibility of using this material to develop faster and smaller microelectronic devices.

A flipping action in a porous material facilitates the passage of normal water to separate it out from heavy water.

Scientists in Japan have combined two computational models to extract more data on steel alloys from a single test, with implications for the discovery of new materials.

A research group at Osaka Metropolitan University has developed a drug delivery system that activates a strong cellular immune response to attack cancer cells, using one-tenth of the amount of antigen needed in the group’s previous work. By incorporating positively charged cationic lipids into liposomes and adding negatively charged pH-responsive polysaccharides to the surface, the research group increased the uptake efficiency of liposomes encapsulating cancer antigens by dendritic cells by approximately five times, which increased cytokine production by about 100 times. This increased M1-type macrophages, which activate cancer immunity, and decreased M2-type macrophages, which promote cancer growth.

Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are a toothpaste that can be used in space, how to always win at a quantum game, and a trunk-inspired robot gripper.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have created intermetallic alloy nanoparticles of palladium and zinc with an alternating arrangement of zinc and palladium atoms. The intermetallic alloy is more corrosion-resistant than substitutional alloys while retaining the electrocatalytic properties of both metals, which could be useful for developing new non-precious metal electrocatalysts.

Chemists in Japan, Canada and Europe have uncovered flaws in the surface structure of cellulose nanocrystals—an important step toward deconstructing cellulose to produce renewable nano-materials relevant to biochemical products, energy solutions, and biofuels.

A new material is set to provide us with faster and higher resolution displays. Hokkaido University researchers could explain what makes this material so special, opening the door to its application and further development.

A research team co-led by materials scientists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has recently discovered a new mechanism to increase the strength and ductility of a high-entropy alloy, two properties which normally vary inversely with each other. The findings provide important insights for the future design of strong yet ductile high-entropy alloys and high-entropy ceramics.

Osaka Metropolitan University scientists have successfully developed a new positive electrode material Na2FeS2, consisting of sodium, iron, and sulfur. During testing, batteries using the Na2FeS2 positive electrode had a high energy storage capacity and could be charged and discharged for more than 300 cycles. Because the Na2FeS2 is made of abundant inexpensive elements, it is expected to be used in all-solid-state sodium batteries with higher capacity and lower costs.

Batik is a technique of creating patterns on cloth through wax-resist printing and dyeing and has historically been practised in several parts of the world, including India, China, Southeast Asia and Africa.

Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are what happens when the sun goes to sleep, creating a silk stronger than a spider, and a robot that can laugh with you.

A joint group of researchers has successfully developed a method to recycle agriculture waste, namely pineapple leaf fibres, for making filaments that can be used for 3D printing of parts.

Linked lanthanides shine light on crystal engineering, New technique reveals hidden genome, Red, white and blue alerts for dangerous bacteria & Windows gain competitive edge over global warming. Read all in the September's Editor's Choice plus this month's Asia Research News 2022 magazine pick - Floating sensors to gather ocean data.

Hokkaido University researchers find a new way of producing the industrially important propylene that is more energy efficient than existing approaches—and in the process turns carbon dioxide into another usable resource. Their pioneering catalyst design thus contributes to the carbon neutralization of the petrochemical industry.

Researchers at The University of Tokyo grow a nanoscale layer of a superconducting material on top of a nitride-semiconductor substrate, which may help facilitate the integration of quantum qubits with existing microelectronics

Thangka is a devotional scroll-painting tradition, emerging from seventh-century Nepal, in which images of Buddhist deities are painted on scrolls to gain divine merit and to serve as visual aids for teaching and meditating.

Crucial to our everyday use the Li-ion battery can be found everywhere. Research at Tohoku University has resulted in a hybrid electrolyte that is both more stable while also retaining excellent conductivity. This will pave the way to a safer polymeric solid electrolyte for Li-ion batteries with a myriad of applications.

The research team directed by H. Shimomoto and E. Ihara in Ehime University successfully developed a new Pd-based initiating system affording carbon–carbon main-chain polymers bearing end-functional groups. This achievement will contribute to progress in the field of polymer chemistry and will allow us to develop new types of functional polymers.

New research shows that consumers are willing to pay extra for products that give them more to feel.

An international collaboration is developing coating materials that could make windows better insulators.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have successfully synthesized fumarate (fumaric acid), a raw material for unsaturated polyester resin, by combining carbon dioxide (CO2) with pyruvate (derived from biomass), using two biocatalysts: malate dehydrogenase and fumarase. Fumarate is currently used to make biodegradable plastic like polybutylene succinate from petroleum. However, this research has enabled the synthesis of fumarate without petroleum, consuming only CO2 and biomass-derived pyruvate.

A research group led by Professor Akitoshi Hayashi at the Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Engineering has successfully developed a high-capacity capacitor, an energy storage device—using a solid electrolyte with high deformability—that can operate at high temperatures. With this discovery, high-capacity capacitors can now be made which do not require cooling, this increases their efficiency and allows for new suitable applications.