Electron Configuration

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have prepared an organometallic complex from 0.3 milligrams of berkelium-249.

A new Nature Physics study has shed light on the long-hypothesized liquid-liquid critical point where water simultaneously exists in two distinct liquid forms, opening new possibilities for experimental validation.

Charge-trapping defects in crystalline solids play important roles in applications ranging from microelectronics, optical storage, sensing and quantum technologies. On one hand, depleting trapped charges in the host matrix reduces charge noise and enhances coherence of solid-state quantum emitters. On the other hand, stable charge traps can enable high-density optical storage systems. Here we report all-optical…

MIT physicists have taken a key step toward solving the puzzle of what leads electrons to split into fractions of themselves. Their solution sheds light on the conditions that give rise to exotic electronic states in graphene and other two-dimensional systems.

New research using neural networks, a form of brain-inspired AI, proposes a solution to the tough challenge of modeling the states of molecules.

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) are credited in the discovery of 16 of the 118 known elements. Now they've completed the crucial first step to potentially create yet another: element 120.

When element 61, also known as promethium, was first isolated by scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1945, it completed the series of chemical elements known as lanthanides. However, aspects of the element's exact chemical nature have remained a mystery until last year, when a team of scientists from ORNL and the National Institute of Standards and Technology used a combination…

Black activists in the U.S. are fighting the exploitation of Black resources and workers in the Congo.

Despite its promising characteristics in condensed matter physics, the triply-degenerate semimetal PtBi2 has been largely unexplored in practical applications, particularly in semiconductor technology. The main difficulties include a lack of empirical data on the integration of PtBi2 with existing semiconductor components and the need for innovative approaches to leverage its unique properties, such as high…

Polymer changes temperature, shape when charged, moving to where the heat needs to be.

Silicon-based electronics are approaching their physical limitations and new materials are needed to keep up with current technological demands. Two-dimensional (2D) materials have a rich array of properties, including superconductivity and magnetism, and are promising candidates for use in electronic systems, such as transistors. However, precisely controlling the properties of these materials is extraordinarily…

Pt-based catalysts have been extensively employed in catalytic propane dehydrogenation (PDH) processes, playing a crucial role in propylene production. However, monometallic Pt catalysts often exhibit inferior propylene selectivity due to the hydrogenolysis, rapid deactivation from coke deposits, and nanoparticle sintering. To address these challenges, various metals (Sn, Zn, Ga, Co, etc.) have been introduced to…

Diamond is the strongest material known. However, another form of carbon has been predicted to be even tougher than diamond. The challenge is how to create it on Earth.

Carboxylic acid dianions (fumarate, maleate, and succinate) play a role in coordination chemistry and, to some extent, also in the biochemistry of body cells. An HZB team at BESSY II has now analyzed their electronic structures using RIXS in combination with DFT simulations. The results provide information not only on electronic structures but also on the relative stability of these molecules, which can influence…

Harvard's solid-state battery features a lithium metal anode, providing ten times the capacity of conventional graphite anodes.

The chemical industry has long been shadowed by unwelcome images of billowing smokestacks and pipes discharging toxic effluent. Modern manufacturing practices have done much to mitigate the industry's environmental impact, but there remains room for improvement.

High-energy neutron scattering is a powerful tool in spectroscopy, allowing researchers to probe the physical and chemical properties of many different materials.

67 years after its theoretical prediction by David Pines, the elusive "demon" particle, a massless and neutral entity in solids, has been detected in strontium ruthenate, underscoring the value of innovative research approaches. In 1956, theoretical physicist David Pines predicted that electrons

On July 22, two overlapping teams of South Korean materials scientists announced to the world via a pair of papers uploaded to a preprint server that they had bagged one of the white whales of physics: the room-temperature superconductor. Clamorous debates kicked off within the theoretical and experimental physics communities as soon as the papers […]

Two recent preprints in physics archive (arXiv) have called the attention as they claim experimental evidence that a Cu-substituted apatite material (called LK-99) exhibits superconductivity at room temperature and pressure. If this proves to be true, LK-99 will be the holy grail of superconductors. In this work, we used Density-Functional Theory calculations to elucidate some key features of the electronic…