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‘Soft crosslinking’ strategy makes brittle, glassy plastics tougher

Glassy polymers are those whose chains become immobilized below their glass transition temperature. The immobilized chains make them hard and stiff but also brittle, causing them to fracture when stretched. One promising strategy for overcoming this trade-off is to incorporate ionic groups whose reversible electrostatic attractions form physical crosslinks that improve toughness while maintaining stiffness.

Although ionic liquid-based materials have demonstrated that uniformly distributed ionic interactions can improve toughness, this strategy has been difficult to apply to conventional glassy polymers. A more general molecular design strategy is therefore needed to create homogeneous ionic interactions in a wider range of glassy polymers.

Now, researchers from Tokyo University of Science (TUS), Japan, in collaboration with the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Japan, have developed an ionic comb polymer that combines a comb-shaped architecture with bulky 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) counterions to maintain a homogeneous nanostructure with uniformly distributed ionic interactions, enabling glassy polymers to become both stiff and tough.

A new type of LED light could bring significant efficiency gains

Researchers at Lund University have developed a new type of light-emitting diode based on thin, branched nanowires that could offer significantly higher efficiency and lower production costs than current technology. By controlling where in the structure the light is generated, the researchers have reduced the losses that would otherwise limit the amount of light that can be used. Their study is published in the journal Nano Research.

In materials used for conventional light-emitting diodes—such as the LED bulbs found in most households—a large proportion of the light is trapped inside the material because of what is known as total internal reflection. This phenomenon means that only a small proportion of the light comes out, even though it is generated inside the material.

The new design aims to overcome this problem. The method is based on the fact that light is emitted from very thin side branches that extend from a central nanowire. If the structures are made thin enough—thinner than the wavelength of light—the light cannot be trapped inside the material in the same way.

Magic-angle graphene provides evidence for unconventional superconductivity

Researchers have completely suppressed superconductivity in magic-angle graphene by screening interactions between electrons, helping resolve a long-running debate about the origin of the phenomenon.

Scientists from the National Graphene Institute at The University of Manchester have demonstrated that superconductivity in magic-angle graphene can be completely switched off by screening interactions between electrons. The finding provides strong evidence that electron interactions play a central role in the phenomenon and helps address a key question that has remained unresolved since superconductivity was first discovered in the material.

Magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, created by stacking two sheets of graphene with a rotational offset of approximately 1.1 degrees, has become one of the most intensely studied quantum materials over the past decade. However, researchers have continued to debate what causes its superconductivity. While some theories propose that electrons themselves drive the pairing responsible for superconductivity, others suggest a more conventional mechanism involving vibrations of the atomic lattice.

Scientists Push Molecules on a Surface to the Ultimate Quantum Limit

An ultra-clean crystal surface allowed individual molecules to preserve quantum coherence at the fundamental Fourier limit.

A molecule placed on a surface should be easier to probe and manipulate than one hidden inside a solid or suspended in vacuum. In practice, however, surface contamination creates an unstable, noisy environment that can quickly degrade the molecule’s delicate quantum properties.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) have now overcome that barrier. Their technique allows molecules on a surface to be examined with spectroscopic precision while consistently reaching the ultimate quantum limit for coherence, something not previously achieved on a surface. The findings, published in Science, could expand studies of molecule-surface interactions and molecular quantum technologies.

World’s First Heat-Powered Cooling System Turns Waste Heat Into Cold

Researchers have developed the world’s first heat-driven elastocaloric cooling system, using waste heat and solar energy to support sustainable cooling.

A cooling system powered directly by heat rather than an electric motor has worked in laboratory tests, offering a possible way to turn waste heat or solar energy into cooling. The prototype, developed by researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the University of Tsukuba, uses two ultrathin nickel-titanium films that convert heat first into mechanical motion and then into cold.

The concept addresses a limitation of elastocaloric cooling, an emerging solid-state alternative to conventional refrigeration. Shape-memory alloys cool when a mechanical load applied to them is released, but existing elastocaloric systems still need electrically powered actuators to supply that force. The new design instead uses heat itself to drive the process.

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