EurekAlert! News by Subject: Chemistry & Physics - News by Subject: Chemistry & Physics

Chemistry & Physics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 20-Aug-2025 21:11 ET (21-Aug-2025 01:11 GMT/UTC)

PolyU researchers make breakthrough discovery in structure and synthesis of 2D ferroelectrics, advancing technological development in microelectronics, artificial intelligence and quantum information

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

With their spontaneous electrical polarisations switchable by an external electric field, ferroelectrics have wide-ranging applications in transistors, memory, neuromorphic devices and more. In particular, two-dimensional (2D) ferroelectrics produced at the nanometre scale have emerged as superior materials for ultra-thin devices.

Journal: Nature Nanotechnology

Research reveals potential alternatives to ‘forever chemicals’

American Chemical Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are known as forever chemicals because of their extreme persistence. These compounds have useful properties including durability and waterproofing, so they’re commonly used in consumer products like food packaging and cosmetics, as well as industrial processes. But PFAS’ potential negative impacts on human health are driving the search for potentially safer substitutes. Now, researchers publishing in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology propose alternatives for many applications.

Journal: Environmental Science & Technology

A completely new type of microscopy based on quantum sensors

Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have invented an entirely new field of microscopy, nuclear spin microscopy. The team can visualize magnetic signals of nuclear magnetic resonance with a microscope. Quantum sensors convert the signals into light, enabling extremely high-resolution optical imaging.

Journal: Nature Communications

From defect to high-tech material

Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Cadmium selenide nanoplatelets provide a promising foundation for the development of innovative electronic materials. Since the turn of the millennium, researchers around the world have taken a particular interest in these tiny platelets, which are only a few atoms thick, as they offer extraordinary optical and other properties. A team from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), TU Dresden, and the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (IFW) has taken an important step towards the systematic production of such nanoplatelets. The researchers were able to gain fundamental insights into the interaction between structure and function, as they report in the journal Small (DOI: 10.1002/smll.202411112).

Journal: Small

JWST provides insights into rare ultra-hot Neptune LTT 9779 b

University of Oxford
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team of international researchers including Dr Jake Taylor from the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford, has used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to explore the exotic atmosphere of LTT 9779 b, a rare ‘ultra-hot Neptune’. The results have been published today (25 February) in a compelling new study in Nature Astronomy.

Journal: Nature Astronomy

Hetero-metal doping enables silver-based bimetallic clusters for electrocatalytic urea synthesis

Science China Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a paper published in National Science Review, Zang's group reports on two atomically precise bimetallic clusters, namely Ag₁₄Pd and Ag₁₃Au₅, both featuring icosahedral cores and similar ligands. Furthermore, the study unveils the influence of charge polarization, induced by hetero-metal doping, on the selectivity of electrocatalytic urea synthesis.

Journal: National Science Review

Universal conservation laws of the wave–particle–entanglement triad

Light Publishing Center, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics And Physics, CAS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Wave-particle duality and entanglement are cornerstone concepts in quantum physics, yet their exact relationship has long remained a mystery. Researchers from China and Singapore have forged a theoretical framework that unifies wave-particle behaviours with entanglement. By introducing conservation laws that bridge these quantum phenomena, they unveiled deep connections between them. These predictions were experimentally verified using silicon-integrated nanophotonic quantum chips, offering transformative insights into the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics.

Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Innovation Program for Quantum Science and Technology, National Key R&D Program of China, Innovation Platform for Academicians of Hainan Province, Quantum Engineering Programme, Central Research Funds