The chemical reaction to produce hydrogen from water is several times more effective when using a combination of new materials in three layers, according to researchers at Linköping University in Sweden. Hydrogen produced from water is a promising renewable energy source – especially if the hydrogen is produced using sunlight.

The Moon’s surface has two main rock types: white highland anorthosite and dark lowland basalt. While both are common on the nearside, the farside lacks dark lowlands. Researchers found that nearside rocks are unusually rich in chlorine (Cl), unlike farside rocks. Farside crust materials, lacking Cl enrichment, likely formed from magma that preserves remnants of the original lunar magma ocean from 4.5 billion years ago.

Kyoto, Japan -- As we witness the detrimental effects of climate change, the need for a rapid shift to renewable energy is only becoming more urgent. One of the most efficient forms of renewable energy, solar power, is generated by solar cells, which are the building blocks of solar panels. These electronic devices use semiconductors to convert the energy of light into electricity, a process called the photovoltaic effect.

Conventional solar cells have fundamental limitations in output voltage and conversion efficiency. A phenomenon called the bulk photovoltaic effect, which has attracted much attention in recent years, may enable highly efficient solar energy conversion without such limitations. However, the essential physics of the bulk photovoltaic effect have not been fully understood.

This effect originates from quantum phenomena and involves the asymmetric photoexcitation behavior of electrons, causing a steady electrical charge flow called a shift current, which is usually generated in the system with space-inversion symmetry. Another current materializes when there is a break in time-reversal symmetry, or the symmetry of physical laws when the flow of time is reversed. Since time-reversal symmetry is broken in magnetic materials, new effects related to the bulk photovoltaic effect are expected to arise in magnetic systems, but many aspects of these systems remain unexplained both theoretically and experimentally.

Researchers from the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) and Lanzhou University have jointly conducted systematic integral experiments using D-T and D-D neutron sources on natural lead (^natPb) slabs. By addressing key data gaps in large-angle neutron scattering and thoroughly validating four major evaluated nuclear data libraries, this study establishes new benchmark data, supporting safer reactor designs, advanced fusion systems, and optimized radiation shielding applications.

For more than a century, a patch of cold water south of Greenland has resisted the Atlantic Ocean’s overall warming, fueling debate amongst scientists. A UC Riverside study identifies the cause as the long-term weakening of the AMOC, a major ocean circulation system.

Engineers at Brown University uncovered unexpected dynamics in how organic particulates sink in the ocean, a process that plays a key role in marine nutrient cycling.