Dr. Keun-Hwan Oh and his colleagues at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) have successfully applied functionalized two-dimensional boron nitride nanoflakes (BNNFs) to silicone and ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM)-based sealing gaskets. The newly developed nanocomposite gasket demonstrates excellent mechanical robustness, hydrogen-barrier capability, and chemical and thermal stability.

Professor Dong-Myeong Shin and his team from the Department of Mechanical Engineering under the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) shed light on the contribution of ions in electric charge transfer, though their contribution differs with environmental humidity.

Touch is the sense that brings us into direct contact with reality, revealing shape, texture, and resistance. Designing soft sensors to mimic biological fingertips facilitates natural haptic communications in telerobotics and prostheses, but suffers from inaccurate tactile decoding. Scientists at Shanghai Jiao Tong University reported a 3D-architected pressure sensor featuring a hydrogel lattice encapsulated within an origami-inspired framework. The designed linear electro-mechanical responses enable sophisticated pressure input for robotic control and an intelligent fingertip for modulus detection.

A research team led by Associate Professor Yukihide Ishibashi at the Graduate School of Science and  Engineering, Ehime University, has successfully achieved the direct observation of exciton diffusion processes within individual copper phthalocyanine（CuPc）nanofibers using a custom-built femtosecond microspectroscopy technique, which enables clarification of exciton dynamics in mesoscopic materials. Previously, only ensemble-averaged information（e.g., CuPc thin films）was available for exciton diffusion coefficients and diffusion lengths. By measuring these parameters for single nanofibers, the team revealed that the diffusion coefficient of η-phase CuPc nanofibers is about three times higher than that of β-phase ones. This enhancement arises from the larger molecular tilt angle and stronger π–π overlap in the η-phase, which promote intermolecular excitonic interactions. Moreover, the diffusion coefficient was found to decrease with increasing fiber length, indicating a “size effect” in exciton hoopping. This study not only deepens the understanding of optical properties in organic molecular crystals but also provides important insights for improving the efficiency of organic photovoltaic and photoenergy-conversion devices. The findings were published online in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters by the American Chemical Society on October 31, 2025.

Researchers at the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS) have definitively resolved a two-decade-long controversy regarding the direction of electron spin on the surface of gold. Using a state-of-the-art Photoelectron Momentum Microscope (PMM) at the UVSOR synchrotron facility, the team captured complete two-dimensional snapshots of the Au(111) Shockley surface state, mapping both the electron's spin (its intrinsic magnetic property) and its orbital shape in a projection-based measurement. The experiment unambiguously confirmed the Rashba effect--where an electron's motion is coupled to its spin--by assigning a clockwise (cw) spin texture to the outer electron band and a counter-clockwise (ccw) texture to the inner band when viewed from the vacuum side. This work establishes a robust, trustworthy reference dataset for spin-resolved photoemission, paving the way for the development of highly efficient spintronic devices.