The effects of proposed reforms to Phase IV of the Korean Emissions Trading Scheme on Korea’s electricity market remain poorly understood. In a new study, researchers developed and applied an integrated modeling framework to simulate the effects. They found that changing benchmarking mechanisms alone is insufficient to drive decarbonization. It should also be combined with expanded auctioning, higher carbon pricing, and complementary support systems to make a large-scale economic and environmental impact.

Researchers from Beihang University, Truth Memory Corporation, Aix-Marseille University and Université Paris-Saclay has successfully transitioned the emerging physics concept of "orbitronics" from theoretical study to practical application in next-generation magnetic random-access memory (MRAM). By designing a highly efficient ruthenium-tungsten write electrode, the researchers demonstrated ultrafast writing of MRAM devices with a pulse of 28.7 ps, and solved critical industrial bottlenecks in MRAM yield and area penalty, paving the way for ultra-low-power memories.

A flash of light lasting a fraction of a millisecond could help create better materials for solar energy. Researchers used ultra-fast heating at rates of up to 10 million degrees Celsius per second to rearrange the atoms inside a semiconductor, producing a version that generated up to 50 times more electrical current from light than the same material in its ordinary form. Because the flash heats only the semiconductor coating and not the surface it sits on, the method works on transparent conducting glass, the see-through conducting surface used in touchscreens and solar cells, which conventional furnaces would ruin. The method could eventually help improve solar technologies and other advanced electronic devices.

Landau quantization is a cornerstone of quantum Hall effects. However, controlling Landau-level spacing and the spatial profiles of Landau modes through complex-valued gauge fields has remained largely unexplored. Now, a collaborative team from Beijing Institute of Technology, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, University of Exeter, and The University of Hong Kong, writing in Science Bulletin, demonstrates a mechanism for tuning Landau quantization. By constructing a real pseudo-magnetic field and an imaginary pseudo-electric field, the researchers enlarge the Landau-level spacing and enhance mode localization. These findings establish a versatile framework for tailoring non-Hermitian Landau levels and may advance applications in mode-selective filtering, field concentration, and wave-based sensing.

While soaring demand for lithium-ion batteries pushes prices higher, Flinders University experts are making headway in the development of a safe and more sustainable aqueous zinc-iodine rechargeable battery.

In their latest study, published in high-profile international journal Angewandte Chemie, the Flinders research team has designed an aqueous zinc-ion battery (AZIB) that can be charged and discharged over 60,000 cycles.

While light scattering is widely utilized in optical metrology and measurement, it has long been regarded as detrimental in laser-material processing. Scientist in China proposed an interferometric scattering-based optical tomoslicing technology (i-SOT), which overturns this conventional view and kerf widths as narrow as 7 nm under an industrial standard efficiency were achieved. This unprecedented axial resolution enables nearly lossless laser wafering from ingots——with transformative potential for manufacturing laser crystals, photovoltaics, and microelectronic chips.

Researchers have developed a catalyst that coordinates structure and chemistry from the atomic scale to the millimeter scale. The 3D-printed tough metallic-glass scaffold promotes fluid flow and bubble removal, while a NiMo nanoglass coating supplies active amorphous interfaces. The Gyroid-based NiMo@G catalyst required 1.438 V to reach 100 mA cm⁻² in alkaline water electrolysis and remained stable for more than 200 hours.

Professor Chengbo Tian's research group at Huaqiao University recently reported a methylene-functionalized fullerene diadduct electron transport material (CH₂)₂C₆₀ without isomers. They applied this material to tin-based perovskite and wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells via vapor deposition, effectively improving the efficiency and stability of the devices. This work focused on the energy level mismatch between tin-based and wide-bandgap perovskites and commonly used fullerene electron transport materials, as well as the poor charge transport performance of disubstituted fullerenes with large-sized groups. They designed and synthesized a disubstituted fullerene molecule (CH₂)₂C₆₀ with a small-sized methylene group . Due to its energy level fit, high electron mobility, and excellent thermal stability, the efficiencies of tin-based and wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells based on (CH₂)₂C₆₀ reached 15.35% and 20.81%, respectively. The article was published as an open access Research Article in CCS Chemistry, the flagship journal of the Chinese Chemical Society.