Metal single-atom catalysts (M-SACs) are highly attractive for proton-exchange-membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE), a clean and efficient hydrogen production method. However, in high-density M-SACs, metal atoms tend to aggregate, reducing catalytic activity and durability. Now, researchers from Dongguk University have developed a new synthesis method for M-SACs that prevents the aggregation of metal atoms, significantly improving the hydrogen production performance of PEMWE systems.

Hydrogen fuel cell heavy-duty trucks offer a cleaner alternative to diesel transport, but public support is essential for large-scale adoption. In a new study, researchers surveyed households in South Korea to measure willingness to pay for expanding hydrogen truck deployment. The results show strong public acceptance, with benefits exceeding carbon reduction costs, indicating the policy is socially profitable and supports long-term low-carbon transport transitions under national climate policy goals frameworks.

Mott insulators, governed by strong correlations, exhibit exceptional nonlinear optics. Guided by first-principles, scientists have discovered that 2D VOCl, a charge-transfer Mott insulator, exhibits a colossal third-harmonic generation (THG) anisotropy ratio (ρ_THG) of 187 under 1280 nm excitation, the highest ever reported in van der Waals materials. The results deepen understanding of correlated 2D optics and position VOCl for polarization beam splitters, infrared up-conversion photodetectors, and ultrafast lasers, advancing polarization-engineered photonics.

Electronic order in quantum materials often emerges not uniformly, but through subtle and complex patterns that vary from place to place. One prominent example is the charge density wave (CDW), an ordered state in which electrons arrange themselves into periodic patterns at low temperatures. Although CDWs have been studied for decades, how their strength and spatial coherence evolve across a phase transition has remained largely inaccessible experimentally.

Now, a team led by Professor Yongsoo Yang of the Department of Physics at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), together with Professors SungBin Lee, Heejun Yang, and Yeongkwan Kim, and in collaboration with Stanford University, has for the first time directly visualized the spatial evolution of charge density wave amplitude order inside a quantum material.

In a paper published in Earth and Planetary Physics, an international team of researchers studied the magnetic properties of volcanic rocks from the Northern Andes (Colombia, South America) and found that the main collisional stages between Central and South America occurred earlier than ~10 million years ago.