Electrospinning has been used to produce polymer fibres containing the well-known antibacterial drug metronidazole. The mats formed from them at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences could potentially be used as wound dressings, thanks to an appropriately selected polymeric structure capable of releasing the drug into the body in a controlled manner.

Introducing an external photo field would effectively enhance electrocatalysis such as electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR), but suffering from the limited utilization efficiency of the photo-generated carriers. To address this challenge, a research team led by Professor Yuan-Biao Huang at the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Science, has successfully encapsulated metal halide perovskite quantum dots (e.g. CsPbBr₃) with high light-absorption coefficients, into a cobalt-porphyrin-based covalent–organic frameworks (COFs) host (COF-366-Co). The synthesized perovskite-COF composite material, effectively improve the performance of the photocoupled electrochemical CO₂RR.

Physicists at the University of Oxford have successfully simulated how light interacts with empty space—a phenomenon once thought to belong purely to the realm of science fiction.

The simulations recreated a bizarre phenomenon predicted by quantum physics, where light appears to be generated from darkness.

The findings pave the way for real-world laser facilities to experimentally confirm bizarre quantum phenomena.

The results have been published today (5 June) in Communications Physics.

One of the current hot research topics is the combination of two of the most recent technological breakthroughs: machine learning and quantum computing. An experimental study shows that already small-scale quantum computers can boost the performance of machine learning algorithms. This was demonstrated on a photonic quantum processor by an international team of researchers of the University of Vienna. The work, recently published in Nature Photonics, shows promising new applications for optical quantum computers.

Seoul National University College of Engineering announced that the research team of Professors Jeyong Yoon and Jaeyune Ryu from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Jang Yong Lee’s team from Konkuk University’s Department of Chemical Engineering, has developed a new water electrolysis operation strategy that can produce green hydrogen without complex catalyst manufacturing processes.

 

The research team presented the possibility of significantly increasing hydrogen production efficiency without the use of precious metal-based catalysts. As a result, this research outcome is expected to be a technological turning point that accelerates the realization of a carbon-neutral society.

 

These findings were published on May 23th in the world-renowned journal Nature Communications under the title “Dynamic polarization control of Ni electrodes for sustainable and scalable water electrolysis under alkaline conditions.”

Airborne hazardous chemicals can be dilute, mobile, and hard to trap. Yet accurately measuring these chemicals is critical in protecting human health and the environment. Now, a new, small, low-cost device, nicknamed ABLE, could make the collection and detection of airborne hazards much easier and faster.