The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS, President Lee Ho-seong) has developed an ultrasonic sensor technology that applies a waveguide to detect defects in all directions without directly attaching sensors to the inspection target. By enabling remote ultrasonic excitation and reception, the technology is expected to help prevent industrial accidents and eliminate inspection blind spots in high-risk industrial facilities where direct sensor installation has been challenging due to heat, toxic gases, or other hazardous environmental conditions.

A team of Korean researchers has, for the first time in the world, developed a technology capable of enabling early diagnosis of major neurological disorders including epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia using only a small amount of saliva. This study was conducted jointly by a research team led by Dr. Sung-Gyu Park of the Advanced Bio and Healthcare Materials Research Division at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), together with Prof. Ho Sang Jung’s team at Korea University and researchers from the College of Medicine at The Catholic University of Korea. The research has recently been published in Advanced Materials, one of the world’s leading journals in the field of materials science, drawing significant international attention.

Formic acid (FA) is a potential biomass resource of syngas with contents of carbon monoxide (CO, 60 wt.%) and hydrogen (H₂, 4.4 wt.%). Among the technologies for FA conversion, the photoreforming of FA has received widespread attention due to its use of green solar energy conversion technology and mild reaction conditions. Herein, a V–W bimetallic solid solution, V_xW_1−xN_1.5 with efficient co-catalytic properties was first and facilely synthesized. When CdS was used as a photocatalyst, the activity performance of the V_0.1W_0.9N_1.5 system was over 60% higher than that of the W₂N₃ system. The computational simulations and experiments showed the V_0.1W_0.9N_1.5 had great metallic features and large work functions, contributing a faster photo-generated carrier transfer and less recombination, finally facilitating a great performance in cocatalyst for syngas production in photoreforming FA. This work provides an approach to synthesizing novel transition metal nitrides for photocatalysis.

A new review published in Energy & Environment Nexus examines how innovative geometric designs of tubular solid oxide fuel cells could accelerate the transition to cleaner and more efficient energy systems. The study provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in fabrication methods, structural designs, and real world applications of tubular SOFC technologies.

Electrical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated the fastest pyroelectric photodetector to date that works by absorbing heat generated by incoming light.