According to theory, massive red supergiant stars should cause most supernovae, yet they are rarely observed. New James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations indicate these supernovae likely can occur but are hidden in dust. Star’s dust was unusually carbon-rich, suggesting atypical chemical mixing during its death throes. Study marks first time JWST identified a supernova’s source star and first time supernova was imaged in mid-infrared wavelengths.

The project “Chiral Light-Emitting Diodes Based on Photonic Architectures” (RADIANT) received €3.6 million in funding from the European Union’s EIC Pathfinder Horizon programme in 2024. Its goal is to develop cost-effective, high-performance chiral LEDs that exploit the optical properties of scalable chiral metasurfaces, operating optimally in the visible to near-infrared spectrum. The results could be applied to fields such as display technology, optical communication, remote sensing, and advanced lighting systems.

By leveraging the unique chiral response of chiral metasurfaces, RADIANT precisely modulates high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) quantum emitters such as perovskite nanocrystals, quantum dots, and organic semiconductors through advanced nanophotonic architectures that interact with light via optical resonances, enhancing and tuning light emission.

RADIANT harnesses the potential of nanophotonics for optoelectronic technologies through cost-effective, scalable chiral metasurfaces produced by soft nanolithography, while reducing dependence on critical raw materials currently used in advanced LEDs. This will revolutionize the multi-billion-euro LED display market by combining technological innovation, economic feasibility and environmental sustainability.

The Universitat Jaume I of Castelló launched in September a leading project on advanced solid electrolytes for lithium and sodium metal batteries based on the innovative “Polymer-in-Ceramic” concept, a hybrid of both materials with high rigidity and strength, either compact or porous and machinable. This will allow the ceramics industry to explore new avenues for diversification with added-value products and will promote the transfer of knowledge to the emerging regional energy storage industry.

The study,“Future advanced 3D printing of polymer-in-ceramic solid electrolytes for all-solid-state metal batteries (PICASSO)”, which will be developed over four years and has received over half a million euros from the Prometeo 2025 call for excellence research groups–CIPROM 2024, will be coordinated by full professors Antonio Barba Juan (Research Unit “Innovative Ceramic Materials for Energetic Applications”, Department of Chemical Engineering) and Germà García Belmonte (Electrocatalysis and Energy Group, Institute of Advanced Materials –INAM), in collaboration with the Electricity, Electronics and Automation Group (EEA).