Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden are developing a promising new method to selectively convert carbon dioxide and water to various types of fuel. Driving this reaction is solar energy. The recent study, published in ACS Nano, combines the material graphene and the semiconductor cubic silicon carbide in a process which essentially mimics photosynthesis in plants.
Oxygen cycling reveals path to next-gen ferroelectric devices
Research is heating up to achieve greater fundamental understanding of the mechanism of ferroelectricity in hafnia-based materials, a crucial step in the development of next generation devices. New findings from the University of Groningen (RUG) in the journal Science define the key role of oxygen for greater miniaturization potential and structural stability beyond that of standard ferroelectric materials used in low-power memories. Electron microscopy and MAX IV’s NanoMAX beamline have illuminated the nature of polarization in thin films of hafnium zirconium oxide for ferroelectronics.
What doesn’t break you makes you stronger – how to design optimal steels for impact
Your car gets hit by another vehicle, and the steel in its construction is deformed by the impact. The steel isn’t just designed to be strong enough to protect you. It also gets stronger because of the impact. It all has to do with the different arrangements that the atoms inside the steel can assume and under which conditions these so-called phases can exist.
New Eyes on Forest-Based Materials – ForMAX comes online
ForMAX is the 15th beamline to come online at MAX IV. A large part of the research to be conducted at the beamline will promote the development of new materials and speciality chemicals from renewable forest resources. ForMAX is funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and industrial partners through the Treesearch consortium.
Scientists probe ferroelectric domains in curved free-standing superlattices
By growing superlattices consisting of ferroelectric and non-ferroelectric transition metal oxides and releasing them from their underlying substrates, researchers explore polarization patterns in curved geometries.
Deciphering corrosion resistance of superalloys
To develop longer-lasting metallic materials for harsh operating conditions requires understanding of their surface composition, structure and properties. A Swedish research group investigated the surface chemistry and thickness of the protective native oxide layer of nickel superalloys at MAX IV’s FlexPES beamline.
Exeger investigates the chemistry of liquid-filled energy material
The Swedish solar cell technology company Exeger has recently been to the HIPPIE beamline at MAX IV along with researchers from KTH and Uppsala University. The goal of the visit was to study the electrochemistry of light conversion to energy in a dye-sensitized solar cell. The experimental setup at MAX IV offers a unique possibility to
Aarhus scientists investigate secrets behind mantis shrimp clubs at DanMAX
Mantis shrimp or stomatopods, intrigue humans due to their beauty but also fierce predatory behavior.
Strong coupling of thin ferromagnet to Manganese Gold compound yields successful antiferromagnetic read-out
Scientists demonstrated a strong coupling of very thin ferromagnetic permalloy layers to the antiferromagnetic spintronics compound Manganese Gold. This enabled them to apply well-established read-out methods commonly applied to ferromagnets in antiferromagnetic spintronics as well.
Honeycomb borophene: myth or reality?
Scientists examined whether honeycomb boron can function as a structural analogue 2D material to graphene. Employing core-level X-ray spectroscopies, scanning tunneling microscopy, and DFT calculations, they analyzed the structure and electronic properties of honeycomb boron after its reaction with aluminum. They found that although it resembles graphene in electronic structure to some extent, it fails to form a quasi-freestanding monolayer on aluminum. This lack of a freestanding state is a clear difference from the behavior of graphene or monolayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) on lattice-mismatched metal surfaces.