The mysteries hidden within your battery are finally being unraveled by scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Led by Professor Yingjie Zhang, a team has completed an investigation into the nonuniformity of liquid electrolytes at solid-liquid interfaces in electrochemical cells – a long-overlooked aspect that holds significant technological implications.

The researchers used 3D atomic force microscopy to study the molecular structure of electrical double layers (EDLs), which self-organize into nanometer-thick layers at the interface between the liquid electrolyte and solid conductor. Their findings revealed three primary responses in EDLs: bending, breaking, and reconnecting – patterns that are quite universal and mainly driven by the finite size of liquid molecules.

The study provides a groundbreaking understanding of electrochemical cells and has significant implications for battery technology. By shedding light on the nonuniformity of liquid electrolytes at solid-liquid interfaces, researchers can now develop new chapters in electrochemistry textbooks and inform technological applications.

“We have resolved the EDLs in realistic, heterogeneous electrochemical systems, which is a holy grain in electrochemistry,” said Professor Zhang. “Besides the practical implications in technology, we are starting to develop new chapters in electrochemistry textbooks.”

The research team also includes graduate student Qian Ai as the lead author and other contributors from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Support was provided by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

This study marks a significant step forward in understanding the atomic-scale secrets within batteries, paving the way for improved battery technology and innovative applications.

Cosmic particles known as neutrinos have long been shrouded in mystery, their properties and behavior still not fully understood by scientists. These ghostly entities, which come in three “flavors” – electron, muon, and tau – can be lethal to massive stars more than 10 times the size of our sun. Neutrinos are notorious for being slippery, making it nearly impossible to collide them with each other in a lab setting.

Recently, researchers from the Network for Neutrinos, Nuclear Astrophysics, and Symmetries (N3AS) have made a groundbreaking discovery through theoretical calculations. They found that massive stars can act as “neutrino colliders,” where neutrinos steal thermal energy from these stars, causing their electrons to move at nearly the speed of light. This drives the star to instability and collapse.

As the collapsing star’s density becomes incredibly high, its neutrinos become trapped, leading to a series of collisions among themselves. With purely standard model interactions, the neutrinos will predominantly be electron flavor, resulting in a relatively “cold” matter core that might leave behind a neutron star remnant.

However, if secret interactions are at play, changing the flavor of neutrinos radically, the outcome is drastically different. In this scenario, neutrinos of all flavors collide, producing a mostly neutron “hot” core that may eventually give rise to a black hole remnant.

Future experiments like the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at Fermi National Accelerator Lab might be able to test these ideas, and observations of neutrinos or gravitational waves from collapsing stars could provide further insights into this phenomenon. The research, led by UC San Diego researchers and published in Physical Review Letters, has been funded by institutions such as the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, underscoring the importance of continued study in this area.

In a groundbreaking study published in Physical Review Letters, Professor Dong Eon Kim from POSTECH’s Department of Physics and his research team have successfully unraveled the mystery of electron tunneling, a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics. This achievement marks a significant milestone in understanding one of the most enduring enigmas in physics – a phenomenon that has puzzled scientists for over 100 years.

Quantum tunneling is a process where electrons pass through energy barriers (or “walls”) that they seemingly cannot surmount with their energy, much like digging a tunnel through them. This phenomenon underlies the operation of semiconductors, which power smartphones and computers, as well as nuclear fusion – the process that generates light and energy in the sun.

Until now, while some understanding existed about what happens before and after an electron passes through a tunnel, the exact behavior of the electron as it traverses the barrier remained unclear. Enter Professor Kim’s team, who collaborated with researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany, to conduct an experiment using intense laser pulses to induce electron tunneling in atoms.

The results revealed a surprising phenomenon: electrons do not simply pass through the barrier but collide again with the atomic nucleus inside the tunnel. This process was dubbed “under-the-barrier recollision” (UBR) by the research team. Until now, it was believed that electrons could only interact with the nucleus after exiting the tunnel, making this a groundbreaking discovery.

Moreover, during UBR, electrons gain energy inside the barrier and collide again with the nucleus, strengthening what is known as “Freeman resonance.” This ionization process was significantly greater than previously observed and remained largely unaffected by changes in laser intensity – a completely new finding that defied existing theories.

This research marks a crucial step forward in understanding quantum tunneling dynamics. As such, it has significant implications for the development of advanced technologies like semiconductors, quantum computers, and ultrafast lasers, which rely on precise control over electron behavior and increased efficiency.

Professor Kim emphasizes, “Through this study, we’ve found clues about how electrons behave when they pass through the atomic wall.” He concludes, “Now, we can finally understand tunneling more deeply and control it as we wish.”

This research received support from the National Research Foundation of Korea and the Capacity Development Project of the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology.