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ThinkM, PECHS Block 2, Karachi (2026)

03/10/2026

Researchers used nanoscale manufacturing techniques from the semiconductor industry to design a copper current collector that helps lithium build up evenly during battery charging.

Electric vehicles could travel farther on a single charge if their batteries could store more energy without getting bigger or heavier. A promising alternative, known as an anode-free battery, eliminates materials such as graphite that normally store lithium during charging, saving weight and space.

Lithium instead deposits directly onto thin copper foil, where repeated charging and discharging can cause it to build up unevenly into sharp, branching spikes called dendrites. The protective layer over the lithium also becomes unstable, reducing battery performance and shortening its lifespan.

Researchers in South Korea have borrowed precise manufacturing techniques from the semiconductor industry to help these batteries last longer. Their method, announced by KAIST on September 22, combines microscopic structures that distribute lithium more evenly across the copper foil with an ultrathin coating that helps a durable protective layer form during use.

When longer battery life adds weight
Some previous efforts to extend battery life have involved adding excess lithium to replace what is lost during operation or covering the surface with a thick protective film. Both approaches make the battery heavier and thicker, eroding the size and weight advantages that anode-free designs are meant to offer.

“This study shows how ultrafine fabrication techniques used in semiconductor manufacturing can create both uniform sites for lithium deposition and a stable protective layer without changing the bulk electrolyte formulation or adding excess lithium,” said Jinwoo Lee, a professor in KAIST’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Lee led the research with fellow KAIST professor Hee-Tae Jung, working with researchers from Kyungpook National University and the National NanoFab Center. He expects the technology to help accelerate the commercialization of high-energy anode-free batteries.

MXene helps build a protective barrier
The team coated the copper foil with roughly 10 nanometers of MXene, a two-dimensional material made in extremely thin sheets. Instead of functioning as a finished protective barrier, the MXene acts like a primer, gathering the components needed to build one as the battery operates.

Eunji Kim, Hyunju Jung, Jinuk Kim, Jinwoo Lee, Hee Tae Jung, and Yonghee Lee
The research team. (top row, from left) Eunji Kim, PhD student (KAIST); Hyunju Jung, PhD student (KAIST); Jinuk Kim, PhD student (KAIST). (bottom row, from left) Jinwoo Lee, Professor (KAIST); Hee-Tae Jung, Professor (KAIST); Yonghee Lee, Professor (Kyungpook National University). Credit: KAIST

In the study’s LiPF6-based electrolyte, the material that carries charged particles inside the battery, the MXene surface encouraged a protective layer rich in lithium fluoride, or LiF, to form. That layer reduced unwanted reactions between lithium and the electrolyte while also suppressing dendrite growth.

Microscopic tubes give lithium more room
To control how lithium deposits on the copper beneath the coating, the researchers used secondary sputtering lithography, or SSL, a process used for precise micromachining in semiconductor manufacturing. They created an array of microscopic tubes, each about 300 nanometers in diameter and 150 nanometers in height, that increased the available surface area to roughly four times that of flat copper foil. With more surface available, lithium could spread out rather than concentrate in isolated spots and grow into spikes.

The researchers examined electrode surfaces and cross sections while minimizing exposure to air, confirming that a nanoscale protective layer formed uniformly along the MXene.

Using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and other techniques to investigate the chemistry and structure, they also identified the mechanism behind the layer’s formation. The resulting protection helps extend battery life with little added weight or bulk, supporting the goal of smaller, lighter batteries for electric vehicles.

Reference: “Anion-Interactive Anode Interfaces for Stable Anode-Free Lithium Metal Batteries” by Eunji Kim, Hyunju Jung, Jinuk Kim, Sung-Jin Chang, Gyungtae Kim, Yun Chang Park, Yoon Kyung Seo, Kyung Jin Park, Sodam Choi, Kwangduck Seo, Hee Han, Su-Ho Cho, Chi Won Ahn, Vy Thuy Nguyen, Hyeyoung Shin, Minji Lim, Hee-Tae Jung, Yonghee Lee and Jinwoo Lee, 1 September 2026, Advanced Functional Materials.

18/09/2026

Two design targets for silver catalysts
That means improving a catalyst requires more than choosing a suitable material. Its shape and contact with the electrode also matter, and the best arrangement may depend on how the device will be used. The findings point to a design strategy that optimizes the silver surface and the boundary between silver and the electrode separately.

The researchers established this behavior in a carefully controlled model electrode. If the approach transfers to practical devices, it could improve electricity generation efficiency in distributed energy systems for buildings and factories, which can also use the high-temperature heat the cells produce. It could also reduce the electricity needed to make green hydrogen using renewable power. For reversible solid oxide cells, which perform both tasks in a single system, the approach could help advance commercialization and improve energy production and storage in homes and industry.

The joint research team was led by Professors WooChul Jung and Jeong Woo Han of Seoul National University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. They worked with Professor Sang Ouk Kim’s team at KAIST and Dr. Beomgyun Jeong’s team at the Korea Basic Science Institute. Their findings appeared in Energy & Environmental Science, and the work was selected for the journal’s outside back cover.

Electrochemical Evaluation of Metal Nanocatalyst Reactions
Results show that the dominant reaction sites shift between the metal–electrode interface and the metal particle surface depending on the operating mode. Credit: Energy & Environmental Science, originally published in Energy & Environmental Science
Where does silver speed oxygen reactions?
Solid oxide cells operate by transporting oxygen ions, oxygen atoms carrying an electric charge, through a solid material. The speed of oxygen reactions at the air electrode largely determines the cells’ performance and lifespan. Earlier studies had shown that metal nanocatalysts could improve performance, but the complicated structures of actual electrodes made it difficult to establish exactly how they helped.

One unresolved question was whether most of the catalytic activity occurred on the metal particles’ surfaces or where the particles touched the electrode. Another was whether a catalyst worked the same way during electricity generation and hydrogen production.

To separate these possibilities, the team built a model electrode with precisely controlled composition and structure. They placed metal nanoparticles of uniform size and spacing in ordered arrays on a thin-film perovskite oxide electrode. Perovskite refers to the material’s crystal structure. Comparing silver, cobalt, palladium, and platinum showed that silver provided the strongest enhancement of the oxygen reactions.

The researchers then systematically changed the silver particles’ size and arrangement to distinguish the contribution of their exposed surfaces from that of their contact boundaries. They also varied the applied voltage and oxygen concentration to investigate the reaction mechanisms. Synchrotron-based analysis allowed them to observe changes at the electrode surface during operation, while atomic-scale theoretical calculations helped explain those changes.

Silver Nanoparticle Operando Analysis and DFT Calculations
(Left) Synchrotron-based real-time analysis showing changes in the electrode’s electronic structure during operation. (Right) Schematic illustration based on density functional theory calculations showing how silver nanoparticles raise the electrode’s Fermi level to promote oxygen reduction. Credit: Energy & Environmental Science, originally published in Energy & Environmental Science
Two ways silver helps oxygen react
During electricity generation, the relevant process is oxygen reduction, in which oxygen gains electrons. The reaction rate rose with the total length of the boundary between the silver nanoparticles and the electrode, identifying that boundary as the primary reaction site. The voltage and oxygen-concentration experiments showed that silver facilitates electron transfer to oxygen. The surface observations and calculations further revealed that silver changes the electronic structure of the electrode surface in ways that promote this reaction.

During hydrogen production, the air electrode carries out oxygen evolution, releasing oxygen as water is split. Here, the reaction rate increased with the silver particles’ surface area, showing that the exposed silver surface was the key site. Silver helped oxygen atoms combine into oxygen molecules and then leave the surface. The additional analyses showed that it provides a favorable environment for this pairing of oxygen atoms.

11/09/2026

Researchers have developed the world’s first heat-driven elastocaloric cooling system, using waste heat and solar energy to support sustainable cooling.

A cooling system powered directly by heat rather than an electric motor has worked in laboratory tests, offering a possible way to turn waste heat or solar energy into cooling. The prototype, developed by researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the University of Tsukuba, uses two ultrathin nickel-titanium films that convert heat first into mechanical motion and then into cold.

The concept addresses a limitation of elastocaloric cooling, an emerging solid-state alternative to conventional refrigeration. Shape-memory alloys cool when a mechanical load applied to them is released, but existing elastocaloric systems still need electrically powered actuators to supply that force. The new design instead uses heat itself to drive the process.

That distinction matters because cooling and heating account for almost half of global energy consumption as demand continues to grow. Conventional refrigerators, air conditioners, and data centers have relied for more than a century on electricity-driven compressors that move heat with refrigerants, many of which also contribute to global warming.

Heat replaces the electric actuator
The system pairs two nickel-titanium films with different jobs. When heated, the first film shrinks through a shape-memory effect, converting thermal energy directly into mechanical work without an electric motor.

That movement acts on the second film. Repeated loading and unloading cause reversible changes in its crystal structure that produce cooling. In effect, the first film replaces the electrically driven actuator that elastocaloric systems have previously required.

“The crucial innovation is that we combine two complementary functions of shape memory alloys, with one film converting heat into mechanical work and the other film converting this work into cold,” said Dr. Jingyuan Xu who leads the Young Investigator Group of the ZEco Thermal Lab at KIT’s Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT). “This way, we’re establishing a new approach to drive solid-state cooling, thereby opening up exciting possibilities for the use of waste heat and solar energy.”

In experiments, the prototype produced measurable cooling. At an actuator temperature of 86° Celsius (187° Fahrenheit), it achieved a temperature difference of 4° Celsius (7.2° Fahrenheit) at the component level, while the elastocaloric refrigerant underwent a temperature change of nearly 13° Celsius (23.4° Fahrenheit).

The system also operated reliably using an external heat source at 130° Celsius (266° Fahrenheit), demonstrating that the concept can function with real-world heat sources.

“The decisive moment for us was when we were able to measure the cold that had indeed been generated by a heat-driven system,” said Yi-Ting Hsiau, lead author of the study and doctoral researcher at the IMT. “This showed us that the principle doesn’t just work in theory.”

Scaling could expand practical cooling
The current device was built to demonstrate feasibility rather than maximize cooling capacity. Researchers are now working to connect multiple films in parallel to increase how much cooling the system can provide.

Possible applications include computer processors that use their own waste heat to help generate cooling and sensitive automotive electronics cooled using heat from the drive train.

The research was conducted in collaboration with the University of Tsukuba in Japan. The team ultimately hopes to scale the approach into compact systems that can make use of readily available heat.

“We believe that this is only the beginning,” said Xu. “By scaling up this technology, we want to develop compact cooling systems that leverage abundantly available heat sources for sustainable cooling.”

05/09/2026

This 6 September, THINKM honours the bravery and sacrifice of Pakistan’s defenders.

We remember those who gave their lives and salute those who continue to serve. Their courage reminds us to stand together, care for one another, and contribute to the nation we call home.

سلام پاکستان کے محافظوں کو۔

01/09/2026

Finding a new electronic material can mean searching through an almost limitless number of possible chemical combinations. Researchers at Seoul National University have used artificial intelligence to make that search more manageable, pulling together data scattered across hundreds of scientific papers and using it to identify lead-free dielectric materials that remain stable at high temperatures.

The Seoul National University College of Engineering research team was led by Professor Ho Won Jang of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. The researchers combined information extracted from published studies with physics-informed machine learning to design new lead-free dielectric compositions. Integrated M.S./Ph.D. student Kwanwoo Song was first author and led the overall project, with integrated M.S./Ph.D. student Youngmin Kim and postdoctoral researcher Jaehyun Kim also contributing.

Dielectrics are insulating materials that block the direct flow of electricity while storing electrical charge. They are essential to multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) found in smartphones, electric vehicles, and other electronics. A higher dielectric constant allows a component of the same size to store more electrical energy, but useful materials must also preserve that performance as temperatures rise.

To search for promising compositions, the researchers combined multimodal literature mining, which extracts information from text, tables, and graphs, with physics-informed machine learning. Their inverse design strategy began with desired performance targets and worked backward to identify compositions likely to meet them.

The researchers assembled 1,202 records of dielectric properties from 448 scientific papers, then screened a virtual chemical space containing approximately 150 million possible compositions. That process reduced the field to 37 candidates. Two were synthesized and tested experimentally, and both showed high dielectric constants along with strong stability at elevated temperatures.

Demand for heat-resistant dielectric materials is growing as technologies including electric vehicles, power electronics, and aerospace equipment increasingly operate at elevated temperatures. Relaxor ferroelectrics are particularly promising because their electrical response changes relatively gradually with temperature, potentially combining a high dielectric constant with performance across a wide temperature range.

Even among lead-free materials, however, the enormous number of possible elements and mixing ratios makes conventional trial-and-error searches expensive and slow. Another obstacle is the data itself. Useful measurements are scattered among the text, tables, and figures of numerous studies, while temperature, frequency, sample characteristics, and other experimental conditions differ across publications. Those inconsistencies make published information difficult to use directly for machine learning.

AI narrowed 150 million compositions to 37
The researchers addressed this problem by building a machine learning framework that organizes information from separate publications into one consistent dataset while using physical constraints to exclude compositions unlikely to exist.

Large language models were used to extract compositions and processing conditions from the text and tables of scientific papers. Graphs were converted into numerical data so the researchers could recover temperature-dependent dielectric properties.

Together, those sources produced 1,202 records containing composition, processing conditions, and dielectric properties from 448 papers. The researchers added 22 physical descriptors, including information related to elemental composition and microstructure, to make data from different publications more comparable.

25/08/2026

Diamond is not only a gemstone. This exceptionally hard form of carbon is also used in the tiny capsules that surround fuel in inertial confinement fusion experiments, and researchers think carbon may form diamonds that fall through the interiors of ice giants such as Neptune and Uranus.

Both environments expose diamond to immense pressure, yet experiments and computer simulations have long produced conflicting descriptions of what happens to the material under such extreme conditions.

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have now measured diamond as it melts at pressures reaching three times those found at Earth’s core. Their findings were published in Nature Physics.

“We were able to take tiny diamond samples and shock compress them to temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun and to pressures higher than the center of Neptune and Uranus—and still measure atomic structure, temperature, density, and optical reflectivity,” said author and LLNL scientist Marius Millot.

The measurements resolve two persistent disagreements in the field and bring experimental results into close alignment with simulations based on quantum mechanics. The findings could have consequences for inertial confinement fusion, where predictions suggest they may enable up to three times greater energy gain, as well as for models describing the interiors of planets under extreme pressure.

A decades-old mismatch is resolved
LLNL researchers have spent decades investigating diamond under extreme conditions. About 20 years ago, lab scientist Jon Eggert and his colleagues carried out pioneering high-pressure melting experiments and found that diamond became denser when it melted.

“While this is rather unusual among most materials, we all know an example of such behavior,” said LLNL scientist Marius Millot. “Liquid water is denser than ice, which makes ice cubes float. Jon’s finding means that diamond would float in liquid carbon at high pressures.”

But those influential experiments also left behind a major puzzle. The experimentally measured melting temperature differed from theoretical predictions by roughly 20%.

“No matter what the theorists did—even with the most advanced computer simulation techniques—they could not reproduce the experiments,” said Millot.

Another unanswered question emerged from experiments at Sandia National Laboratories. Researchers there used the powerful magnetic fields of the Z machine to shock compress small diamond samples and detected signals suggesting that diamond might transform into another crystalline form before melting. Simulations supported that possibility, but the atomic arrangement had never been measured directly.

X-rays capture diamond as it melts
To resolve both problems, LLNL researchers performed laser-driven dynamic compression experiments at the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE). At the Omega Laser Facility, lasers vaporized the outer surface of a tiny diamond sample, generating a powerful shockwave that compressed the material inside.

Obtaining precise measurements during this process was particularly difficult because the extreme pressure states lasted only about one billionth of a second. Within that brief interval, the researchers needed to collect multiple measurements, including X-ray diffraction, which reveals how atoms are arranged.

“This was the first time that shock-compressed diamond was probed with X-ray diffraction all the way up to melting,” said Millot. “These measurements are extremely difficult because carbon is a small and lightweight atom. It scatters very few X-rays, so the signal we needed to measure was quite faint.”

Improved diagnostic instruments developed and maintained by the LLE team produced a new measurement of diamond’s melting temperature. This time, the experimental value agreed almost perfectly with simulations, resolving the discrepancy that had persisted for about two decades.

“While it was frustrating to discover that our original temperature measurements were off by more than 1,000 degrees, it is exciting to see such a dramatic improvement in data quality with our new diagnostics,” said Eggert. “Even better, our original inference of melting has now been confirmed directly with X-ray diffraction.”

The experiment also produced a different result from the possible phase transition previously indicated at Sandia. Under a single shock, the carbon retained its diamond structure until it melted, with no intermediate crystalline phase detected.

“We think that is because the sample does not have time to change when it only experiences a single shock. It remains ‘trapped’ in the diamond structure,” said Millot.

That distinction may matter for future high-energy density experiments and simulations because it indicates that a material’s response depends not only on its pressure and temperature but also on the way the shock is delivered.

Slower shocks could boost fusion yield
The agreement between theory and experiment may have direct consequences for fusion experiments.

In inertial confinement fusion, powerful lasers generate shocks that force a tiny diamond capsule inward. The resulting implosion compresses the fusion fuel enclosed within it until the fuel reaches the extreme pressures and temperatures required for fusion.

During the first shock, the diamond needs to melt into a smooth, uniform fluid. Irregularities in the implosion can otherwise interfere with the fusion reaction. To ensure that melting occurs, scientists at LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) generally begin with a relatively strong shock.

“Our work indicates that we could use slightly slower initial shocks and still achieve full melting of the diamond in our NIF implosions,” said Millot. “This is exciting because such a slower shock would make the fusion fuel more compressible. That in turn increases the maximum energy yield we could obtain with the same laser energy.”

If other sources of performance loss can be controlled, predictions indicate that using these slower shocks could triple the energy gain.

The findings reach inside ice giants
The new measurements also provide useful information for scientists trying to understand Neptune and Uranus. Because the deep interiors of these ice giants cannot be observed directly, planetary researchers rely on experiments and models to determine what may occur far beneath their surfaces. Some studies suggest that carbon can crystallize at depth and fall through the planets as “diamond rain.” Since the latest experiments reached pressures greater than those expected inside ice giants, the revised melting data can help support more realistic models of their formation and evolution.

LLNL researchers next plan to use the capabilities of NIF to investigate diamond under even more extreme conditions that are difficult to reproduce elsewhere. They hope to determine how diamond capsules behave during later stages of an implosion and establish how long the diamond structure can remain stable when subjected to a sequence of multiple shock waves.

Reference: “Diamond melting in shock compression experiments at 1 TPa pressures” by Marius Millot, Federica Coppari, Amy Lazicki, Yong-Jae Kim, Otto L. Landen, Vladimir A. Smalyuk, Peter M. Celliers and Jon H. Eggert, 13 August 2026, Nature Physics.

14/08/2026

Sohni Dharti Allah Rakhay! 🇵🇰 💚

Our land is beautiful from every angle. This 14th of August, as we celebrate our nation's independence, ThinkM is proud to survey, inspect, and help build the future of this great country. We are committed to taking Pakistan's infrastructure to new heights with cutting-edge UAV technology and precision.

Happy Independence Day to all! ✨

31/07/2026

Free electrons offer chemists a new way to control reactions that conventional electron transfer rules would normally prevent.

Inside a reaction flask, an electron can determine which molecules combine and which remain unchanged. Chemists rely on this control to build complex compounds used in lifesaving drugs, advanced materials, and laboratory models of biological systems. One of their most useful tools is single-electron transfer, which can activate molecules that would otherwise resist reacting and allow them to join together.

For decades, however, a basic rule has restricted which reactions chemists can design. When two molecules compete to receive an electron, the electron ordinarily moves to the molecule that is easier to reduce. Researchers led by chemists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, working with colleagues at Colorado State University and the University of Colorado Boulder, have now developed a different approach. Reported in Nature, the strategy overcomes a persistent problem in electron transfer selectivity and may make previously inaccessible coupling reactions possible.

Free electrons bypass the usual preference
“Our catalyst works a bit differently because it actually just ejects the electron directly into solvent,” says Zachary Wickens, a professor in the UW–Madison Department of Chemistry who led the work. “This gives you, more or less, the strongest reductant and the most aggressive source of electrons you could possibly have since a free electron would rather be in basically any molecule than just on its own in solution.”

The analyses showed that the decisive selection does not occur when the electron first enters a molecule. Instead, it emerges during the steps that follow.

“Our calculations reveal how the decisive selectivity emerges after electron transfer has already occurred,” says Paton. “We found that the desired reactant can escape reversal and continue toward product, while the partner that is easier to reduce is effectively recycled back to its starting material. This explains how the reaction can succeed despite the usual thermodynamic preference.”

The molecule needed for the desired reaction can continue toward the final product, while the competing molecule that more readily accepts an electron reverses course and returns to its original form. This sequence allows chemists to overcome the usual preference imposed by thermodynamics.

A broader framework for redox chemistry
Wickens and his colleagues have spent the past five years developing the catalyst family that made this alternative approach to selectivity possible. Rather than introducing only one additional laboratory technique, the work provides a broader principle for planning reactions involving oxidation and reduction.

According to Wickens, “This is not just another synthetic method; it’s a new way to design redox reactions.”

Reference: “Selectivity Emerges from Indiscriminate Photoreduction” by Joseph M. Edgecomb, Arindam Sau, Niket Manoj, Matthew D. Resmini, Alissia F. Meyer, Robert S. Paton, Niels H. Damrauer and Zachary K. Wickens, 15 July 2026, Nature.

18/07/2026

One of the largest obstacles limiting the next generation of computer chips may finally have a solution.

The shrinking of computer chips has exposed a stubborn problem: even when a semiconductor can carry electricity efficiently, getting that electricity into the material can waste power and slow the device down.

Researchers in South Korea have now demonstrated a possible way around this obstacle. Their design allows electrical current to move smoothly from a conductive region into a semiconducting region without crossing the conventional junction between two separate materials. The team also directly mapped the movement of charges at the nanometer scale, providing experimental evidence that the new interface does not disrupt the current.

The advance could support the development of smaller and more energy-efficient electronics, including AI processors, low-power devices, and future logic chips.

The research was led by Professor Seungbum Hong of KAIST’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Kibum Kang at KAIST and Professor Sung Beom Cho’s team at Sungkyunkwan University.

Ultralow Barrier Charge Flow in a Monolithic 2D Junction
Infographic about the study. Credit: KAIST

Why Contact Resistance Holds Back Smaller Chips
Modern transistors depend on metal electrodes to deliver electricity into a semiconductor. However, the boundary where those materials meet can resist the movement of electrical charges. This contact resistance consumes energy, produces heat, and limits how much performance engineers can gain by making transistors smaller.

The problem is particularly important for two-dimensional semiconductors. These materials can be only one or a few atomic layers thick, making them attractive for electronics that may eventually need to operate at dimensions beyond the practical limits of conventional silicon. Yet their extreme thinness also makes it difficult to create efficient electrical contacts without damaging or altering the semiconductor.

Instead of placing a separate metal electrode on top of the semiconductor, the researchers created conductive and semiconducting regions inside one continuous sheet of platinum diselenide (PtSe₂).

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