Scientific Highlights
Smart glass and music from SLS
Every year the PSI Founder Fellowship Programme supports new ideas for innovative applications with up to 150,000 Swiss francs.
Excitons coupling to octahedral tilts in Pb nano-perovskites
Excitons coupling to octahedral tilts in Pb nano-perovskites
Crystal field rules heavy fermion delocalization in SmCoIn5
Crystal field rules heavy fermion delocalization
"Core-shell" cathodes for high performance Li-ion batteries
“Li-rich Ni-rich” core-shell particles are engineered as layered cathode materials for high energy Li-Ion batteries, including a controllable outer "Li-rich Mn-rich" shell improving cyclability.
Cobalt-free layered perovskites RBaCuFeO5+d (R = 4f lanthanide) as electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction
Co oxides with perovskite-related structure are particularly promising, cost-effective OER catalysts. However, the increasing Co demand by the battery industry is pushing the search for Co-free alternatives. Here we investigate the potential of the Co-free layered perovskite family RBaCuFeO5+δ (R = 4f lanthanide), where we identify the critical structural and electronic variables leading to high OER catalytical performance. The employed methodology, based in the use of advanced neutron and X-ray synchrotron techniques combined with ab initio DFT calculations allowed to reveal LaBaCuFeO5+δ as new, promising Co-free electroctalyst. Moreover, we could show that this material can be industrially produced in nanocrystalline form. We believe that the reported results and methodology may contribute to the implementation of new technologies aimed to generate energy with lower carbon emissions, and can also inspire the scientific community in their search of other Co-free materials with good OER electrocatalytical properties.
Additive manufacturing of alloys with programmable microstructure and properties
Using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology, we devise special processing strategies to ‘program’ the thermal stability of the as-printed alloy, such that it is possible to decide, a priori, how the material’s microstructure will evolve upon heat treatment
Whitlockite in mammary microcalcifications is not associated with breast cancer
Microcalcifications, small deposits of calcium-containing minerals that form in breast tissue, are often, but not always, a warning sign of breast cancer. The relationship between microcalcifications and cancer has not been fully understood thus far. Researchers discovered now that the relationship between microcalcifications and tumors seems to be linked to the presence of a particular mineral called whitlockite, which is rich in magnesium and is found in microcalcifications only in the absence of tumors.
Efficient magnetic switching in a correlated spin glass
The interplay between spin-orbit interaction and magnetic order is one of the most active research fields in condensed matter physics and drives the search for materials with novel, and tunable, magnetic and spin properties. Here we report on a variety of unique and unexpected observations in thin multiferroic Ge1−xMnxTe films.
SLS 2.0: “Dark time” during the upgrade
The SLS is shutting down temporarily as it undergoes a major upgrade.