研究者・留学生向け英文メールニュース「Tokyo Tech Bulletin No. 63」を配信

Ammonia, a carbon-free resource can be split into nitrogen and hydrogen gas with the help of metal catalysts like Nickel (Ni). However, these reactions often require very high operating temperatures. Now scientists from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have developed a highly efficient calcium imide (CaNH)-supported Ni catalyst that can decompose ammonia at temperatures 100°C lower than what conventional Ni catalysts require. This promising new catalyst can get us closer to sustainably producing hydrogen fuel.

Phase separation, which is one process that produces protocells (i.e., primitive compartments), is not just important on early Earth but can also be applied to various applied sciences in the modern day, ranging from biotechnology to synthetic biology to engineering. Scientists from ELSI, Tokyo Tech lay out various modern systems relevant to engineering and applied sciences that utilise phase separation phenomena that may have been relevant to the origin of life as well.

A formerly unnoticed monoclinic distortion in Ca2RuO4 explains its enormous negative thermal expansion (NTE) over a wide range of temperatures, discover researchers from Tokyo Tech. The work promises a different route for the design of unconventional NTE materials, with applications in engines, thermal barrier ceramics, and precision instruments, among other things.

Current beamforming networks (BFNs) based on which next-generation wireless systems are designed require multiple circuit layers for implementation, which increases costs. Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) and the European Space Agency have now introduced a novel matrix topology for a BFN that reduces the number of layers BFNs typically need. This paves the way for cheaper and more efficient next-generation wireless systems.

Iron sulfide minerals may have supported multiple redox conversions necessary for the origin of life. To fully discover the catalytic potential of iron sulfide minerals, a greater understanding of the electrochemical properties (the electron flow to and from iron and sulfur) and the interconversion of different structural forms of iron sulfide is necessary. A research team lead by ELSI, Tokyo Tech PI Shawn McGlynn discovered a unique iron sulfide phase occurring transiently during iron sulfide maturation. This finding helps to understand how minerals form, how electrons may have flowed during early catalysis and gives us new insight into using these materials as low-cost catalysts in industrial processes.