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Originally published by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

A team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has found a rare quantum material in which electrons move in coordinated ways, essentially “dancing.” Straining the material creates an electronic band structure that sets the stage for exotic, more tightly correlated behavior — akin to tangoing — among Dirac electrons, which are especially mobile electric charge carriers that may someday enable faster transistors. The results are published in the journal Science Advances.

“We combined correlation and topology in one system,” said co-principal investigator Jong Mok Ok, who conceived the study with principal investigator Ho Nyung Lee of ORNL. Topology probes properties that are preserved even when a geometric object undergoes deformation, such as when it is stretched or squeezed. “The research could prove indispensable for future information and computing technologies,” added Ok, a former ORNL postdoctoral fellow.

In conventional materials, electrons move predictably (for example, lethargically in insulators or energetically in metals). In quantum materials in which electrons strongly interact with each other, physical forces cause the electrons to behave in unexpected but correlated ways; one electron’s movement forces nearby electrons to respond.

To study this tight tango in topological quantum materials, Ok led the synthesis of an extremely stable crystalline thin film of a transition metal oxide. He and colleagues made the film using pulsed-laser epitaxy and strained it to compress the layers and stabilize a phase that does not exist in the bulk crystal. The scientists were the first to stabilize this phase.

Using theory-based simulations, co-principal investigator Narayan Mohanta, a former ORNL postdoctoral fellow, predicted the band structure of the strained material. “In the strained environment, the compound that we investigated, strontium niobate, a perovskite oxide, changes its structure, creating a special symmetry with a new electron band structure,” Mohanta said.

Different states of a quantum mechanical system are called “degenerate” if they have the same energy value upon measurement. Electrons are equally likely to fill each degenerate state. In this case, the special symmetry results in four states occurring in a single energy level.

“Because of the special symmetry, the degeneracy is protected,” Mohanta said. “The Dirac electron dispersion that we found here is new in a material.” He performed calculations with Satoshi Okamoto, who developed a model for discovering how crystal symmetry influences band structure.

“Think of a quantum material under a magnetic field as a 10-story building with residents on each floor,” Ok posited. “Each floor is a defined, quantized energy level. Increasing the field strength is akin to pulling a fire alarm that drives all the residents down to the ground floor to meet at a safe place. In reality, it drives all the Dirac electrons to a ground energy level called the extreme quantum limit.”

Lee added, “Confined here, the electrons crowd together. Their interactions increase dramatically, and their behavior becomes interconnected and complicated.” This correlated electron behavior, a departure from a single-particle picture, sets the stage for unexpected behavior, such as electron entanglement. In entanglement, a state Einstein called “spooky action at a distance,” multiple objects behave as one. It is key to realizing quantum computing.

“Our goal is to understand what will happen when electrons enter the extreme quantum limit, where we find phenomena we still don’t understand,” Lee said. “This is a mysterious area.”

Speedy Dirac electrons hold promise in materials including graphene, topological insulators and certain unconventional superconductors. ORNL’s unique material is a Dirac semimetal, in which electron valence and conduction bands cross and this topology yields surprising behavior. Ok led measurements of the Dirac semimetal’s strong electron correlations.

“We found the highest electron mobility in oxide-based systems,” Ok said. “This is the first oxide-based Dirac material reaching the extreme quantum limit.”

That bodes well for advanced electronics. Theory predicts that it should take about 100,000 tesla (a unit of magnetic measurement) for electrons in conventional semiconductors to reach the extreme quantum limit. The researchers took their strain-engineered topological quantum material to Eun Sang Choi of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at the University of Florida to see what it would take to drive electrons to the extreme quantum limit. There, he measured quantum oscillations showing the material would require only 3 tesla to achieve that.

Other specialized facilities allowed the scientists to experimentally confirm the behavior Mohanta predicted. The experiments occurred at low temperatures so that electrons could move around without getting bumped by atomic-lattice vibrations. Jeremy Levy’s group at the University of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Quantum Institute confirmed quantum transport properties. With synchrotron x-ray diffraction, Hua Zhou at the Advanced Photon Source, a DOE Office of Science user facility at Argonne National Laboratory, confirmed that the material’s crystallographic structure stabilized in the thin film phase yielded the unique Dirac band structure. Sangmoon Yoon and Andrew Lupini, both of ORNL, conducted scanning transmission electron microscopy experiments at ORNL that showed that the epitaxially grown thin films had sharp interfaces between layers and that the transport behaviors were intrinsic to strained strontium niobate.

“Until now, we could not fully explore the physics of the extreme quantum limit due to the difficulties in pushing all electrons to one energy level to see what would happen,” Lee said. “Now, we can push all the electrons to this extreme quantum limit by applying only a few tesla of magnetic field in a lab, accelerating our understanding of quantum entanglement.”

The title of the Science Advances paper is “Correlated Oxide Dirac Semimetal in the Extreme Quantum Limit.”

The DOE Office of Science supported the research. High magnetic field measurements were performed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, which is supported by the National Science Foundation and the state of Florida. The research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a DOE Office of Science user facility at Argonne National Laboratory; its extraordinary facility operations to provide beam time during the pandemic were supported in part by the DOE Office of Science through the National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory, a consortium of DOE national laboratories focused on the response to COVID-19, with funding provided by the Coronavirus CARES Act.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

 

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Tesla, Trump alliance falls apart – but there’s BIG news for electric semi fleets

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Tesla, Trump alliance falls apart – but there's BIG news for electric semi fleets

After a month off trying to wrap our heads around all the chaos surrounding EVs, solar, and everything else in Washington, we’re back with the biggest EV news stories of the day from Tesla, Ford, Volvo, and everyone else on today’s hiatus-busting episode of Quick Charge!

It just gets worse and worse for the Tesla true believers – especially those willing to put their money where Elon’s mouth is! One believer is set to lose nearly $50,000 betting on Tesla’s ability to deliver a Robotaxi service by the end of June (didn’t happen), and the controversial CEO’s most recent spat with President Trump had TSLA down nearly 5% in pre-morning trading.

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

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Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.


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Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

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Hyundai is about to reveal a new EV and it could be the affordable IONIQ 2

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Hyundai is about to reveal a new EV and it could be the affordable IONIQ 2

Hyundai is getting ready to shake things up. A new electric crossover SUV, likely the Hyundai IONIQ 2, is set to debut in the coming months. It will sit below the Kona Electric as Hyundai expands its entry-level EV lineup.

Is Hyundai launching the IONIQ 2 in 2026?

After launching the Inster late last year, Hyundai is already preparing to introduce a new entry-level EV in Europe.

Xavier Martinet, President and CEO of Hyundai Europe, confirmed that the new EV will be revealed “in the next few months.” It will be built in Europe and scheduled to go on sale in mid-2026.

Hyundai’s new electric crossover is expected to be a twin to the Kia EV2, which will likely arrive just ahead of it next year.

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It will be underpinned by the same E-GMP platform, which powers all IONIQ and Kia EV models (EV3, EV4, EV5, EV6, and EV9).

Like the Kia EV3, it will likely be available with either a 58.3 kWh or 81.4 kWh battery pack option. The former provides a WLTP range of 267 miles while the latter is rated with up to 372 miles. All trims are powered by a single electric motor at the front, producing 201 hp and 209 lb-ft of torque.

Kia-EV2
Kia EV2 Concept (Source: Kia)

Although it may share the same underpinnings as the EV2, Hyundai’s new entry-level EV will feature an advanced new software and infotainment system.

According to Autocar, the interior will represent a “step change” in terms of usability and features. The new system enables new functions, such as ambient lighting and sounds that adjust depending on the drive mode.

Hyundai-IONIQ-2-EV
Hyundai E&E tech platform powered by Pleos (Source: Hyundai)

It’s expected to showcase Hyundai’s powerful new Pleos software and infotainment system. As an end-to-end software platform, Pleos connects everything from the infotainment system (Pleos Connect) to the Vehicle Operating System (OS) and the cloud.

Pleos is set to power Hyundai’s upcoming software-defined vehicles (SDVs) with new features like autonomous driving and real-time data analysis.

Hyundai-new-Pleos-OS
Hyundai’s next-gen infotainment system powered by Pleos (Source: Hyundai)

As an Android-based system, Pleos Connect features a “smartphone-like UI” with new functions including multi-window viewing and an AI voice assistant.

The new electric crossover is expected to start at around €30,000 ($35,400), or slightly less than the Kia EV3, priced from €35,990 ($42,500). It will sit between the Inster and Kona Electric in Hyundai’s lineup.

Hyundai said that it would launch the first EV with its next-gen infotainment system in Q2 2026. Will it be the IONIQ 2? Hyundai is expected to unveil the new entry-level EV at IAA Mobility in September. Stay tuned for more info. We’ll keep you updated with the latest.

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Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready

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Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it's almost ready

Tesla has unveiled its lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery cell factory in Nevada and claims that it is nearly ready to start production.

Like several other automakers using LFP cells, Tesla relies heavily on Chinese manufacturers for its battery cell supply.

Tesla’s cheapest electric vehicles all utilize LFP cells, and its entire range of energy storage products, Megapacks and Powerwalls, also employ the more affordable LFP cell chemistry from Chinese manufacturers.

This reliance on Chinese manufacturers is less than ideal and particularly complicated for US automakers and battery pack manufacturers like Tesla, amid an ongoing trade war between the US and virtually the entire world, including China.

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As of last year, a 25% tariff already applied to battery cells from China, but this increased to more than 80% under Trump before he paused some tariffs on China. It remains unclear where they will end up by the time negotiations are complete and the trade war is resolved, but many expect it to be higher.

Prior to Trump taking power, Tesla had already planned to build a small LFP battery factory in the US to avoid the 25% tariffs.

The automaker had secured older manufacturing equipment from one of its battery cell suppliers, CATL, and planned to deploy it in the US for small-scale production.

Tesla has now released new images of the factory in Nevada and claimed that it is “nearing completion”:

Here are a few images from inside the factory (via Tesla):

Previous reporting stated that Tesla aims to produce about 10 GWh of LFP battery cells per year at the new factory.

The cells are expected to be used in Tesla’s Megapack, produced in the US. Tesla currently has a capacity to produce 40 GWh of Megapacks annually at its factory in California. The company is also working on a new Megapack factory in Texas.

Ford is also developing its own LFP battery cell factory in Michigan, but this facility is significantly larger, with a planned production capacity of 35 GWh.

Electrek’s Take

It’s nice to see this in the US. LFP was a US/Canada invention, with Arumugam Manthiram and John B. Goodenough doing much of the early work, and researchers in Quebec making several contributions to help with commercialization.

But China saw the potential early and invested heavily in volume manufacturing of LFP cells and it now dominates the market.

Tesla is now producing most of its vehicles with LFP cells and all its stationary energy storage products.

It makes sense to invest in your own production. However, Tesla is unlikely to catch up to BYD and CATL, which dominate LFP cell production.

The move will help Tesla avoid tariffs on a small percentage of its Megapacks produced in the US. Ford’s effort is more ambitious.

It’s worth noting that both Ford’s and Tesla’s LFP plants were planned before Trump’s tariffs, which have had limited success in bringing manufacturing back to the US.

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