Cornell researchers took a novel approach to explore the way microstructure emerges in a 3D-printed metal alloy: They bombarded it with X-rays while the material was being printed.
Scientists have found that concrete’s compressive strength can be increased by 4,1% and its flexural strength by 3,4% by adding a small amount of coconut shell (only 5%). In doing so, the material’s performance increased by 6,1% compared to clear concrete.
Russian scientists have found out that a mixture of iodine-derived organic salts and silver reduce their total catalytic activity — that is the ability to speed up chemical reactions, — but such a hybrid catalyst turned out to be more stable than corresponding organic catalysts in the absence of the metal.
Mercouri Kanatzidis, an Argonne and Northwestern University materials scientist, has studied sulfur-containing materials called chalcogenides for more than 30 years. A new chalcogenide mineral has just been named for him.
Dr. Song, Kahye of the Intelligent Robotics Research Center at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), along with Professor Lee, Dae-Young of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), have jointly developed a soft gripper with a woven structure that can grip objects weighing more than 100 kg with 130 grams of material.
Researchers have discovered that linear defects can propagate through a material faster than sound waves do.
This gives scientists a new appreciation of the damage they might do to a broad range of materials in extreme conditions
Environmentally friendly, ubiquitously available and recyclable: Clay is a clean alternative among building materials. Empa researcher Ellina Bernard is trying to find out how the coveted material can actually be used to build in a sustainable and stable way. Her research project is being funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) with an Ambizione grant.
An ideal holographic 3D display should offer large viewing angle, full color, and low speckle noise. A new holographic 3D display system with a large viewing angle of 73.4° has been proposed. The system uses spatial light modulators (SLMs) and liquid crystal grating to achieve maximum diffraction modulation, which allows for a larger hologram size and a wider viewing angle. The proposed system has potential applications in education, culture, and entertainment.
Interests surrounding the development of on-chip nonlinear optical devices have grown consistently in the past decades due to their tremendous applications. Developing efficient on-chip nonlinear optical devices for these applications is needed to improve the existing photonic approaches. The combination of well-known photonic chip design platforms and different two-dimensional layered materials has opened the road for more versatile and efficient structures and devices, which has the great potential to unlock numerous new possibilities.
Superconductors are materials that offer zero electric resistance to the flow of current on being cooled down below a certain critical temperature. Typically, superconductors have a very low critical temperature, close to absolute zero.
The Virginia Tech College of Engineering has received a $10 million, five-year Department of Defense award to fund groundbreaking research with potential military and commercial implications.
Will printed photographs ever match the precision of a mirror's reflection? Even though the answer may still be no for a while, Osaka Metropolitan University scientists have made significant strides in precision printing with their innovative optical vortex laser-based technique that allows for the precise placement of minuscule droplets with micrometer-scale accuracy.
Flat lithium-metal coin cell batteries combine solid and liquid components in a way that makes it difficult to see how they fail. In this study, scientists froze a battery, cut it open with a super-fast laser, and took pictures of the interacting components at the microscopic scale.
A materials scientist who specializes in superconductors, Sarrao brings a deep background in national lab leadership and the evolution of SLAC science.
Argonne’s manufacturing center joins with Illinois manufacturers to tour the state and foster innovation and collaboration. Argonne's materials expertise is available to help propel U.S. manufacturing forward.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced funding for a new research center at Brookhaven National Laboratory focused on exploring the chemical and mechanical properties of cement composites and other materials used in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS).
Scientists demonstrated exceptional performance of a material for high energy X-ray detection. The material displayed excellent endurance under ultra-high X-ray flux and has relatively low cost.
Scientists have demonstrated “multielement ink” – the first “high-entropy” semiconductor that can be processed at low-temperature or room temperature. The new material could enable cost-effective and energy-efficient semiconductor manufacturing.
Case Western Reserve physics professor Giuseppe Strangi is leading a research group developing new optical coatings, which are as thin as a few atomic layers. They can simultaneously transmit and reflect narrow-banded light with unparalleled vividness and purity of the colors.
Scientists at the Columbia University, University of Connecticut, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory were able to fabricate a pure form of glass and coat specialized pieces of DNA with it to create a material that was not only stronger than steel, but incredibly lightweight.
Studying prehistoric production processes of birch bark tar using computational modelling reveals what kinds of cognition were required for the materials produced by Neanderthal and early modern humans.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have conducted a comprehensive life cycle, cost and carbon emissions analysis on 3D-printed molds for precast concrete and determined the method is economically beneficial compared to conventional wood molds.
Quantum computers process information using quantum bits, or qubits, based on fragile, short-lived quantum mechanical states. To make qubits robust for applications, researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory sought to create a new material system.
By mimicking a desert-dwelling chameleon, a team reporting in ACS’ Nano Letters has developed an energy-efficient, cost-effective coating. The material could keep buildings cool in the summers — or warm in the winters — without additional energy.
Nanosystems with opportunity to control their characteristics via combination of electrical/optical signals with external biasing is the next stage of nanophotonics evolution.
Scientists are interested in improving the stability of mixed halide-perovskites as the basis for less expensive solar cells. Current methods of making these materials produce structural defects due to rapid and unequal crystallization when the material forms. Researchers have now reported a new way to make perovskites that have fewer defects and improved stability.
Researchers discover how molecules in ancient glass rearrange and recombine with minerals over centuries to form a patina of photonic crystals – ordered arrangements of atoms that filter and reflect light in very specific ways - an analog of materials used in communications, lasers and solar cells
The research team led by Seung-Cheol Lee, director of the Indo-Korea Science and Technology Center(IKST) at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology(KIST), has developed a method to predict the distribution of molecules on the surface using the magnetoresistance property of MXene.
A team of scientists with Oak Ridge National Laboratory has investigated the behavior of hafnium oxide, or hafnia, because of its potential for use in novel semiconductor applications.
University of Illinois researchers received NSF funding to acquire a fully automated polymer analysis instrument to be housed at the Beckman Institute.
“Cosmologists believe that only about 20% of the total matter is made of regular or ‘baryonic’ matter, which includes stars, galaxies, atoms, and life,” explains first author Dr. Mohamed Abdullah, a researcher at the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics-Egypt, Chiba University, Japan.
Looking at X-ray movies with computer vision gives researchers an incredible new view of how nanoparticles in a lithium-ion battery electrode work during charging and discharging.
Russian scientists have developed an anti-bacterial gel based on silver and sulfur-containing amino acids. It is a hundred times more effective than other silver-based counterparts that also fights bacteria causing nosocomial infections.
A high-tech invisible ink invented at Sandia National Laboratories could become the newest tool for stopping counterfeit goods. The research team is now seeking partnerships to help develop and ultimately commercialize the new technology.
Researchers have discovered that applying plastic deformation to the quantum material strontium titanate causes defects (known as dislocations) to organize themselves into repeating structures. These changes lead to improvements of strontium titanate’s superconducting and ferroelectric properties.
Switzerland is built, at least as far as the road network is concerned. Therefore – and despite recycling –, significantly more reclaimed asphalt is generated today than can be reused in new roads. Empa researcher Martins Zaumanis has set himself the goal of increasing the recycled content of asphalt – with adapted production methods and simple instructions. Two test sections with recycled asphalt in Uster and on the Lukmanier Pass are promising.
The research team led by Dr. Se-Jong Kim and Dr. Juwon Na of the Materials Data Management Center in the Materials Digital Platform Division together with the research team led by Professor Seungchul Lee of POSTECH has developed a technology that can automatically identify and quantify materials microstructure from microscopic images through human-in-the-loop machine learning.
A "living material," made of a natural polymer combined with genetically engineered bacteria, could offer a sustainable and eco-friendly solution to clean pollutants from water. UC San Diego researchers developed their living material using a seaweed-based polymer and bacteria that have been programmed to produce an enzyme that transforms various organic pollutants into harmless compounds. In tests, their material decontaminated water solutions tainted with a pollutant from textile manufacturing: indigo carmine, a blue dye that is used to color denim.
Controllable deformations introduced in periodic structures may lead to appearance of disclinations and open new routes for construction of higher-order topological insulators with various discrete rotational symmetries, which were observed so far only in linear regime.
Graphene-based two-dimensional materials have recently emerged as a focus of scientific exploration due to their exceptional structural, mechanical, electrical, optical, and thermal properties.
The safety of tall buildings in the world's cities, in the face of extreme external traumas like vehicle impacts, blasts or fires, has been tested using a model developed by structural engineers at the University of Surrey – with reassuring results.
High-brightness femtosecond laser sources with large spectral coverage are indispensable tools that enable optical spectroscopy to simultaneously resolve the ultrafast dynamics of multiple physical, chemical, and biological processes of a sample.
The Empa spin-off BTRY wants to revolutionize rechargeable batteries: Their thin-film batteries are not only safer and longer-lasting than conventional lithium-ion batteries, they are also much more environmentally friendly to manufacture and can be charged and discharged in just one minute. For now, the battery is very small, but the founders have big plans for it.
To improve battery performance and production, Penn State researchers and collaborators have developed a new fabrication approach that could make for more efficient batteries that maintain energy and power levels.
A professor at Binghamton University, State University of New York has received a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop electronic devices made entirely of paper.