Feature Channels: Materials Science

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Science Snapshots from Berkeley Lab: X-rays accelerate battery R&D; infrared microscopy goes off grid; substrates support 2D tech

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Georgia Tech researchers detail results of a study measuring filtration efficiency of several commercially available Covid-19 mask materials.

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Empa researcher Cristina Dominguez is developing a computer model, which can be used to plan electricity grids in developing countries. To collect data, she travelled to Kenya to get an idea of how people live without electricity and what developments access to the power grid can trigger.

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Researchers are harnessing the power of Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source to test new materials for use in spintronics. This emerging field uses electron spin instead of charge, allowing manufacturers to make smaller and more efficient electronic devices.

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A new, nondestructive optical technique will unlock more knowledge about nacre, and in the process could lead to a new understanding of climate history.

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Daniel Lopez, Liang Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, explains how he uses kirigami techniques in a potentially more efficient way to fabricate 3D nanostructures for use in flexible electronics. Lopez describes how this technique works and the potential future uses of these 3D nanostructures, referring to his research published in Advanced Materials on February 4, 2021.

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India’s Ambitious Clean Energy Goals, a Secret Pathway to Harnessing the Sun for Clean Energy, and a Supersmart Gas Sensor for Asthmatics

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New research has demonstrated that a magnetic uranium compound can have strong thermoelectric properties, generating four times the transverse voltage from heat than the previous record in a cobalt-manganese-gallium compound.

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Microswimmers are artificial, self-propelled, microscopic particles.

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UPTON, NY — Inspired by the mastery of artificial intelligence (AI) over games like Go and Super Mario, scientists at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) trained an AI agent — an autonomous computational program that observes and acts — how to conduct research experiments at superhuman levels by using the same approach. The Brookhaven team published their findings in the journal Machine Learning: Science and Technology and implemented the AI agent as part of the research capabilities at NSLS-II.

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At Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry, scientists recruited a world-leading microscope to capture atomic-resolution, high-speed images of gold atoms self-organizing, falling apart, and then reorganizing many times before settling into a stable, ordered crystal.

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Researchers led by TMDU fabricate a material that will aid bone healing, help medical practitioners clearly assess the full damage to bones after an injury, and clarify probable patient outcomes.

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Scientists at Berkeley Lab have demonstrated how to image samples of heavy elements as small as a single nanogram. The new approach will help scientists advance new technologies for medical imaging and cancer therapies.

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Researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have found an easy way to make patterned materials having complex microstructures with variations in mechanical, thermal and optical properties –– without the need for masks, molds or printers.

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Researchers reporting in ACS’ Nano Letters have transformed copper nanowires into metal foams that could be used in facemasks and air filtration systems. The foams filter efficiently, decontaminate easily for reuse and are recyclable.

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An international group of scientists from India and Russia has created edible food films for packaging fruits, vegetables, poultry, meat, and seafood.

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Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have observed novel helical magnetic ordering in the topological compound EuIn2As2 which supports exotic electrical conduction tunable by a magnetic field.

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Empa scientists are investigating how roads could be reinforced with simple means and recycled easily after use. Their tools are a robot and a few meters of string.

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One prospective source of renewable energy is hydrogen gas produced from water with the aid of sunlight.

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They discovered that the nature of the battery electrolyte, which carries charge between the electrodes, has a big impact on aging – a factor that needs to be taken into account when developing electrolytes that maximize a battery’s performance.

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Columbia Engineering researchers, working with Brookhaven National Laboratory, report today that they have built designed nanoparticle-based 3D materials that can withstand a vacuum, high temperatures, high pressure, and high radiation. This new fabrication process results in robust and fully engineered nanoscale frameworks that not only can accommodate a variety of functional nanoparticle types but also can be quickly processed with conventional nanofabrication methods.

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Fermilab user and University of Chicago PhD candidate Ihar Lobach explains how his team used Fermilab’s IOTA electron storage ring to glean insights that can be difficult to obtain on an electron beam and how this proof of principle could benefit the Advanced Photon Source Upgrade at Argonne National Laboratory.

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Two South Dakota State University professors are evaluating a printable copper alloy NASA is developing for combustion chambers of next-generation rocket engines used for space travel.

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Hard times for burglars and safecrackers: Empa researchers have developed an invisible "keyhole" made of printed, transparent electronics. Only authorized persons know where to enter the access code.

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Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and their partners from Clemson University have discovered a green, low-energy process to break down polystyrene, a type of plastic that is widely used in foam packaging materials, disposable food containers, cutlery, and many other applications.

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Scientists have found an energy band gap—an energy range where no electrons are allowed—opens at a point where two allowed energy bands intersect on the surface of an iron-based superconductor. This unusual electronic energy structure could be used for quantum information science and electronics.

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The National University of Singapore (NUS) and Johnson Controls, the global leader for smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, will embark on a joint collaboration on smart buildings research. Johnson Controls will commit about S$5 million into this research programme, and teams from both organisations will work together to address industry-wide challenges.

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The electron is one of the fundamental particles in nature we read about in school. Its behavior holds clues to new ways to store digital data. A new study explores alternative materials to improve capacity and shrink the size of digital data storage technologies. Specifically, the Michigan Tech team found that chromium-doped nanowires with a germanium core and silicon shell can be an antiferromagnetic semiconductor.

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This project at Argonne National Laboratory is focused on better understanding light-responsive organic materials for a future with flexible, highly efficient photovoltaics and cutting-edge optical tools.

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ORNL identifies a statistical relationship between the growth of cities and the spread of paved surfaces. // ORNL successfully demonstrates a technique to heal dendrites that formed in a solid electrolyte. // ORNL combines additive manufacturing with conventional compression molding.

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Researchers design superalloys by embedding particles in a metal matrix. The particles and matrix can deform differently under stress, causing components to fail. Researchers used neutrons to probe the internal stresses in two superalloys at high temperatures and loads to obtain new insights on deformation and validate mathematical models. This will lead to components with longer life and higher reliability.

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In a collaborative effort to “recover, recycle and reuse,” Argonne strengthens research that addresses pollution, greenhouse gases and climate change and aligns with new policies for carbon emission reduction.

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Jovan Tatar, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and an affiliated faculty in the Center for Composite Materials, has received a prestigious NSF CAREER Award to create new durable adhesive joints for concrete structures by mimicking mussel adhesion—how the shellfish stick to things. Developing such a resilient adhesive could help pave the way for the next generation of affordable housing and infrastructure.

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URI chemical engineering professor embeds nanosensors in microfibers to create ‘smart bandage’

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Fast-tracking clinical trials, vaccine delivery, and personal protective equipment through engineering: Live virtual event for March 11, 3PM ET

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A new type of one-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures could lead to miniaturized electronics that are currently not possible.

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Engineers created light-activated materials that execute precise movements and form complex shapes without the need for wires, motors or other energy sources. The research could lead to smart light-driven systems such as high-efficiency solar cells that automatically follow the sun’s direction.

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Scientists have long sought to develop synthetic membranes with the selectivity and high-speed transport of natural membranes. New research designed a unique polymer-based material as effective as natural membrane proteins in transporting protons through membranes. The finding could have applications in batteries, water purification, biofuels, and pharmaceuticals, and in scalable synthetic materials for entirely new technologies.

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As NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover continues to explore the surface of Mars, scientists on Earth have developed a new nanoscale metal carbide that could act as a “superlubricant” to reduce wear and tear on future rovers.Researchers in Missouri S&T’s chemistry department and Argonne National Laboratory’s Center for Nanoscale Materials, working with a class of two-dimensional nanomaterials known as MXenes, have discovered that the materials work well to reduce friction.

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A high-performance composite material invented at the University of Delaware has earned $20M in federal funding in the last year to explore applications such as flying taxis and using robots to repair natural gas pipelines.

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Irvine, Calif., March 11, 2021 – Catastrophic collapse of materials and structures is the inevitable consequence of a chain reaction of locally confined damage – from solid ceramics that snap after the development of a small crack to metal space trusses that give way after the warping of a single strut. In a study published this week in Advanced Materials, engineers at the University of California, Irvine and the Georgia Institute of Technology describe the creation of a new class of mechanical metamaterials that delocalize deformations to prevent failure.

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The new material, which the Advanced Photon Source helped characterize, is strong yet stretchable, and could be ideal for creating artificial tendons and ligaments for prosthetics and robotics.

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Khalil Amine, a senior materials scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the highest professional distinction accorded to academic inventors.

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Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee developed an automated workflow to study metal halide perovskites, materials with outstanding properties for harnessing light that can be used to make solar cells, energy-efficient lighting and sensors.

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Our bones adapt to strain and get stronger, and now robots could do the same. New research from Aaron Esser-Kahn demonstrates how a soft gel can become harder when exposed to vibration

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The discovery, published in Nature Materials, has potentially transformative consequences for the field.

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Empa researchers have succeeded in extracting the pigment melanin in large quantities from a fungus. The gigantic Armillaria fungus in the service of science is one of the largest and oldest living organisms in the world. Potential applications for the "black gold" range from wood preservatives to the construction of water filters and historic musical instruments.

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The University of Delaware's Stephanie Law is being recognized as a leading expert in molecular beam epitaxy, a technique used to make promising, novel materials precisely designed for use in many applications, such as ultra-sensitive gas sensing or new qubits for quantum computing. Law received the Young Investigator Award from the 21st International Conference on Molecular Beam Epitaxy 2020.

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What is the origin of black holes and how is that question connected with another mystery, the nature of dark matter? Dark matter comprises the majority of matter in the Universe, but its nature remains unknown.

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In a new study from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, researchers have demonstrated a new material that has an excellent balance of parameters needed to generate a good accelerator beam.