Feature Channels: Materials Science

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The latest research on plants brought to you by Newswise.

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Non-Bravais lattices were created by introducing a second non-equivalent lattice point. Near-infrared light is confined within a nanodisk periodic structure with controlled bound states in the continuum (BICs).

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North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (N.C. A&T), the largest historically black university and nationally recognized institution for excellence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, has joined the Brookhaven National Laboratory-led Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA).

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R&D Magazine has recognized four Argonne projects with R&D 100 Awards.

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A lead-free solar material developed by Berkeley Lab scientists offers a simpler and more sustainable approach to solar cell manufacturing. The advance could also benefit halide perovskites, a promising solar technology that requires much less energy to manufacture than silicon.

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Five technologies invented by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been selected for targeted investment through ORNL’s Technology Innovation Program.

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For the next six months, a camera system on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS) will be snapping photos of more than a dozen different material samples, gathering detailed information that will help researchers determine how – and why – the harsh conditions of space affect these materials.

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The Department of Energy will renew for another four years the Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems Center, led by Argonne National Laboratory. Partners include the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and Princeton University.

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New research reveals differences in pH, and more, about these previously mysterious environments

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UPTON, NY On Aug. 3, 2022, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory received the 2022 Microscopy Today Innovation Award for their development of a system with bonded x-ray lenses that make nanoscale resolution more accessible than ever before. When the team at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), a DOE Office of Science user facility, tested the new lens system, they achieved a resolution down to approx.

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Researchers at Berkeley Lab recently unveiled a new, fast, and readily reproducible way to map and identify defects in two-dimensional materials. The method could dramatically reduce the time required to characterize two-dimensional materials and use them in next-generation quantum and electronic devices.

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Access to centralized facilities at Penn State enabled Fariborz Tavangarian, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State Harrisburg, to land a CAREER award.

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Tiny materials hold big mysteries, the solutions to which could bring about next-generation electronics.

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In early August 2022, the Aerogel Architecture Award was presented at Empa for the second time. The winning project comes from Germany, while buildings from Switzerland take second and third place. They all impressively demonstrate how historical buildings can be upgraded to the latest energy standards thanks to an innovative use of aerogel materials.

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Instead of crafting wooden objects with a saw or chisel, scientists can now program a 3D printer to extrude flat wooden shapes that self-morph into complex, 3D shapes as they dry. Potential applications include furniture. The researchers will present their results today at ACS Fall 2022.

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Plastic upcycling efficiently converts plastics to valuable commodity chemicals while using less of the precious metal ruthenium. The method could recycle waste plastic pollution into useful products, helping keep it out of landfills.

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A new study by The University of South Australia has tested and verified the structural integrity of walls constructed from tyres packed with earth, with the results potentially providing new opportunities for the reuse of end-of-life tyres in the construction industry.

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Metallic glass is an important advanced alloy, holding promise for broad engineering applications.

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A two-day Forum on “Advanced Matter and Materials” is planned to focus on microelectronic packaging and mechanical behaviour of materials.

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Newly discovered magnetic interactions in the Kagome layered topological magnet TbMn6Sn6 could be the key to customizing how electrons flow through these materials. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory conducted an in-depth investigation of TbMn6Sn6 to better understand the material and its magnetic characteristics.

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Metal parts made using laser-based additive manufacturing (AM) can have residual strain resulting from rapid heating and cooling during printing. Annealing parts after printing reduces the strain but can cause unwanted structural changes. Researchers used neutron diffraction and neutron imaging to measure strain and determine optimal annealing for metal AM parts.

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New research from the group of Joshua Yuan, professor and chair of energy, environmental and chemical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis' McKelvey School of Engineering, may soon lead to even lighter, stronger carbon fiber -- and stronger plastics -- all using what is currently a waste product.

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Hitting a topological insulator with powerful pulses of circularly polarized laser light reveals what its electrons are doing – and how its surface switches from being an electron highway to an electron roadblock.

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Magnetic materials are essential to applications including data storage, cell phones, motors, and sensors. Researchers have synthesized a new, extremely small, thermally stable magnetic nanoparticle based on the principle of superatoms. The superatom structure groups electronic states in electron shells. This translates into a nanoparticle with high stability and a large spin magnetic moment.

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A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore has developed a new moisture-driven electricity generation device made of a thin layer of fabric, sea salt, carbon ink, and a special water-absorbing gel. The device works by keeping one end of the fabric dry, while the other end is perpetually wet. The difference in moisture content of the wet and dry regions of the carbon-coated fabric creates an electric current. This rechargeable fabric-like battery can produce electricity for more than 150 hours and provides higher electrical output than a conventional AA battery, potentially powering everyday electronics.

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Engineers have created intelligent 3D printers that can quickly detect and correct errors, even in previously unseen designs, or unfamiliar materials like ketchup and mayonnaise, by learning from the experiences of other machines.

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To increase the strength of concrete, researchers are coming up with new ways to reinforce - usually with metal structures or nanofibers. A RUDN University professor with colleagues from Iran discovered an easier way. Even from a conventional concrete mix, one can get a more durable material.

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Thanks to a $304,084 Major Research Instrumentation award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is now home to a state-of-the-art single-crystal X-ray diffractometer. The grant was awarded to a team of faculty led by Edwin Fohtung, associate professor of materials science and engineering.

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New investigations have produced a simpler model to elegantly explain previously observed behaviors for free carrier generation in organic solar cells. The model relies on well-established scientific descriptors, Marcus theory and entropy. Previous descriptions proposed new physical phenomena, but a new, simplified model provides a unified platform for understanding processes in both solution and solid-phase systems for organic photochemical conversion.

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Crystals consisting of wildly mixed ingredients - so-called high-entropy materials - are currently attracting growing scientific interest. Their advantage is that they are particularly stable at extremely high temperatures and could be used, for example, for energy storage and chemical production processes. An Empa team is producing and researching these mysterious ceramic materials, which have only been known since 2015.

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A transparent protective coating material that can be self-healed in 30 minutes when exposed to sunlight has been developed.

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Jaime Marian is a professor at UCLA in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, studying irradiation to develop materials and improve fusion reactor designs.

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Efficient adsorbents for industrial wastewater treatment are important to minimize potential environmental damage. In particular, organic dyes, as a significant group of industrial pollutants, are usually highly water soluble, non-degradable and many are toxic to carcinogenic. Changxia Li and Freddy Kleitz from the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Vienna together with colleagues now presented a new approach to design an innovative composite material, consisting of a nanoporous, ultrathin covalent organic framework (COF) anchored on graphene, that is highly efficient at filtering organic pollutants from water. The study was published in “Angewandte Chemie”.

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Researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have developed a color-changing film that consumers can stick onto foods and easily analyze nitrite levels by snapping a picture with a smartphone.

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A research partnership between Penn State and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) could enable an improved method to make a new type of semiconductor that is a few atoms thin and interacts with light in an unusual way. This new semiconductor could lead to new computing and communications technologies that use lower amounts of energy than current electronics.

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Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and their collaborators have used DNA to overcome a nearly insurmountable obstacle to engineer materials that would revolutionize electronics.

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University of Washington researchers have created the first-of-its kind flexible, wearable thermoelectric device that converts body heat to electricity.

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The Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) is pleased to announce that Professor Xun-Li Wang, currently Head and Chair Professor of the Department of Physics of the City University of Hong Kong (CityU), has been appointed as the Executive Director of the HKIAS, effective from 1 August 2022.

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Researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a synthetic chemistry approach to polymerize proteins inside of engineered microbes.

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A team of researchers at Empa developed a water-activated disposable paper battery. The researchers suggest that it could be used to power a wide range of low-power, single-use disposable electronics – such as smart labels for tracking objects, environmental sensors and medical diagnostic devices – and minimize their environmental impact. The proof-of-principle study has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.