Building a harder diamond
University of TsukubaResearchers at the University of Tsukuba used computer calculations to design a new carbon-based material even harder than diamond.
Researchers at the University of Tsukuba used computer calculations to design a new carbon-based material even harder than diamond.
While the use of face masks in public has been widely recommended by health officials during the current COVID-19 pandemic, there are relatively few specific guidelines pertaining to mask materials and designs. A study in Physics of Fluids looks to better understand which types are best for controlling respiratory droplets that could contain viruses. The team experimented with different choices in material and design to determine how well face masks block droplets as they exit the mouth.
Astronomers have made the first measurement of spin-orbit alignment for a distant 'super-Jupiter' planet, demonstrating a technique that could enable breakthroughs in the quest to understand how exoplanetary systems form and evolved.
Stress wave propagation through granular material is important for detecting the magnitude of earthquakes, locating oil and gas reservoirs, designing acoustic insulation and designing materials for compacting powders. A team of researchers including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) physicist Eric Herbold used X-ray measurements and analyses to show that velocity scaling and dispersion in wave transmission is based on grainy particle arrangements and chains of force between them, while reduction of wave intensity is caused mainly from grainy particle arrangements alone.
There is more than cool looks about hip clothing for top performance: Thanks to a variety of smart technologies, high-tech clothing today is capable of analyzing body functions or actively optimizing the microclimate. The basis of these novel textiles are “smart” fibers and biocompatible composites that also contribute to innovations in biomedical research such as sensors, drug delivery systems or tissue engineering.
A new fundamental understanding of the behavior of polymeric relaxor ferroelectrics could lead to advances in flexible electronics, actuators and transducers, energy storage, piezoelectric sensors and electrocaloric cooling, according to a team of researchers at Penn State and North Carolina State.
Scientists developed a new technique that uses intense X-ray pulses to measure how atoms move in a sheet of material one molecule thick. Scientists showed that movement of the atoms in a tungsten-selenium “blanket” layer caused the layer to stretch but not wrinkle. The research can help produce materials with new optical and electronic properties.
Researchers are using high-resolution printing technology and the unique properties of graphene to make low-cost biosensors to monitor food safety and livestock health.
A team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory implanted atoms precisely into the top layers of ultra-thin crystals, yielding two-sided Janus structures that may prove useful in developing energy and information technologies.
Although most beer consumers can distinguish between different bitter tastes in beer, this does not appear to influence which beer they like. It seems they just like beer, regardless of the source of the bitterness.
Irvine, Calif., June 24, 2020 – The Lincoln Dynamic Foundation, created by University of California, Irvine alumnus John D. Lincoln, has made a $1 million gift to the university’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering to establish the World Institute for Sustainable Development of Materials. The new institute will advance interdisciplinary research, education and knowledge translation in an effort to innovate, evaluate and adopt technologies that utilize safer, nontoxic chemicals and materials, with the goal of mitigating environmental impacts.
A Cornell-led collaboration is turning DNA from organic matter – such as onions, fish and algae – into biodegradable gels and plastics. The resulting materials could be used to create everyday plastic objects, unusually strong adhesives, multifunctional composites and more effective methods for drug delivery, without harming the environment the way petrochemical-based materials do.
Argonne scientists Michael Bishof, Maria Chan, Marco Govini, Alessandro Lovato, Bogdan Nicolae and Stefan Wild have received funding for their research as part of DOE’s Early Career Research Program.
A SDSU scientist is using inorganic salts to solubilize cellulose extracted from corn stover and make a flexible, biodegradable film.
A team from the University of Washington used an infrared laser to cool a solid semiconductor by at least 20 degrees C, or 36 F, below room temperature, as they report in a paper published June 23 in Nature Communications.
Finding ways to manage the flow of heat in silicon could boost the performance of semiconductors, but, so far, discovering the right design has remained elusive. Now, a team of Penn State researchers report that a fabrication technique may offer a path toward mastering the often chaotic flow of heat carriers at the nanoscale in silicon and other semiconductors.
When a material is subjected to a shock or blast wave, damage often forms internally through spall fracture, and research is needed to know how these damaged materials respond to subsequent shock waves. Recent experimentation on spall fracture in metals found that, in certain cases, there was an almost complete lack of damage with only a thin band of altered microstructure observed. In the Journal of Applied Physics, researchers narrowed down exactly why the expected damage was missing.
The $20 million Louisiana Material Design Alliance (LAMDA) aims to create a diverse and highly skilled STEM workforce for Louisiana.
Argonne’s ReCell Center has already made pivotal discoveries as scientists create and test new recycling processes and battery designs. These discoveries will help grow a globally competitive U.S. recycling industry.
The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has licensed a novel method to 3D print components used in neutron instruments for scientific research to the ExOne Company, a leading maker of binder jet 3D printing technology.
In order to reduce the number of animal experiments in research, alternative methods are being sought. This is a particular challenge if the safety of substances that have hardly been studied is to be ensured, for instance, the completely new class of nanomaterials. To accomplish just that, Empa researchers are now combining test tube experiments with mathematical modelling.
Humans have drawn technological inspiration from fish scales going back to ancient times: Romans, Egyptians, and other civilizations would dress their warriors in scale armor, providing both protection and mobility. Now, using advanced X-ray imaging techniques, Berkeley Lab scientists have characterized carp scales down to the nanoscale, enabling them to understand how the material is resistant to penetration while retaining flexibility.
Scientists tested the performance of a dry, oil-free lubricant that could improve efficiency and decrease waste in industrial machinery. The dry solid lubricant includes diamond nanoparticles. It creates a surface coating that reduces friction 20-fold compared to oil-based lubricants.
Scientists developed a new method of selectively attaching DNA strands to specific regions of nanoparticles. The DNA strands then dictate how the nanoparticles assemble into more complex architectures. The team used this approach to demonstrate 24 different nanoarchitectures.
Scientists have developed a new type of nanostructure that mimics certain natural light-harvesting systems. The new nanostructures serve as a bridge to move energy generated by light-absorbing molecules to light-emitting molecules. The transfer has less than 1 percent energy loss.
A three-year, $345,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will fund research at Binghamton University, State University of New York that seeks to modify paper’s mechanical properties while still retaining its advantages.
When Jocelyn Bell first observed the emissions of a pulsar in 1967, the rhythmic pulses of radio waves so confounded astronomers that they considered whether the light could be signals sent by an alien civilization.
A team of researchers has found a versatile method for the construction of high-quality vdW heterostructures using a dual-function polymeric film with a thickness of below five nanometers to promote the exfoliation of monolayer graphene.
The Materials Research Society (MRS) and The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) have selected Megan Malara, The Ohio State University, as the 2020-2021 MRS/TMS Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow. Malara will serve a one-year term working as a special legislative assistant on the staff of a member of Congress or congressional committee.
During metal processing in the 3D laser printer, temperatures of more than 2,500 degrees Celsius are reached within milliseconds, causing some components of the alloys to evaporate. While widely considered a problem inherent to the process, Empa researchers spotted an opportunity – and are now using the effect to create new alloys with novel properties and embed them in 3D-printed metallic work pieces with micrometer precision.
A doctoral student at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology has invented a soft polymer that is elastic and waterproof, and that knows how to heal itself in the event of an “injury,” such as a scratch, cut, or twist.
An unexpected property of nanometer-scale antimony crystals — the spontaneous formation of hollow structures — could help give the next generation of lithium ion batteries higher energy density without reducing battery lifetime. The reversibly hollowing structures could allow lithium ion batteries to hold more energy and therefore provide more power between charges.
Researchers demonstrated new ways to use electron microscopy to study liquids at high resolution. They used this technique to examine how nuclei in liquids and molecules vibrate at multiple length scales. This work can lead to new ways for scientists to describe liquids, the interfaces between fluids, and materials labeled with isotopes.
Researchers developed biomaterial-based inks that respond to and quantify chemicals released from the body or in the environment by changing color. Multiple inks can be screen printed onto clothes or even face masks at high resolution, providing a detailed map of human response or exposure.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Argonne National Laboratory are developing a technology that centers on manganese, one of Earth’s most abundant metals.
Researchers have developed a technology called “Artificial Chemist,” which incorporates artificial intelligence and an automated system for performing chemical reactions to accelerate R&D and manufacturing of commercially desirable materials.
Cement production has to drastically reduce its environmental footprint. Empa researchers are, therefore working on alternative cement recipes that cause significantly fewer emissions or can even bind the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
Researchers and engineers at the Spallation Neutron Source are making progress on the construction of VENUS, the facility’s newest neutron scattering instrument for studying materials in exciting new ways that are currently not possible for open research programs in the US.
Recycling plastic faces several challenges, one of which is recycling different types of plastics together, because they have varying properties, each of which need to be addressed accordingly.
Graphene triangles with an edge length of only a few atoms behave like peculiar quantum magnets. When two of these nano-triangles are joined, a "quantum entanglement" of their magnetic moments takes place: the structure becomes antiferromagnetic. This could be a breakthrough for future magnetic materials, and another step towards spintronics. An international group led by Empa researchers recently published the results in the journal "Angewandte Chemie".
Using electron microscopes, Hwang—a materials scientist at Brookhaven Lab's Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)—characterizes the structure and chemistry of operating battery electrode materials.
In a study published in the June edition of IEEE Electron Device Letters, University at Buffalo electrical engineers describe how a gallium oxide transistor they created can handle more than 8,000 volts. The transistor could lead to smaller and more efficient electronic systems that control and convert electric power in electric cars, locomotives and airplanes. In turn, this could help improve how far these vehicles can travel.
A personal, handheld device emitting high intensity ultraviolet light to disinfect areas by killing the Corona virus is now feasible, according to researchers at Penn State, the University of Minnesota and two Japanese universities.
Researchers from the National University of Singapore have developed a new stretchable material that can self-heal and light up. The novel material has promising applications that include damage-proof flexible display screens and illuminating electronic skin for autonomous soft robots.
Federal agencies should better coordinate their activities in plasma science and engineering (PSE) and jointly support new funding opportunities that take advantage of PSE’s overlaps with different science disciplines, according to a decadal report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
Dr. Thomas Lograsso has been named director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute (CMI) at Ames Laboratory.
In order to identify materials that can improve storage technologies for fuel cells and batteries, you need to be able to visualize the actual three-dimensional structure of a particular material up close and in context. Researchers from the University of Delaware’s Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI) have done just that, developing new techniques for characterizing complex materials.
Technion researchers have developed a self-disinfecting, reusable protective face mask. The disinfection process occurs when a layer of carbon fibers in the mask is heated using a low current source, such as a mobile phone charger. A patent application for the invention has been submitted in the U.S.
The commercialization of a Cornell-created antimicrobial coating technology that keeps surfaces clean by extending the life of chlorine-based disinfectants – by days and even weeks – is being fast-tracked to determine how well it can combat COVID-19.